Detroit Lions kicker Matt Prater has earned himself plenty of accolades over the course of his career. He currently holds the NFL record for longest field goal, accomplished in 2013 while a member of the Denver Broncos. Additionally, he holds the longest field goal record in Lions team history.
Oh, and there was that whole winning free beerfor the city of Detroit thing.
However, as good as his accomplishments are, he wasn’t able to overtake a machine nicknamed “Finkle.”
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer and a popular YouTuber, developed a robot capable of kicking field goals from impressive lengths of the field. He revealed that his initial prototype wasn’t able to overtake Prater’s 64 yard record, but that soon changed.
Per Men’s Health:
“As an inventor and engineer who has formerly worked with NASA and Apple, Mark Rober has the kind of mind that lends itself to coming up with innovative solutions to questions nobody else might think to ask. Questions like: “I wonder if I can build a robot capable of breaking an NFL world record?”
In honor of this weekend’s Super Bowl festivities, Rober did just that, inviting Matt Prater of the Detroit Lions to join him on the field and defend his title as the current record holder of the world’s longest field goal, at 64 yards.
According to Prater, there are two key factors in kicking a long field goal. The first is leg speed, which makes perfect sense. The second factor, Prater explains, is point of impact on the ball: optimally, 2.2 inches from the bottom. Form is also important here; Prater adds that the kick should occur during full extension of the leg. “Right when you’re making contact with the ball, your kicking leg should be locking right on contact,” he says.
Additionally, 40 to 45 degrees is an ideal angle for a kick in terms of achieving maximum distance; anything higher than that will waste energy on height, and anything lower won’t clear the goal.”
Even though the new and improved machine was operating at just 80%, it was still able to earn a clear win over Prater. Watch the full highlights below:
– – Quotes via Philip Ellis of Men’s Health Link‘ – –
