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"[Jason Elam] uses various ointments to reduce tissue damage and speed recovery, and he visits a massage therapist...

I recently found a really great testimonial for sports massage in the New York Times. As we saw in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, athletes are retiring later and later in life, with more and more success in their later years, as well. Stefan Fatsis looks at this same phenomenon in the N.F.L. - especially the kickers. He says they're having their best season and that the older players are having the best season of all. Apparently, they're clearly outdoing their younger counterparts.

"Defying time and logic, kickers 35 and older have converted 90 percent of their field-goal attempts — 6 percentage points better than their younger counterparts. That is a statistically significant margin, considering that in the N.F.L., every kick can be the difference between one more game and forced retirement."

He provides us with specifics and statistics...

"Detroit’s Jason Hanson, 38, has made five field goals of more than 50 yards this season."

The Giants’ John Carney — the oldest player in the N.F.L. at 44 — has made 18 of 19 field-goal attempts, and his miss was a block.

Carolina’s John Kasay, who has spent 18 of his 39 years in the league, is 16 for 16.

Detroit’s Jason Hanson, 38 and in his 17th season, is 10 for 10, including a league-leading five field goals of 50 yards or longer.

Of the 36 kickers who have attempted a field goal this season, eight are 35 or older. They have converted 109 of 121 kicks, or 90.1 percent. The other 28 kickers are 334 for 397, or 84.1 percent. Over all, N.F.L. kickers have converted 85.5 percent of their chances, on track for a sixth consecutive record-breaking season.

If you ask the players, they say that experience is of course what it's all about. It's not just experience in football, but also experience about your body. Baltimore’s Matt Stover, 40, who is in his 19th season states,

“You know how to approach the game, you know what to do in the off-season. The whole package is already there.”

Morten Andersen, who kicked for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 at age 47, then retired as the leading scorer in N.F.L. history after 25 seasons, has this to say,

“You understand what it takes to get ready physically and mentally.”

Jason Elam of the Falcons, didn't lift weights or stretch before kicking when he was a young player. Now at the age of 38,

"Elam lifts and stretches meticulously, and kicks just two or three times a week, compared with two or three times a day when he was younger. He uses various ointments to reduce tissue damage and speed recovery, and he visits a chiropractor, a massage therapist and a biomechanics technician.

Stefan Fatsis is the author of “A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-foot-8, 170-pound, 43-year-old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL,” about his summer as a place-kicker with the Denver Broncos. Read the original article here. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images