Thoughts

[red]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there.

Was it really "there"? Neither you nor I know the answer to that. The kicker puts his plant foot down expecting the ball to be in a certain place. If it is too far back, too far forward, left or right of the "spot", the kicker has very little room to adjust once his plant foot is down.

If you golf, trying teeing the ball up just a few inches "off" from where you normally do, take your normal swing, and see what happens to your drive. What happens when a batter is lined up on a pitch, but misjudges the speed and makes contact out in front of the plate, or is late on the swing and makes contact to early in the swing.

Same goes for a kicker. He can adjust somewhat as he approaches, but once his plant foot is down there is not much more he can do if the ball is not where he expected.

I don't know if that happened here or not, but when Flynn smothered the ball flat on the ground, all he did after that was tip it upright where it was.

We will probably never know, because unlike Longwell did his last few seasons here, Crosby is not likely to blame the snapper or holder when a kick goes wrong.

theres a big difference between you and i teeing up the ball, and a pro doing it

plus, i know that if the ball is in the wrong place i can do things with my hands or swing to help correct the problem

theres millions of people around the world that can kick balls while they, and the ball are moving, and still put the ball almost right where they want it.

IMO nfl kickers are way to pampered

[Patler]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there.

Was it really "there"? Neither you nor I know the answer to that. The kicker puts his plant foot down expecting the ball to be in a certain place. If it is too far back, too far forward, left or right of the "spot", the kicker has very little room to adjust once his plant foot is down.

If you golf, trying teeing the ball up just a few inches "off" from where you normally do, take your normal swing, and see what happens to your drive. What happens when a batter is lined up on a pitch, but misjudges the speed and makes contact out in front of the plate, or is late on the swing and makes contact to early in the swing.

Same goes for a kicker. He can adjust somewhat as he approaches, but once his plant foot is down there is not much more he can do if the ball is not where he expected.

I don't know if that happened here or not, but when Flynn smothered the ball flat on the ground, all he did after that was tip it upright where it was.

We will probably never know, because unlike Longwell did his last few seasons here, Crosby is not likely to blame the snapper or holder when a kick goes wrong.

theres a big difference between you and i teeing up the ball, and a pro doing it

plus, i know that if the ball is in the wrong place i can do things with my hands or swing to help correct the problem

theres millions of people around the world that can kick balls while they, and the ball are moving, and still put the ball almost right where they want it.

IMO nfl kickers are way to pampered

As I said, the kicker can adjust somewhat with his steps as he approaches, but once his plant leg is down there is not much adjustability left.

You stated that any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable. Then to your way of thinking there are really no acceptable kickers in the NFL.

Kicks of 40-49 yards
Crosby is 4 of 6
18 kickers have attempted 6 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 5 attempts, and only one has made all 5.
League wide the kickers are 138/195 at attempts of 40-49 yards.

Kicks of 30-39 yards
Crosby is 6 of 7
14 kickers have attempted 7 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 6 attempts, and only two have made all 6.
League wide the kickers are 177/213 at attempts of 30-39 yards.

I assume the millions of people you referred to are soccer players, a game I coached for years. Soccer players are not very accurate with kicks of 30 to 50 yards. They are not real accurate at 20 yards, even at upper skill levels, which is one reason why games are so low scoring. If they were accurate, with as large as the goal is for the goalie to defend, they would score on every shot.

Besides a kicked sphere flies much straighter and much more true than a kicked prolate spheroid, which tends to tumble.

[Fritz]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there.

Was it really "there"? Neither you nor I know the answer to that. The kicker puts his plant foot down expecting the ball to be in a certain place. If it is too far back, too far forward, left or right of the "spot", the kicker has very little room to adjust once his plant foot is down.

If you golf, trying teeing the ball up just a few inches "off" from where you normally do, take your normal swing, and see what happens to your drive. What happens when a batter is lined up on a pitch, but misjudges the speed and makes contact out in front of the plate, or is late on the swing and makes contact to early in the swing.

Same goes for a kicker. He can adjust somewhat as he approaches, but once his plant foot is down there is not much more he can do if the ball is not where he expected.

I don't know if that happened here or not, but when Flynn smothered the ball flat on the ground, all he did after that was tip it upright where it was.

We will probably never know, because unlike Longwell did his last few seasons here, Crosby is not likely to blame the snapper or holder when a kick goes wrong.

theres a big difference between you and i teeing up the ball, and a pro doing it

plus, i know that if the ball is in the wrong place i can do things with my hands or swing to help correct the problem

theres millions of people around the world that can kick balls while they, and the ball are moving, and still put the ball almost right where they want it.

IMO nfl kickers are way to pampered

As I said, the kicker can adjust somewhat with his steps as he approaches, but once his plant leg is down there is not much adjustability left.

You stated that any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable. Then to your way of thinking there are really no acceptable kickers in the NFL.

