The Pro Bowl is a game in Hawaii where all the greats from around the National Football League come together to participate in a football game. The NFL made plans to have some tryouts during this game, but not the tryouts that first come to mind. The NFL has stated they would like to narrow the field goal posts because the field goal percentage this past year was at a remarkable 84 percent. The NFL has issued a resolution; narrow the field goal posts by 10 percent.

The NFL decided to try out the new goal post regulations at this year’s Pro Bowl. The kickers to serve as guinea pigs were veteran Adam Vinatieri of the Colts and Eagles standout Cody Parkey (replacement for Stephen Gostowski). Vinatieri, a proven kicker who may go down as one of the league’s best ever, missed a pair of 35 yard extra points and a 38 yard field goal which are usually easy makes for him. Vinatieri looked frustrated the whole game and obviously had some concern with the new posts.

After the game he stated, “Ask a receiver, can we take his gloves off because he’s catching the ball too well?” Vinatieri went on to say, “Nobody is going to be overly happy about that. But I understand the wheels of change are in motion and people want to change stuff, but I feel bad for the young bucks that will have to deal with it their whole career.”

Parkey didn’t seem to have as many issues adjusting to the new goal posts and new extra point line. Parkey is only 22 years old and has only been in the League for a year, whereas Vinatieri is 42 years old has been playing for over 20 years. It was probably a little harder for a veteran like Vinatieri who has kicked through the same distance between posts his whole career while Parkey is new to the League anyway and is a lot more used to change.

Many kickers are not happy about the change and the National Football League will be looking over the newly stated goal post lengths. Some concern has arisen from analysts and former players like Jason Elam (former kicker for the Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons) who had some concerns for the new regulations.

Football fans everywhere are a little chocked from the recent news because field goals and extra points have a lot more effect on the game than one would guess. Football fanatic Brandon Wineland told me, “I think it’s going to change the outcome of games completely. You’re rarely ever going to get those couple wins that come from long field goals as the time expires.”

The new field goal posts regulations are a problem to many and we can only hope that the league will readdress this issue and do what it is right for the game of football.