Dempsey Sets NFL Field Goal Record

On Nov. 8, 1970, Tom Dempsey of the New Orleans Saints set a new NFL mark by kicking a 63-yard field goal. 

To make the kick even more exciting, Dempsey hit it in the fourth quarter to give the Saints a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions. Dempsey also had no ties on his right foot.

A strange fact about Dempsey was that he had a deformed kicking foot, it was shaped like a club and he would kick the ball straight on. 

Compared to now, as kickers do more of a soccer style kick, with the inside of their foot.

  

Since Dempsey’s record setting kick, Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos tied it in 1998 in the snow in Denver against the Jacksonville Jaguars; Sebastian Janikowski of the Oakland Raiders did it in 2011 against the Broncos in Denver; and David Akers of the San Francisco 49ers did it last year against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau field, as the ball bounced off the cross bar and thru the uprights.

The only lefty to have reached the record is Janikowski, who also kicked a 61-yard field goal in 2009 against the Browns, and is the only person to have two or more field goals of 60 plus yards in his career.