Kicks of 40-49 yards
Crosby is 4 of 6
18 kickers have attempted 6 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 5 attempts, and only one has made all 5.
League wide the kickers are 138/195 at attempts of 40-49 yards.

Kicks of 30-39 yards
Crosby is 6 of 7
14 kickers have attempted 7 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 6 attempts, and only two have made all 6.
League wide the kickers are 177/213 at attempts of 30-39 yards.

I assume the millions of people you referred to are soccer players, a game I coached for years. Soccer players are not very accurate with kicks of 30 to 50 yards. They are not real accurate at 20 yards, even at upper skill levels, which is one reason why games are so low scoring. If they were accurate, with as large as the goal is for the goalie to defend, they would score on every shot.

Besides a kicked sphere flies much straighter and much more true than a kicked prolate spheroid, which tends to tumble.

Apparently there is one NFL kicker out there who would be acceptable to Red. One.

[pbmax]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there.

Was it really "there"? Neither you nor I know the answer to that. The kicker puts his plant foot down expecting the ball to be in a certain place. If it is too far back, too far forward, left or right of the "spot", the kicker has very little room to adjust once his plant foot is down.

If you golf, trying teeing the ball up just a few inches "off" from where you normally do, take your normal swing, and see what happens to your drive. What happens when a batter is lined up on a pitch, but misjudges the speed and makes contact out in front of the plate, or is late on the swing and makes contact to early in the swing.

Same goes for a kicker. He can adjust somewhat as he approaches, but once his plant foot is down there is not much more he can do if the ball is not where he expected.

I don't know if that happened here or not, but when Flynn smothered the ball flat on the ground, all he did after that was tip it upright where it was.

We will probably never know, because unlike Longwell did his last few seasons here, Crosby is not likely to blame the snapper or holder when a kick goes wrong.

theres a big difference between you and i teeing up the ball, and a pro doing it

plus, i know that if the ball is in the wrong place i can do things with my hands or swing to help correct the problem

theres millions of people around the world that can kick balls while they, and the ball are moving, and still put the ball almost right where they want it.

IMO nfl kickers are way to pampered

As I said, the kicker can adjust somewhat with his steps as he approaches, but once his plant leg is down there is not much adjustability left.

You stated that any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable. Then to your way of thinking there are really no acceptable kickers in the NFL.

Kicks of 40-49 yards
Crosby is 4 of 6
18 kickers have attempted 6 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 5 attempts, and only one has made all 5.
League wide the kickers are 138/195 at attempts of 40-49 yards.

Kicks of 30-39 yards
Crosby is 6 of 7
14 kickers have attempted 7 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 6 attempts, and only two have made all 6.
League wide the kickers are 177/213 at attempts of 30-39 yards.

I assume the millions of people you referred to are soccer players, a game I coached for years. Soccer players are not very accurate with kicks of 30 to 50 yards. They are not real accurate at 20 yards, even at upper skill levels, which is one reason why games are so low scoring. If they were accurate, with as large as the goal is for the goalie to defend, they would score on every shot.

Besides a kicked sphere flies much straighter and much more true than a kicked prolate spheroid, which tends to tumble.

Apparently there is one NFL kicker out there who would be acceptable to Red. One.

And his name? Martin "I Jumped Up And Shredded My Knee" Gramatica.

[red]

my rant is more dirrected at all kickers in general, not just crosby

IMo a pro kicker should be damn near perfect with all the practice time they put in

most of my rage comes from the assclown for the redskins sunday

[Patler]

Apparently there is one NFL kicker out there who would be acceptable to Red. One.

Nah, not even one. The kickers who are perfect from 30-39, even those with one or two attempts, are not perfect from 40-49. The ones perfect from 40-49, even with just two attempts, are not perfect from shorter distances.

There have only been six misses from 20-29 yards, After that it gets more dicey; 83% accuracy at 30-39 yards; 70% at 40-59 yards and 55% at 50+ yards (42/77).

Crosby isn't tearing it up by any means; but we could do a lot worse. Nick Folk in Dallas is 4/10 from 40-49 yards and 1/2 from 50 out. Gastkowski is 2/5 from 40-49.

[red]

and don't even get me started on punters

[Patler]

my rant is more dirrected at all kickers in general, not just crosby

IMo a pro kicker should be damn near perfect with all the practice time they put in

most of my rage comes from the assclown for the redskins sunday

Understandable. I come from a time when a field goal kicker who was 65% successful overall was really good, and that was with rare attempts at 50+. I think a lot of fans are spoiled by how good many of the kickers really are.

[bobblehead]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there. from that distance you should be able to just stand there and put the ball through

i mean, thats all he does, he kicks the ball, he should be kicking for at least 3 hours every single day

any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable IMO

So Flynn gets of blameless, and regardless of what he does, Crosby should make the kick? Any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable?

I think those are completely unreasonable expectations.

Extremely unreasonable.

[Patler]

and don't even get me started on punters

I might support you on that one!

