Kicker - Page 5 - New England Patriots Forums

5 Rings for Brady!! · 08-09-2006, 10:17 AM

It was Gramatica's brother with the Cardinals that did the after kick celebration that got him injuried. People, please get that straight at least.

I can't figure out what people have against this guy in the first place. He was a pro-bowl kicker with a stronger leg than Adam, until he was injuried a couple of years ago. Now, he is back.

I always thought this was a brilliant signing. All he needs to do is return to form and we have a pro bowler at veteran minimum expense.

The rookie stays around either as a Kick-off kicker, or goes on IR with a troublesome hangnail.

captain stone · 08-09-2006, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5 Rings for Brady!!

It was Gramatica's brother with the Cardinals that did the after kick celebration that got him injuried. People, please get that straight at least.

I can't figure out what people have against this guy in the first place. He was a pro-bowl kicker with a stronger leg than Adam, until he was injuried a couple of years ago. Now, he is back.

I always thought this was a brilliant signing. All he needs to do is return to form and we have a pro bowler at veteran minimum expense.

The rookie stays around either as a Kick-off kicker, or goes on IR with a troublesome hangnail.

Martin also did after-FG celebrations. He just may not have been injured doing one.
A better veteran signing would have been Paul Edinger, Todd Peterson, or even Hayden Epstein (who are all still available). This assumes, of course, that Ryan Longwell was never on the pats' financial radar.
I may feel more strongly about him than most others, but, to me, Martin's little soccertrash, look-at-me history runs counter to the comportment expected by the FO of its players.

PromisedLand · 08-09-2006, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murphys95

I tell myself I won't be shocked with any move Belichick makes, but if Goko is let go, effectively that means the Pats "lose" a 4th round pick. So I'm with you, my guess is Gostkowski sticks.

The pick is already spent whether or not Gostkowski sticks. It's a "sunk cost", and management 101 says you don't consider sunk costs when making a decision.

***Box_O_Rocks*** · 08-09-2006, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PromisedLand

The pick is already spent whether or not Gostkowski sticks. It's a "sunk cost", and management 101 says you don't consider sunk costs when making a decision.

Bingo, we got bingo again!

rhubma · 08-09-2006, 02:31 PM

There are basically 4 realistic options to the Pats Kicker situation:

1) One kicker wins the job outright and the other is cut.

2) Two kickers make the final roster. Washington kicker John Hall was kept as a kickoff/long field goal person at the beginning of his career (with I think the Jets), so this has been done before.

3) Neither cuts the mustard and both are cut. The 2006 Pats kicker is not presently on the roster.

4) Both kickers excell and the team trades one of them for a pick(s). All quality players are valuable assets. Kickers are no exception. Other NFL teams who see that they have a position that has no one that is up to league standards usually look to pick someone up just prior to the 3rd preseason game. That gives that team enough time to have a few practices with the traded-for player before the regular season starts.

Personally I think option number 2 - keeping both - is the most likely scenario and have promoted this idea since Gostowski was picked. Giving the rookie kicker a chance to "season" a bit without being the person who directly replaces the legendary AV makes a lot of sense to me.

Lately though I think that option 4 - the trade for picks- is becoming more likely. If both kickers keep doing very well in camp, several other teams will be calling. The real issue would be if Gramatica is the one that the Pats want to keep (and a 30 year old, who was on a Super Bowl WINNING team previously is attractive), could the Pats get a 4th for Gostkowski. In essense, trading a pick from this past draft for the same pick in a future draft.

Alk · 08-09-2006, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacecrime

A lot of "ifs" in this scenario, not the smallest of which is that AV is a HOFer. Almost every sentence in the last two paragraphs is emminently debatable. But why do you say we did not have a fallback position? Who's to say their fallback wasn't signing a veteran kicker for insurance and drafting high enough to ensure they got the best kicker in the draft? You make it sound like a negative, but what better fallback position could there be than the best young kicker avaialble and an insurance veteran?

I don't think they misread anything regarding AV. If they really wanted him they could have franchised him.

Vinatieri is a HOFer? I must have missed that memo, I didn't even see him on the ballot this year. Considering how few kickers are in the HOF and that Vinatieri isn't even in the top 10 all time kickers, I would be astonished if he ever sees the HOF. Like you said though, there was no misreading Vinatieri's market. Short of being tagged, he wasn't going to stay here plain and simple. He made that perfectly clear that he wanted to finish his career indoors with the rest of the pansies.