Alright, let’s jaw about them old kickers in the NFL, you know, the fellas who boot the ball. I heard folks talkin’ ’bout who was the oldest, so I figured I’d put my two cents in.
Now, I ain’t no fancy football expert, but I watch the games sometimes when the chores are done. I see them young fellas runnin’ around, big and strong, just like them bulls back on the farm. But then there’s them kickers, they a bit different, ain’t they? They gotta be steady, gotta be calm, like when you’re threadin’ a needle, only they threadin’ that ball between them posts.
So, who was the oldest? Well, from what I hear, this fella named Phil Dawson, he played a long, long time. I heard tell he played till he was 44 years old! Can you imagine that? 44! That’s older than my grandpappy when he finally hung up his plow. This Dawson fella, he kicked that ball for 20 seasons! Twenty! That’s a lot of kickin’, I reckon. He musta had a leg like a mule, strong and steady. He played till 2018 or somethin’ like that.
- They say this Dawson guy, he was real good too. Not just old, but good.
- Makes you think, don’t it? All them young fellas runnin’ around, and this old timer still kickin’ that ball further than most.
Now, I heard tell of other kickers too. There was this Moseley fella, played for the Redskins. They say he was the last of them straight-on kickers. You know, not like them fellas today who kick it sideways. He kicked it straight on, like you’re kickin’ a rock out of the garden. And he was good too! Set some kinda record back in ’82, they say.
Then there’s stories ’bout this other kicker, Tom Dempsey. They say he kicked a ball a long, long way. 63 yards! Can you imagine that? That’s like kickin’ a ball from one end of the pasture to the other! I bet he had a strong leg, that one. And he did it way back when, not like these young fellas today with all their fancy shoes and whatnots.
Kickers, they a special breed, I tell ya. They gotta be tough, gotta be focused. And some of them, they play a long, long time. Like that Dawson fella, 44 years old. That’s somethin’ else.
I also heard about this Erxleben fella. Drafted real high, they say, for a kicker and a punter. A punter, that’s the fella who kicks the ball way up high when they don’t make their downs or somethin’. Anyway, this Erxleben, he was somethin’ special to get drafted so high. They still talkin’ ’bout him, even though he played a long time ago.
And don’t forget about this Justin Tucker fella. Plays for Baltimore, they say. He’s real good too. Wins all sorts of awards. But he ain’t as old as that Dawson fella, not yet anyway. Maybe he’ll play till he’s 44 too, who knows? Time will tell, I reckon.
You know, they say the average football player is big, real big. Tall and heavy, like them prize-winning hogs at the county fair. But kickers, they ain’t always that big. They gotta be quick, gotta be agile. Like a fox in the henhouse, only they tryin’ to kick that ball through them posts, not snatch a chicken.
There was even this one kicker, Vanderjagt, they say he didn’t miss a single kick one whole season, not even in the playoffs! That’s like plantin’ a whole field of corn and not missin’ a single row. That’s some kinda accuracy right there.
So, who was the oldest kicker in the NFL? Well, from what I gathered, it seems like that Phil Dawson fella holds the record, playin’ till he was 44. That’s a long time to be kickin’ a football, I tell ya. But there’s been lots of other good kickers too, kickin’ that ball for years and years. And that’s a fact.
It takes all kinds, I reckon, to make a football team. You got your big fellas runnin’ and smashin’, and then you got your kickers, steady and true, bootin’ that ball. And some of them, they do it for a long, long time.
