Thoughts

[sharpe1027]

Just how much difference would a few yards really make? The fastest speed ever reached by a person is about 39.16 feet per second. Even reducing that for less than ideal conditions and accounting for pads, ect... a few yards doesn't seem give you much more than maybe a few tenths of a second.

[red]

Just how much difference would a few yards really make? The fastest speed ever reached by a person is about 39.16 feet per second. Even reducing that for less than ideal conditions and accounting for pads, ect... a few yards doesn't seem give you much more than maybe a few tenths of a second.

i was thinking more about blocks on field goals

like on the line when a guy just jumps straight up and hits it jolly style

[sharpe1027]

Just how much difference would a few yards really make? The fastest speed ever reached by a person is about 39.16 feet per second. Even reducing that for less than ideal conditions and accounting for pads, ect... a few yards doesn't seem give you much more than maybe a few tenths of a second.

i was thinking more about blocks on field goals

like on the line when a guy just jumps straight up and hits it jolly style

I hadn't thought of that angle.

I think that happens most often when they are kicking a long kick and ball comes out low, so they probably don't want to back up if they are already pushing it. Still, why not backup for short field goals? Maybe the few yards still results in more misses than blocks avoided?

[gbgary]

a little more consistancy by both the o and the d is what i'd like to see. i don't want to see any more passive d played this year. our best results were when we were aggressive. playing it soft and conservative (both viking games) got us abused. we've looked a lot better of late and that's due to the o-line's improved play. that makes everything click. not concerned about a few drops, or a missed field goal here and there. those things will get fixed. mm still wants to go deep a little too often it seems...or is it at the wrong time. no complaints with grant at all. i think his best runs are when we just go north and south rather than trying to turn a corner. other than holding the ball too long at times, and maybe throwing too hard in the cold, what else can you say about rodgers other than he's been great. rodgers, jennings, matthews, finley, raji, and a few other youngsters really make the future look bright. if things keep improving, this next generation of Packers are going to be very exciting.

[sharpe1027]

a little more consistancy by both the o and the d is what i'd like to see. i don't want to see any more passive d played this year. our best results were when we were aggressive. playing it soft and conservative (both viking games) got us abused. we've looked a lot better of late and that's due to the o-line's improved play. that makes everything click. not concerned about a few drops, or a missed field goal here and there. those things will get fixed. mm still wants to go deep a little too often it seems...or is it at the wrong time. no complaints with grant at all. i think his best runs are when we just go north and south rather than trying to turn a corner. other than holding the ball too long at times, and maybe throwing too hard in the cold, what else can you say about rodgers other than he's been great. rodgers, jennings, matthews, finley, raji, and a few other youngsters really make the future look bright. if things keep improving, this next generation of Packers are going to be very exciting.

I think having Bigby come back really allowed them to open up the rest of the defense. I would expect them to continue to be very aggressive.

I can't quite figure out if the choice in the shots down the field are more on MM or Rodgers. MM usually doesn't seem upset about them though.

Finley is a beast. DBs can't match up with his size and LBers can't run with him. The kid gets himself wide open, consistently, even when he isn't getting the ball. He is going to start opening up things for all the rest of the players as defenses start aggressively accounting for him.

The drops are troubling to me because they've happened all year and it still hasn't been fixed.

[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.

Well, I guess we did find out. The hold was not in the right spot, per Slocum:

"You’d like for him to make the kick,” Slocum said. “What happens on a mishandle, the kicker’s going into the ball, and he’s trusting that ball’s going to be right there on that spot. When there’s a double-clutch, he’s got to really stay on it and trust the holder’s going to get it there. In fact, what happened, the spot was several inches in front of what the intended spot was supposed to be, and Mason’s plant foot went according to where we intended to spot it, and so that produced the miss.”

[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.

Well, I guess we did find out. The hold was not in the right spot, per Slocum:

"You’d like for him to make the kick,” Slocum said. “What happens on a mishandle, the kicker’s going into the ball, and he’s trusting that ball’s going to be right there on that spot. When there’s a double-clutch, he’s got to really stay on it and trust the holder’s going to get it there. In fact, what happened, the spot was several inches in front of what the intended spot was supposed to be, and Mason’s plant foot went according to where we intended to spot it, and so that produced the miss.”

Also answers the question about their approach to a mis-handled snap. Kicker keeps going and has to trust the holder to get the ball down. I wonder if the kicker is taught to watch for the catch by the holder before starting forward. I'll have to remember to watch that this weekend.

[KYPack]

Some kickers pause if they see the snap or hold is funky. The master at this is Vinatieri. He can hold up for a beat and re-start his approach on the fly. Some guys don't have this ability and have a finer tolerance in their approach step.

You know who was a great holder?

Ryan. For a Canuck, he had great hands and timing.

[mraynrand]

Some kickers pause if they see the snap or hold is funky. The master at this is Vinatieri. He can hold up for a beat and re-start his approach on the fly. Some guys don't have this ability and have a finer tolerance in their approach step.

You know who was a great holder?

Ryan. For a Canuck, he had great hands and timing.

I was watching part of the last Seattle game, and Ryan still has that slow delivery and he still steps too far forward into the ball as he punts. While he has better hangtime and distance, there are some real flaws in his technique. Interesting about his holding for placekicks - Doug Pederson was a pretty good holder too.

[red]

Ryan. For a Canuck, he had great hands and timing.

plus, if it was completely botched, he could get up and outrun almost everyone on the field

[KYPack]

Some kickers pause if they see the snap or hold is funky. The master at this is Vinatieri. He can hold up for a beat and re-start his approach on the fly. Some guys don't have this ability and have a finer tolerance in their approach step.

You know who was a great holder?

Ryan. For a Canuck, he had great hands and timing.

I was watching part of the last Seattle game, and Ryan still has that slow delivery and he still steps too far forward into the ball as he punts. While he has better hangtime and distance, there are some real flaws in his technique. Interesting about his holding for placekicks - Doug Pederson was a pretty good holder too.

I was thinking about this the other day. I haven't see Seattle play hardly at all this season. Glad to hear they are still in the league.

I think part of Ryan's trouble is that he gets too fired up. A punter has to have the same mentality of a pro golfer. Controlled, relaxed and focused on his technique while staying loose. When Ryan hits a couple punts, he gets too excited. Then he trys to boom one. The thing that drove Stock nuts was Ryan reverting to his CFL technique. He'd take a 3 step approach when really trying to hammer one. 3 steps = a blocked punt. the ST coach's ultimate nightmare.

[pbmax]

Ryan. For a Canuck, he had great hands and timing.

plus, if it was completely botched, he could get up and outrun almost everyone on the field

They should have kept him for the fake, non-fake punt runs alone.

[Fritz]

You'd have to be a real outside-the-box kinda thinker, like that Texas A & M coach, to keep two punters on a roster.

[Brohm]

Interestingly, that Texas A&M coach also brought in Nolan Cromwell to be his OC. TT should give him a call and offer him his old ST job back :P

[swede]

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

Alex Karras was similarly indisposed toward placekicking specialists--particularly the foreigners who were hired for the sole purpose of "keeking a touchdown!"

You're old school, that's for sure.