I like Dave Rayner!!!!

[BlueBrewer]

How about this kid, knocks home 4 field goals yesterday, only two counted but man, a 55 yarder that looked easy. He is quickly making me forget about Shortwell. Applause to TT on this one.

[MJZiggy]

I couldn't agree more. Nice kickoffs as well.

[Patler]

Hitting the 55 yarder was impressive, but nailing the 40 yarder immediately after the disappointment of have the record 55 yarder taken away was maybe even more impressive. You need you fieldgoal kicker to be cool under pressure like that!

[bbbffl66]

That must have been some wind though. Both kickers were putting kickoffs out of the end zone. That doesn't take anything away from Rayners kicks. He was awesome!!

[GoPack06]

he looks like he's having fun too. young kid big leg.

[GBRulz]

I agree, I like this kid, too.

I wonder what our opponents average starting field position is with Rayner vs. what it was with Longwell. It seemed his short kickoffs always had teams starting at their own 35-40 yard line. Of course, part of the blame goes to ST coverage, but even a great ST can only do so much when your kicker can't kick past the 10 yard line.

[BF4MVP]

I am a Dave Rayner fan. Very nice pick-up.

[HarveyWallbangers]

This are my not so official statistics:

Rayner in 2006

Kickoff average: 67.7
Touchbacks: 8
Kickoff return average: 20.2
Average starting field position for opponents: 22.4

Longwell in 2005

Kickoff average: 60.9
Touchbacks: 3
Kickoff return average: 21.6
Average starting field position for opponents: 30.5

Longwell in 2004

Kickoff average: 58.6
Touchbacks: 2
Kickoff return average: 20.2
Average starting field position for opponents: 31.6

Rayner's may go down as the weather gets worse. It may not. It depends a lot on the wind. However, this shows a staggering improvement on starting field position of 8 yards/kickoff from 2005 and 9 yards/kickoff from 2004.

[Patler]

All he has to do is kick a couple game winners on the Packers' last possessions in a few games and Longwell will soon be forgotten, just as everyone forgot Jacke quite quickly (even though Longwell did not have game winners for a few years). Of course, if he misses those same kicks........

[HarveyWallbangers]

Longwell missed a game winning 20 yarder in his 2nd game with the Pack, right? Vs. the Eagles. I'd give Rayner a break if he struggles early on them. I suspect he might not be half bad--considering he seems to have an ideal "makeup" for a kicker. I figured he'd been inconsistent, and he still probably will be--especially when the weather turns bad. However, he's been much better than I thought, and I think long-term he may turn out to be one of the better kickers in the league. We'll see. I'm cautiously optimistic. He's missed one really makeable kick, and that was from 45 yards. He's shown that he can make 54-55 yarders outdoors with ease. The Packer fans in Green Bay likely have never seen the caliber of his leg on kickoffs. Well, kicking for the Packers anyways. I wonder what the team record for touchbacks is. He already has 8 of them this year.

[Patler]

Rayner's may go down as the weather gets worse. It may not. It depends a lot on the wind. However, this shows a staggering improvement on starting field position of 8 yards/kickoff from 2005 and 9 yards/kickoff from 2004.

I have no doubt that Rayner will have a better distance average than Longwell for the whole year, but you hit the fairness issue on the head with the comment above. Things can change drastically with a few Nov and Dec games in Lambeau and Soldier Field. Heck, they might have a blizzard in Buffalo in two weeks!

[Patler]

Longwell missed a game winning 20 yarder in his 2nd game with the Pack, right? Vs. the Eagles. I'd give Rayner a break if he struggles early on them. I suspect he might not be half bad--considering he seems to have an ideal "makeup" for a kicker. I figured he'd been inconsistent, and he still probably will be--especially when the weather turns bad. However, he's been much better than I thought, and I think long-term he may turn out to be one of the better kickers in the league. We'll see. I'm cautiously optimistic. He's missed one really makeable kick, and that was from 45 yards. He's shown that he can make 54-55 yarders outdoors with ease. The Packer fans in Green Bay likely have never seen the caliber of his leg on kickoffs. Well, kicking for the Packers anyways. I wonder what the team record for touchbacks is. He already has 8 of them this year.

I'm optimistic now about Rayner, too. I was concerned early, because several of his misses were "bad" misses, not really even close. But recently, even some of his longer kicks have been quite "down the middle", really good looking kicks. He's young enough that he could get better and better for several years. So far, so good!

[Little Whiskey]

he looked a little pissed after the facemask call that brought back his 40 yarder be for the half. I still don't understand the call that made him rekick the 55yarder. why wasn't it a penelty that could have been refused??

[MJZiggy]

Because it was a penalty before the snap and the whistle had blown the play dead before he kicked it.

[Little Whiskey]

Because it was a penalty before the snap and the whistle had blown the play dead before he kicked it.

why though??? i've never heard that penelty before. unless a defensman touches a member of the offese or is "unabatted" toward the qb, i have never heard of a penalty that stops the play.