Someone posted a link to an article a short time back about why directional punting has fallen out of favor. Basically it said that the players have gotten so much faster in recent years rushing the punter that the time for a punter to get a kick off is so short as to make directional punting almost impossible. Two steps are the norm, and the first is started even before the snap is caught. It said a punter just can't set himself for accuracy under those conditions.

I have to admit, it is hard for us to really understand the conditions some of these positions face. It is easy to be critical.

[bobblehead]

i think crosby should be able to adapt to that. it was there for him, a split second late, but it was there.

Was it really "there"? Neither you nor I know the answer to that. The kicker puts his plant foot down expecting the ball to be in a certain place. If it is too far back, too far forward, left or right of the "spot", the kicker has very little room to adjust once his plant foot is down.

If you golf, trying teeing the ball up just a few inches "off" from where you normally do, take your normal swing, and see what happens to your drive. What happens when a batter is lined up on a pitch, but misjudges the speed and makes contact out in front of the plate, or is late on the swing and makes contact to early in the swing.

Same goes for a kicker. He can adjust somewhat as he approaches, but once his plant foot is down there is not much more he can do if the ball is not where he expected.

I don't know if that happened here or not, but when Flynn smothered the ball flat on the ground, all he did after that was tip it upright where it was.

We will probably never know, because unlike Longwell did his last few seasons here, Crosby is not likely to blame the snapper or holder when a kick goes wrong.

theres a big difference between you and i teeing up the ball, and a pro doing it

plus, i know that if the ball is in the wrong place i can do things with my hands or swing to help correct the problem

theres millions of people around the world that can kick balls while they, and the ball are moving, and still put the ball almost right where they want it.

IMO nfl kickers are way to pampered

As I said, the kicker can adjust somewhat with his steps as he approaches, but once his plant leg is down there is not much adjustability left.

You stated that any miss under 50 yards is unacceptable. Then to your way of thinking there are really no acceptable kickers in the NFL.

Kicks of 40-49 yards
Crosby is 4 of 6
18 kickers have attempted 6 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 5 attempts, and only one has made all 5.
League wide the kickers are 138/195 at attempts of 40-49 yards.

Kicks of 30-39 yards
Crosby is 6 of 7
14 kickers have attempted 7 or more, none have made all of them.
7 kickers have 6 attempts, and only two have made all 6.
League wide the kickers are 177/213 at attempts of 30-39 yards.

I assume the millions of people you referred to are soccer players, a game I coached for years. Soccer players are not very accurate with kicks of 30 to 50 yards. They are not real accurate at 20 yards, even at upper skill levels, which is one reason why games are so low scoring. If they were accurate, with as large as the goal is for the goalie to defend, they would score on every shot.

Besides a kicked sphere flies much straighter and much more true than a kicked prolate spheroid, which tends to tumble.

Apparently there is one NFL kicker out there who would be acceptable to Red. One.

Unless that kicker likes to talk politics

[LEWCWA]

I don't know others opinions on this, but although Ahman is too old to carry the load anymore, I think we saw that Ahman is a much better (stronger runner) than Grant. I think last night was proof positive we need to upgrade that position. I alson think Green should be getting 10-12 touches a game the rest of the way.

Driver and Jennings really pissed me off last night. They both seemed to be playing with hands of steel. C'mon man! Catch the damn ball! Had Greenbay lost that game, I would put blame squarley on their shoulders. If they play well that game is a complete blowout!

[ThunderDan]

my rant is more dirrected at all kickers in general, not just crosby

IMo a pro kicker should be damn near perfect with all the practice time they put in

most of my rage comes from the assclown for the redskins sunday

Understandable. I come from a time when a field goal kicker who was 65% successful overall was really good, and that was with rare attempts at 50+. I think a lot of fans are spoiled by how good many of the kickers really are.

Wasn't Ibwakeque the TB kicker who was jailed for doing coke back when?

[Fosco33]

and don't even get me started on punters

I might support you on that one!

Someone posted a link to an article a short time back about why directional punting has fallen out of favor. Basically it said that the players have gotten so much faster in recent years rushing the punter that the time for a punter to get a kick off is so short as to make directional punting almost impossible. Two steps are the norm, and the first is started even before the snap is caught. It said a punter just can't set himself for accuracy under those conditions.

I have to admit, it is hard for us to really understand the conditions some of these positions face. It is easy to be critical.

Some dumb questions:

- why do teams snap in a certain distance on kicks (outside the endzone of course?
- is that the max most long snappers do - or just whats always been done?
- if not, why wouldn't we get a long snapper who can snap it another 3-5 yards to allow time for true directional punting?

[red]

great questions fosco

for punts and FG's

i suppose the extra distance adds for a little, but i would think its offset by there being no chance of a block

if you're taking a 25 yard fg, why not move back 2 or 3 more yards and give the d no chance at a block?

do those extra couple of yards make that much difference for accuracy?