Garrett HartleyAs our friends at With Leather report, a theme in week three of the NFL season was kickers costing their team wins by missing relatively short field goals.

Far be it from us to suggest the most popular sport in America radically alter its scoring system, but it's always struck us as a bit odd that so many football games come down to the kicker -- a specialist whose duties are radically different than those of all the other players on the roster.

Correct us if we're wrong, but we can't think of a single other major sport in which a participant who barely plays -- and whose skill set is so apart from the other players' -- has such an big influence on the outcome.

Do you agree that the role of the kicker is oddly out of balance in football? Or do we just sound like a bunch of bitter Saints or Raiders fans?
Does the kicking game matter too much in football?
Nope -- it's all part of football's brilliant alchemy858 (78.5%)
Yes -- it'd be better if the real players decided the games235 (21.5%)