Nate Kaeding after another disappointing miss (Courtesy of nfl.com)
Many people will put kicker at or near the bottom of team’s needs during the off-season. This is mainly because people don’t respect what a kicker can do for their team. But after this post-season, I think some teams will have to reconsider their kicker position.
With only two rounds of the 2010 post-season finish, kickers have gone 15/26 (57.69%). In a few situations, their misses cost their team a win. The weird thing is that 6 out of the 8 games played so far have been either indoors or in warm weather. Here are the kickers who brought shame, frustration and disappointment to their fans:
Nate Kaeding is only 8 for 15 for his career in the playoffs. His worst performance was arguably last Sunday’s game against the Jets. Kaeding missed all three field goals after missing only three out of 35 attempts during the regular season. Though one of his kicks were from 57 yards out, it is still disappointing for him to miss all three kicks, especially since he’s going to the Pro Bowl. Will the Chargers cut him because of it? Probably not but his playoff stats are less than All-Pro.
Shayne Graham, Golden Graham, one of the better kickers in the league, missed both field goals in the Wildcard Round. Funny thing is, they were both under 40 yards. Now was this one bad game? We might never know but it was an awful performance. But with Graham’s contract coming to an end, there’s a possibility that we might not see the red-headed kicker in a Bengals uniform next season.
Neil Rackers might have cost his team a chance to move on to the Divisional Round after missing a 34 yarder that would have put the Cardinals up three with 14 seconds left. Fortunately for him, the Cardinals won the game. He went 1 for 3 overall in this year’s playoffs. He is now 6 for 10 for his career in the playoffs. Now does he get cut? I can’t see it happening but when you shank a 34 yarder as bad as he did, you got to question your kicker’s abilities.
We as fans should understand how important a great kicker is. Numerous games can come down to a late game-winning kick. Kickers like Adam Vinatieri have so many teams interested in signing them because of their clutch kicks. Sometimes it’s just an intangible thing that kickers have. Bottom line, the kicker position is more important than people make it out to be.
That’s lockerz. You can get 4 points every day (more if you refer people) and an iPod touch 32 GB is 600 points. 100 more days until I get it lol. If you want an invite please contact us.
The fans are 3-4-1 so far!
Who will win? (Jets at Colts)
Total Voters: 21
Loading ...Who will win? (Vikings at Saints)
Total Voters: 21
Loading ...There are some new SIM tournaments going on at Maddenholics.com and we are wondering if you would like to join. The tournament sign up are happening right now and we will explain how you will play your games later. If you are a freestyle player, there will be freestyle tournaments soon.
360: http://forum.maddenholics.com/showthread.php?tid=509
PS3: http://forum.maddenholics.com/showthread.php?tid=439
Well, I picked one game right last week…
Or the battle of Baltimore. The Ravens are coming off of a big win over the favoured New England Patriots. But now they have a bigger challenge. The Colts won’t be an easy team to beat. However, there are similarities between the Colts offensive and the Patriots offence. Both have great Quarterbacks, average rushing attacks and skill throughout the Wide Receiver position. In their last game, Baltimore got off to a quick start and that will probably be key in this game. If they can get an early lead, their defence could keep them in charge.
My Pick: Ravens (UPSET!) because they took care of the Patriots rather easily
Maybe the Jets should be favoured in every game like Rex Ryan said. Sorry Rex, the Chargers are favoured by a touchdown for Sunday’s game. The one battle to look at in this game would be the Chargers passing attack against the Jets pass defence. Both are very solid and have star players at key positions. This week, Revis Island welcomes Vincent Jackson. Jackson has the height advantage but so did Randy Moss in two games the Patriots faced off against the Jets and Moss didn’t do so well. This game might come down to the Jets rushing attack against the Chargers rush defence. The stats tell us that New York has the edge but we’ll have to see. It wasn’t Thomas Jones, their feature back, who was their leading rusher last weekend. San Diego has to learn from what Cincinnati failed to do. The key for the Jets last week was their play action and misdirection. The Chargers must control what the Jets do passing the ball. Though Mark Sanchez did have a good game last week, he is still a rookie that threw 20 interceptions this year. Force Sanchez into mistakes.
My Pick: Chargers
Now that the Cowboys have won in the playoffs, everyone seems to be jumping on their bandwagon to the Super Bowl. So why haven’t I yet? Because the Vikings are in their way. Now I know Brett Favre hasn’t been great in his last couple of playoff appearances. I understand Adrian Peterson is in slump. But the thing is, Minnesota had the luxury of a bye week. Favre has a week off to rest his arm, Peterson has an extra week to work on his running and the team gets a week to heal up. The Vikings are going to come into this game ready to go. Their run defence has always been solid and will have a difficult task stopping the three-headed running backs of Dallas. However, it might be the passing attack for the Cowboys that is the biggest factor as Tony Romo has been hot as of late and so has their defence.
My Pick: Cowboys (I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet, just thinking about it)
This game will be crucial for the Saints. They’ve lost 3 straight even though they had their starters in most of the time. The Cardinals come into this game after putting up 51 points on the second best defence in the league. Kurt Warner lit it up and there’s no doubt that they can do it again. This could be another high scoring game with two of the top offences going at it. But New Orleans is at home for this game, which is a significant advantage since it gets very loud in the Louisiana Superdome. They also got the week off to rest and prepare.
My Pick: Saints
by 
by 