Christopher Moore is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Longwood University in Farmville, VA.A.J. Trapasso hit the Dallas Cowboy’s 90-foot high scoreboard with a punted football during the Tennessee/Dallas pre-season match-up a couple of days ago. Jerry Jones claims that A.J. was trying to hit it, and must have kicked the ball straight up. He’s wrong.
ESPN reports on the incident here.
Jones implied that having the video board in play provided an “entertainment value” and that both teams would have to deal with it. But the owner repeatedly said that the normal trajectory of an NFL punt would not bring the video board into play.
In his 1985 article in the Physics Teacher, Peter Brancazio studied the trajectories of almost 250 NFL punts made by 24 different NFL punters. From this data he was able to determine the average angle and initial velocity of an NFL punt, as well as resistance data.
The average NFL punter in 1985 booted the ball at approximately 60 mph at an angle of 57 degrees. This is the average punt in 1985. With these numbers, our first-semester physics students could calculate a height of a little over 90 feet. The scoreboard is 90 feet off of the ground. The average punt from 1985 could hit this thing.
Several punters kick with speeds up to 70 mph, and game-day situations require steeper angles up to 60 degrees, specifically if you have slower gunners, or depending on field position. With those numbers, we’re talking about 123 foot high kicks.
Trapasso commented:
“With the size of that TV, there’s not going to be a whole lot of room above it,” he said. “I think after a billion dollars and the way you watch people kick, somebody could have figured that math out a little bit.”
I figured out the math. It was easy. I’m shocked an architect couldn’t.
[...] help with their research on NFL punt trajectories. The obvious reason was because A.J. Trapasso hit the Dallas Cowboy’s center-field score board while [...]
“I’m shocked an architect couldn’t.” As an architect myself, I can tell you that the firm who designed the stadium left no stone unturned. I suspect Mr. Jones wanted this situation to play itself out. I liken the situation to Boston’s Green Monster. He wanted it low. Just a guess.
+pablo
Pablo, from what little I have read about Mr. Jones, I would not be surprised at all.
The firm that built this beast of a stadium is probably one of the largest and most well-respected firms in the country. Exactly what you would expect for a billion dollar facility.