Anyone a little nervous about Shayne Graham?

[Deus Irae]

....but decent hold

But it threw off the timing. Kickers need everything to be perfect. Just ask Graham's counterpart for the evening.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

Remember that time Gost made a 40+ yard game winning FG as time expired in the playoffs?

Me either.

So why would I be missing something that never existed? Shayne has better career numbers than Gost. The only thing that hurts us is the kickoffs now.

 

[mgcolby]

Jeff Reed has been struggling at Heinz all season, so I'm willing to hold off judgement until next week on Graham. If he is shakey at home then I'm definitely in the nervous crowd.

 

[alamo]

Biggest difference is in kickoff distance and touchbacks. Last year Graham had less than half the touchbacks that Ghost had. This is a relatively hidden cost to Ghost's injury.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Okay ... nice win and what can I worry about next.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Missing an XP is not an auspicious start, however, don't pass judgment quite yet. Graham hasn't made a kick of any consequence in almost a year. He then has 6 days to prepare for kicks of significant consequence (and on the national stage of Sunday Night Football). Further, as mentioned by another poster quite correctly, FG kicking is about having the hold-snap-timing correct to the Kicker's liking. Ultimately, he hit both of his FGs, all but one of his XPs, and his kickoffs weren't a disaster. All these things considered, plus playing in one of the toughest kicking venues in the game, Graham's performance was good enough and, imho, gives the Patriots some hope that the kicking game won't be a glaring weakness (though a prayer doesn't seem out of order).

 

[rjw]

I was actually not surprised he missed the extra point. Like I said before in the other thread about him, he earned his nickname of "Shank". Especially by missing important kicks.

 

[aurakilla]

Remember that time Gost made a 40+ yard game winning FG as time expired in the playoffs?

Me either.

So why would I be missing something that never existed? Shayne has better career numbers than Gost. The only thing that hurts us is the kickoffs now.

ok it was a 31 yarder but 2006 playoffs vs the chargers there was i think 1 min left when ghost made the fg that ultimately gave the pats the win.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Okay ... nice win and what can I worry about next.

No kidding. We have gripes about our kicker and a thread complaining about NBCs handling of a mythical yellow line. Its like folks are just looking for things to b*tch about.

Doesn't anyone actually enjoy the wins?

 

[bigcountry75]

Ok why don't we just cut the kicker, score TD's every series and go for 2, Then have the punter kickoff.....lol

Really though I think Graham will be fine....I was worried when he missed that Extra Point but nailing that 40 yd FG into the open end of the stadium was encouraging (even if it was a knuckle ball)....He is an accurate kicker and he doesn't need the huge leg because how often did BB give gost the chance from 50? hardly at all.....Just be good 40 and in and all will be good....

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I'm willing to chalk some of what happened (missed XP, shaky FG) to what happens when snapper, kicker and holder are working together for the first time, but anyone who isn't concerned that we lost arguably the best K in the league has their head in the sand.

What bothered me most were his relatively weak Kickoffs...he barely reached the endzone even when he was spotted 15 yards by a penalty towards the end. Gostkowski would have seen if he could have kicked it through the uprights. To me, his many un-returnable KO's were as important as his FG's in assessing Gostkowski's importance to the Pats.

 

[DaBruinz]

The missed extra point and the FG which was good but not exactly powerful and a bit on the wounded duck movement through the uprights has me feeling a little worried about a game that will be closer and that Graham may have to kick a 45 yarder or so to win a game maybe as early as next week.

Anyone else here sweating FGs in the upcoming games should they be close ones?

I miss Gostkowski,I never really had many worries of consistency ,even if he shanked one every now and then.

Let's keep a few things in mind.

First and foremost, That stadium is horrible for kickers. Even the guy who kicks there every practice had issues.

Secondly, Graham had 8 kick-offs.. His first 8 of the season. They traveled 70, 68, 65, 63, 63, 64, 55*, 62. The 55 yarder gets an asterisk because it was kicked from the Pats 45 yard line due to Woodley's illegal hit on Brady.

Third, the temperature by the end of the game was 38 degrees. Have you ever tried kicking a cold football??

Is Graham ideal? No. If he was, he wouldn't have been on the unemployment line. But he's off to a decent start and he's played in cold weather plenty of times.. Let's worry about him if he continues to have trouble.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If we're gonna obsess about the kicking game how about some focus on where there may still be a problem. Our new LS snapped high and wide on the XP and only the Space Emperor's excellent hands fielded the errant snap (yet again) but he was unavoidably late getting the ball down for the kick.

Given the brief time together, I'd give the group a solid B+

 

[mcgraw_wv]

He has a higher career field goal percentage than Gostkowski and Vinatieri and kicked a 53 yard field goal last year.

but was the 4th worst kicker in 09 in term of accuracy.

 

[DaBruinz]

I'm willing to chalk some of what happened (missed XP, shaky FG) to what happens when snapper, kicker and holder are working together for the first time, but anyone who isn't concerned that we lost arguably the best K in the league has their head in the sand.

What bothered me most were his relatively weak Kickoffs...he barely reached the endzone even when he was spotted 15 yards by a penalty towards the end. Gostkowski would have seen if he could have kicked it through the uprights. To me, his many un-returnable KO's were as important as his FG's in assessing Gostkowski's importance to the Pats.

That kick-off was his 7th of the night and it was about 5 yards deep into the endzone. It was also a balmy 38 degrees.

His career average for kick-offs is only 61.8. So, his kick-offs will be an issue. But remember that he played in Cincinnati so he's had cold weather games playing in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincy, and Baltimore. He's not Gost, but he's not garbage either.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Felger was quick to jump on the missed PAT last night in his post game show. So if Felger is making an issue of it , then there is nothing to worry about.

 

[Rob0729]

He was better at kick offs than I thought he was. I will give him a mullligan for now for the PAT. It looks like it might have been a bad placement by Mesko.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

No kidding. We have gripes about our kicker and a thread complaining about NBCs handling of a mythical yellow line. Its like folks are just looking for things to b*tch about.

Doesn't anyone actually enjoy the wins?

Absolutely not. You want them to let themselves be thought of as homers??? This team could win it all and within the hour there were be at least a half dozen threads here about the need to move on and deal with some nagging concern that precludes anyone but a blind homer from basking in that shortlived glow...

 

[102 Pat]

I'll get nervous if he's still on the team in the playoffs, he has a bad habit of missing in the post season

 

[ATippett56]

The missed extra point and the FG which was good but not exactly powerful and a bit on the wounded duck movement through the uprights has me feeling a little worried about a game that will be closer and that Graham may have to kick a 45 yarder or so to win a game maybe as early as next week.

Anyone else here sweating FGs in the upcoming games should they be close ones?

I miss Gostkowski,I never really had many worries of consistency ,even if he shanked one every now and then.

How many good kickers are currently unemployed these days?