Goal Post

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Goal Post.
Started by MIKETOUHY, Oct 04 2014 05:33 PM

10 replies to this topic

#1 MIKETOUHY
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Posted 04 October 2014 - 05:33 PM
Last night for the first time I saw a CFL game and noticed the goal is not placed at the end like in the NFL and I know there was a time when it was further in compared to today.

Perhaps the NFL changed it for safety reasons
but if not how come and was it necessary for the league to change it considering the difference with the CFL?

#2 Mark L. Ford
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Posted 04 October 2014 - 05:40 PM
Prior to 1974, when it was on the goal line, it was ten yards closer than goal posts in college and high school (though, in fairness, the distance between the uprights in the NFL was much narrower as well). By 1973, the last season when the posts were on the goal line, there had become complaints that there were too many cases where a team brought the kicking specialist in for a field goal, rather than trying for a touchdown, and that extra points had become almost automatic. Finally, as you've seen, the CFL end zone is more than twice as deep as an NFL end zone, so it would be impractical to put the posts on the end line in Canada.

#3 BD Sullivan
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Posted 04 October 2014 - 10:30 PM
A (very) modest sample of guys running into goal posts:

11/20/60: Steeler DB Junior Wren ran into the goal post on the final play of the game, but Milt Plum's across-the-field pass to Leon Clarke was just short, with officials saying Clarke trapped the ball.

12/10/61: Packers WR Max McGee cracked a rib when he hit the goal post after he caught a TD pass from Bart Starr.

11/17/63: The Rams' Eddie Meador intercepted the Lions' Earl Morrall after WR Terry Barr ran into the goal post.

11/24/63: The Packers' Boyd Dowler catches a TD pass from Bart Starr, right before he crashes into the goal post.

11/4/73: The Rams' John Hadl throws what should have been a game-winning TD pass, but Jack Snow slowed up, knowing he was headed right for the goal post if he caught it.

11/25/73: Eagles' rookie Donnie Zimmerman caught a TD pass, narrowly missing the goal post: "I didn't even know it was close. I only had my eye on the ball."

#4 smith03
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Posted 04 October 2014 - 11:25 PM
Sammy Baugh's hitting the goal post with a pass in the '45 championship game resulting in a safety for the Rams

#5 Reaser
PFRA Member
Posted 04 October 2014 - 11:42 PM
Ditka

#6 MatthewToy
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 12:40 AM
Billy Kilmer hitting the post in Super Bowl VII.

#7 Timmy B
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 07:50 AM
Note that from 1933-1966, players had to deal with TWO goal posts. The "H" style posts in the early days had no padding and were positioned on the goal line, eventually by the late 1950's, most goal posts were off-set two yards (Giants being a notable exception). The "slingshot" single goal post made its debut with the 1967 Playoff Bowl and became standard in 1967. Although for some reason, the Cardinals still used the "H" goal posts in '67. They switched in 1968.

Height of the uprights evolved from 10 feet to 20 feet in 1966, then from 20 feet to 30 feet in 1974 (when they returned to the end line for the first time since 1932), and this year they were extended to 35 feet high.

#8 luckyshow
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 10:38 AM
Following that Baugh safety the rule was changed to an incomplete pass if a pass hit the goal post thrown from the end zone.
Don Hutson used to use the goal post sometimes as a screen on patterns, at least against Sid Luckman as related I think in Luckman's biography (or in an interview I have read sometime)

#9 SixtiesFan
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 11:14 AM
MatthewToy, on 05 Oct 2014 - 12:40 AM, said:
Billy Kilmer hitting the post in Super Bowl VII.

Oh, I remember that one. I wonder if Kilmer could have hit the goal post if he had aimed at it.

#10 SixtiesFan
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 11:16 AM
BD Sullivan, on 04 Oct 2014 - 10:30 PM, said:
A (very) modest sample of guys running into goal posts:

11/20/60: Steeler DB Junior Wren ran into the goal post on the final play of the game, but Milt Plum's across-the-field pass to Leon Clarke was just short, with officials saying Clarke trapped the ball.

12/10/61: Packers WR Max McGee cracked a rib when he hit the goal post after he caught a TD pass from Bart Starr.

11/17/63: The Rams' Eddie Meador intercepted the Lions' Earl Morrall after WR Terry Barr ran into the goal post.

11/24/63: The Packers' Boyd Dowler catches a TD pass from Bart Starr, right before he crashes into the goal post.

11/4/73: The Rams' John Hadl throws what should have been a game-winning TD pass, but Jack Snow slowed up, knowing he was headed right for the goal post if he caught it.

11/25/73: Eagles' rookie Donnie Zimmerman caught a TD pass, narrowly missing the goal post: "I didn't even know it was close. I only had my eye on the ball."

Especially, when you had two post on the goal line, they were part of the game.

#11 luckyshow
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Posted 05 October 2014 - 11:46 AM
See this page for a video of someone running into the goal post in the CFL
http://www.businessi...anks-cfl-2011-9