What will keep us from the Super Bowl: the kicking game

i just dont want to see this BS from graham...

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/09000d5d8159d921/Graham-s-second-miss

cost his team 6 points...

 

Bullock missed a 51 yarder in preseason. Graham has made a 51 yarder in regular season.

 

51 yarder vs Green Bay. Not a chip shot. And hit a 53 yarder in preseason.

42 vs Jets, 41 vs Broncos, 40 vs Dolphins. Still longer than a chip shot.

 

bullock missed a 52 yarder just right with plenty of distance.. graham missed a 51 yarder short against miami.. 40 yarders are the norm for kickers... and guys are getting excited for those???

 

yea, accuracy isn't my concern with Graham, it's distance. that 51 yarder was in optimal conditions (can't get any better than an air conditioned, closed roof stadium) and he wasn't close.

and when the opponent starting field position is 30 yard line or more due to short kickoff and poor coverage, it puts a lot of the pressure on the defense AND offense. if the defense makes a stop, the offense is almost always getting teh ball back inside our own 20.

i suppose if we keep blowing teams out it won't matter.

 

Actually the FG Bullock missed was a 51 yarder. Being accurate is a bigger asset than having a strong leg.

40 yarders are NOT the norm for kickers. A lot of kickers have missed their fgs this year. David Akers is 5-8 when kicking from 40-49 yards. Gostkowski is 4-7. Bironas is 2-4. Graham is 3-3.

When the game is on the line and you need someone to kick a 40 or 50 yarder, then you'll care less about length and more about accuracy and consistency.

 

Kris Brown hit a 57 yarder for us once. I think he's available.

:grin:

 

Agreed. Even if 40-49 is indeed the norm for kickers, I'd rather make those consistently, and concede the 52+ yarders. Missing a short FG is just as costly as missing a long FG, save for few yards of field position.

 

The thing with Bullock is he's not really a bomber, either. He'll be a very good kicker, but I think he'll max out at 55, and he's not going to consistently drive it out of the end zone on kickoffs. The one area Graham consistently outperformed Bullock in camp/preseason was on kickoff depth, though that may have reflected on Bullock's groin injury.

My guess is the Texans, philosophically, would love for their punter to have the "bigger" leg and handle kickoffs, as Hartmann did last year. But with his second suspension, he's no longer an option, and Donnie Jones (not a kickoff guy) is handling himself quite well as far as punting is concerned. So they're stuck with Graham as the only real option, and just have to work at improving the coverage.

This time next year, I think Bullock will be the kicker and there will be a new punter that also handles kickoffs.

 

Kicking into the end zone is not the solution for the coverage problems. Better coverage is the solution to the coverage problems. The ball is brought out of the end zone often and if the coverage isn't good then it doesn't matter. Players and return teams are good enough to take one to the house from 5 yards deep. Exhibit A: Jacoby Jones returned a kickoff 108 yards vs the cowboys and he was untouched. Fix the coverage not the kicking.

 

i'd like to see a stat of the percentage of kickoffs that are returned against the texans compared to the league. it certainly feels like 90% are returned which seems way high.

 

no need to IR sharpton.. there is still about 6 weeks before a decision has to be made about adding him to the 53...

but no the texans will NOT carry 3 kickers.. the texans need to fix their issues in coverage bottomline..

 

why the texans doesnt get billy cundiff, he has 5 FGs from 50+ yards, I bet he has a strong leg.

 

billy cundiff has one less shanked FG in the playoffs than shayne graham has

 

don't tell me that 4th and 5 call on the 30 yard line is a sign of things to come. if Graham can't handle a 47 yarder, we're in trouble in close games.

 

My guess is that if it was 4th and 10 from the same distance, they would have gone for the FG.

But the playbook is wide open for 5 yards... and its just as likely to get a conversion as it is for Graham to get a FG in that situation... and the Texans really didn't need either to happen to get the win.

Also, if its a close game where a FG makes a difference, they're attempting it... but I agree that Graham doesn't have any sort of reliable leg.

They badly need to upgrade the kickers in the off-season (both for kickoffs and FG's).

 

it's a strange playcall at best. 47 yards shouldn't be a difficult attempt. a FG gives you a 15 point lead. and for "Mr. Conservative" to go for it says a lot about how much confidence he has in his kicker.

 

Need to upgrade to a better kicker. Also need a new ******* special teams coach (though not likely to happen). I said this in the game thread, but sometimes in the playoffs, it comes down to special teams. We have one of the worst, if not the worst.