I swear to god, Len Pasquarelli writes this column every year. He points out sometime at midseason that kicking and punting numbers are at all-time highs. Last year, it was "Brian Moorman is going to break the all-time gross punting record" or some such thing. Len, dude, it is called "weather."
The FO special teams numbers account for the fact that it is easier to kick indoors than outdoors, and easier to kick outdoors in September than outdoors in December. But we can also run those numbers without the weather and altitude adjustments.
Right now, the total value of all kickers on field goals, without the weather adjustments, is 20.5 points. The total value with weather adjustments is -6.5 points. In other words, basically equal to the average performance of recent seasons.
The total value of all kickers on kickoffs, without the weather adjustments, is 43.0 points. Sound impressive? The total value with weather adjustments is 7.8 points. In other words, basically equal to the average performance of recent seasons.
The exception is punts. Right now, we are seeing a higher gross punting average than recent seasons. The total for all punters is 86.9 points without weather adjustments, 66.3 points with weather adjustments. But guess what -- this isn't actually helping teams gain anything in field position, because punt coverage this year is below average. The total for all teams net punting is 9.1 points without weather adjustments, -11.5 points with weather adjustments.
If the punt numbers look like this at the end of December, we can start talking about changes due to the k-ball or whatever. Until then, please, everybody calm down.