Of course not, if this becomes a habit yes, but lets all remember something...no matter how mature we expect them to be, these are still kids out there. Emotions and adrenaline are running at %150, and kickers are the worst of the lot when it comes to letting the pressure get to them...I remember ( Since I live in Jacksonville ) Morton Anderson missing a 30 yard field goal while playing for the Falcons in the closing moments of the final game of the year, that if made, would have won the game for them. Well, Mr perfect missed it and put the Jags in the playoffs for the first time. And he was a big time veteran. So, lets digress a bit...only if a pattern begins. He,s still got some growing up to do. Little follow up here...Anderson was deluged with Christmas cards that year, all postmarked Jax Fla....LOL :helmet::helmet::helmet::helmet::helmet::helmet:
Unless David is obviously outclassed in practice, he should still be our kicker. Another miss or two and it could become a mental issue - and kicking is very much affected by the kicker's mental state. If he gets the yips it means problems. He has been right down the middle during extra points though.
i think youve gotta consider the quality of the kicks. they looked nice just a hair off. nice trajectory, distance and no hook or fade.
Did Les tell you that? If we had a better long range kicker, he would be playing. David is dependable within his range. You just don't put in a freshman because a kicker missed a couple of long ones.
Exactly, Crazy thread here. The kicking position is different from any other position. Many kickers have bad games from time to time and theres actually a few who had bad games in tiger stadium or against the tigers. BTW, was that kick at the same end in Tiger Stadium where kickers have been missing the last few years? What team was it that there kicker missed a few from that end. It is in my memory but I don't remember who is was or when? It seems to me that there was also a kicker for someone that had a great year one year and the next year he had a terrible year? The kicking position is a delicate position and takes a certain kind of mind set but you don't bench a guy because he has one bad guy. Example, Broncos vs Raiders this year, Janikowski made the winning fg but had to re-kick it and missed. NO one should be benched for one bad game though, JR had 3 turnovers in the 2005 Fla game!
I've wondered what happened to the old "straight on' style of kicking. I percieved that straight on would be more accurate and easier to aim the ball. I also wondered if kickers made or missed more field goals percentage wise in the old days vs todays "soccer style' kicker. I did some digging around and came up with this. http://www.goupstate.com/article/20070921/NEWS/709210319/1011/SPORTS01 "One problem with non-soccer players is how they kick. Kicking soccer style gives players more control of where the ball is going. Some players, though, kick straight on. "You get those toe mashers - straight ahead," said Union County coach David Lipsey about Jonesville, where there was no soccer team. Many claim that with straight-ahead kickers, coaches on the sideline often don't know where the ball will go, and they aren't sure the kickers does either. It's the amount of space where the ball makes contact with the foot that is different, as soccer-style kickers have a larger contact point on the side of their foot than the toes of a straight-ahead kicker. "A soccer player knows where it is going," Bridges said. "Any little glitch when you're kicking it straight on, you have no clue what's going to happen." "Kicking soccer style is accurate," Strickland said. "If you miss it off your toe a fraction of an inch, it may go left or right." Good mindset It isn't just the soccer-style of kicking that football coaches like - it's their mentality, too. Most of them have stood in the penalty box and went one-on-one with a defending goalkeeper. After that pressure, last-second chip shots from 20 yards aren't so daunting. There is one big difference in the two sports, though. "The crowds are much bigger for football than in soccer," said Lindsey, who has played two years of varsity soccer at Dorman as a midfielder. On the football field, kickers simply go about their jobs with the same attitude they have when playing soccer. "A lot of time people don't give kickers enough credit. They are in some crucial situations, so they have to be mentally tough kids," Gutshall said. "A kid who isn't strong mentally can't do it. Soccer players are use to that pressure. I would much rather get a strong-legged kicker out of our soccer program who is used to competing than a kid who can kick who is in the building. If he's not playing soccer, I question how he's going to handle kicking." And then there is the whole tackling aspect of the game. Kickers are the last line of defense on kickoffs and punt returns. "When you play soccer, it's a hard game. There's a lot of contact going on that you don't really know about unless you watch it. You have to have a little of that in you to play," Miller said. "Most of the kickers who come from soccer don't mind mixing it up a little bit. They can make a tackle. We try to keep them out of that as much as possible." While football coaches can see the positives to using soccer players as their kicker, they also see a negative. Soccer is most of these guys' first love and club soccer teams play in the fall. Pretulak left after the state championship in 2000 to go play in a soccer tournament in Charleston, Gutshall said. That can worry some coaches. "They could get hurt on a Thursday night playing soccer and you don't have a kicker on Friday night," Gutshall said. "So you better have two."
