I was looking on the web today and found this crazy story and thought huh..If we have a boxing glove on a pole why can't we have arena football field goal posts. Think how more accurate our kickers would be if they had to use these all summer/fall camp. It will be interesting to see how it works out at A&M, hopefully VT will follow considering out turrrible FG kicking this past year.
The goalposts in arena football are only 9 feet wide which will force A&Ms kickers to place their kicks in a tighter window. The standard goalpost in college football is 18 feet wide, double the width of the arena goalposts.
Granted A&M's kicker had a 80% success rate for field goals in 2013 seems like they're shooting for 100% this year.
Great work by @TAMUequipment by installing new - Arena League Goalposts to help improve our FG accuracy! #GigEm pic.twitter.com/Hn6sok3iGP— Jeff Banks (@jbsttamu) May 13, 2014
Comments
The thing I found most interesting in that article was that aTm's kicker was a former MLS goalie.
I looked him (Josh Lambo) up. He was the 8th overall pick in the 2008 MLS draft (surprisingly right after VT's very own Patrick Nyarko) but never played a game in the MLS...whomp whomp.
If you're going to have a soccer player be your place kicker, goalie would be your best position to choose from since they constantly have to make 50+ yd kicks from the goalie box.
and since he was drafted by the MLS he didn't give up his amateurism due to it being soccer not the NFL. crazy how that works out huh????
Team Player PosSalaryMins.
DALJosh LamboGK$1330000
Russell Wilson thinks it works just fine...
that A&M kicker is set. He basically got a huge salary, never played due to broken jaw, now at A&M kicking and likely will be a draft pick in 15' or '16 this kid gets it!!!!!
Kickers, even really good good ones, rarely become draft picks, and those that do rarely make the team. There's so little turnover on NFL rosters for that spot, and each team really only needs 1. If that guy gets hurt, they just sign another off the street (sorta like how people do it in fantasy leagues).
There's not much to "get" when it means getting paid a million bucks to do nothing.
oh yeah he could have just ended his career right there, but instead he went back to school to get a degree, and maybe to be on an NFL team. His soccer career was ended due to a broken jaw.. nothing he could have done
Look at Jameis, and Hernandez.. they don't seem to get it (other than Crab Legs and Guns)
Whats there to get? Just don't drop the soap!!
And pay for your crab legs!
So he couldn't play football anymore, decided to play football instead?
i think its called throwball over in england ...
As opposed to kickball?
That's a better name for soccer anyway!
I would like to think soccer is more like "poetry in motion"..
American Football I believe
I saw Patrick play for the Fire against the Red Bulls, but he didn't contribute much on the day. It was a very lackluster match...as are much MLS matches.
Already in use at Carolina Panthers practice facility and have been for a while. I've wondered why we have not installed them here. Great training tool I'd say.
Yep. Graham Gano sucked in Washington and then comes to Carolina and becomes of the best kickers in the NFL.
Most players leave Washington and become better players...
Or were better players before they came to Washington...
Yeah in Washington he was "OH NO" Gano. For Carolina he is "OH FO SHO" Gano.
I never thought he was the bad in DC - just needed some more work. The guy was young, had great range, and saved you a roster spot because he could handle kickoff duties too. I think the fact that it was easy to turn his name into "Ga-no good" was ultimately why he lost fan support, honestly.
He may have been young, but he also didn't have good numbers either. He has definitely improved but in 2010 he hit 69% and 2011 it was 76% of his FGs. That just isn't going to cut it. What really did him in was that in 2011 he had what could have been the game winning FG blocked against Dallas in the first game that the Skins lost 18-16 and then he missed two field goals, one in OT (although from a brutal 52 yards), in the second game against Dallas, which the Skins lost 27-24 in OT. The Skins could go 2-14, as long as they beat Dallas twice, its still a good year. So coupled with the fact that Washington was lousy, and they lost both Dallas games went a long way in seeing him out the door, the stats not helping him either.
Its worked out for him though, being above 80% both seasons in Carolina now and Kai Forbath has been pretty decent for the Skins. Amazing in 2012 with a 94% but regressed to the 80's last season. I wanted to scream at the TV when the Skins drafted a kicker in the seventh round this year so we will see how that works out.
Well, a major issue was the # of blocked kicks. The Redskins that year allowed something like a rediculous 3 or 4 blocked kicks over the course of the year. When you took those out, his numbers weren't all that bad, especially considering he was attempting (and sometimes even making) 50+ yard attempts. I think it was the San Fransisco game where he made something rediculous (like almost a 60-yarder).
Kobra Kai's good, but he doesn't quite have the distance that Gano does, which hurts him on kickoffs. I think that, more than anything, is why they drafted another kicker.
EDIT: 5 BLOCKED KICKS! 5 of Gano's 10 misses were blocked. To me, that says the problem is likely rooted someplace else...
Problems in Washington D.C.?
"EDIT: 5 BLOCKED KICKS! 5 of Gano's 10 misses were blocked. To me, that says the problem is likely rooted someplace else..."
That depends on whether the kicks were getting blocked at the line of scrimmage because he was kicking them too low or if they were blocked in the backfield by the opponent getting around the edge due to poor blocking and alignment. The former would be on Gano, the latter on the rest of the special teams unit and the special teams coach. Conversely, if most of his blocked kicks were on attempts of >50yds, then it is somewhat explainable since he would have been kicking them more for distance than height.
I remember at least 2 instances of guys just blowing through the line (one of which occurred on an extra point attempt). I'd have to go back and check, but I remember that I felt the vast majority of the blocks were on the line not picking someone up or just getting bowled over, which I ultimately blame on poor coaching.
This is an old article, and from an Eagles blogger, but I think it covers them all very well:
http://bloggingthebeast.com/2012/05/11/film-breakdown-a-closer-look-at-t...
That is an awesome breakdown. Clearly all five of his blocked kicks were due to horrible blocking upfront.
On blocked kick #4 I laughed out loud when I saw a "blocker" laying flat on his back as the Seattle DT runs right through him and makes the play. Then I read that it was VT's own Will Montgomery laying there, admiring the engineering of Seattle's retractable roof, and I got sad. Can we blame that on Newsome? The Redskins special teams were downright embarassing that year.