NFL quarterbacks, tight ends had nothing on kickers (I)

In the 2011 NFL season, we saw laser-armed quarterbacks tossing aside records and NBA-sized tight ends towering over their predecessors like never before.
But Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham had nothing on a small and quirky contingent of specialists who didn’t even need their hands to do their best work. Twitter-worthy or not, the league’s outcasts and misfits – the kickers and punters – have risen. And in 2011, they had a leg up on virtually every other position when it came to history-making seasons.
While the matinee-idol QBs and towering tight ends were grabbing MVP votes and dominating late-night highlight shows, these lightly-padded 180-pounders were kicking butt and winning games.
In short, the ’11 season truly was a kick (and a booming punt).
Here’s the ample evidence:

You had a kicker, the San Francisco 49ers’ David Akers, who set the league’s single-season record for field goals in a season at 44. 

That was four more than the previous standard of 40 set by the Arizona Cardinals’ Neil Rackers in 2005.
Aside from Akers, eight other kickers wound up with 29 or more field goals, led by the Cincinnati Bengals’ Mike Nugent (33), Dallas Cowboys rookie Dan Bailey (32) and Rackers (32), now with the Houston Texans.

You also had another kicker, the Oakland Raiders’ Sebastian Janikowski, match the longest successful field goal in NFL history at 63 yards.
Janikowski accomplished the feat of foot in the Raiders’ season opener in Denver to join Jason Elam and Tom Dempsey in the record book.
Elam also boomed his 63-yarder in the Mile High City while playing for the Denver Broncos in 1998, 28 years after Dempsey established the memorable standard with the New Orleans Saints in 1970.