Pats sign Gramatica

[mac]

My thoughts as well.

Not my thoughts at all. Why all the negativity? In his best years, this guy was known as automatica. Great from 50+. Strong leg. Can kick off. Just needs to chill and not try to make any tackles. I see Gramatica as the Pats kicker next year.

 

[maverick4]

re

Not my thoughts at all. Why all the negativity? In his best years, this guy was known as automatica. Great from 50+. Strong leg. Can kick off. Just needs to chill and not try to make any tackles. I see Gramatica as the Pats kicker next year.

I remember watching 'Automatica Gramatica' when he was in college. He used to be amazing.

.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Not my thoughts at all. Why all the negativity? In his best years, this guy was known as automatica. Great from 50+. Strong leg. Can kick off. Just needs to chill and not try to make any tackles. I see Gramatica as the Pats kicker next year.

I see dead people.

 

[Welker83]

Whats really funny is 60% accuaracy beyond 39 yards (41-73)....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2399627&CMP=OTC-DT9705204233

 

[SoonerPatriot]

I remember watching 'Automatica Gramatica' when he was in college. He used to be amazing.

.

The key word being "used". I'm sure he will be fine. Thank God it wasn't the OTHER one they signed.

 

[Pats726]

He'll be a good journeyman competition for a rookie K. Plus he's much cheaper than Edinger. If he gets back to 2002 form, he could win out the job from a rookie, or we might keep him and a rookie on the roster. One for KO, one for K. Signings like this just cannot hurt.

Furthermore, I wouldn't be suprised if we not only draft a K, but sign a UDFA K.

I agree..they will bring in a few kickers..draft UFDA..I also heard that one of the Revolution players was interested...why not??

 

[Pats726]

He'll be a good journeyman competition for a rookie K. Plus he's much cheaper than Edinger. If he gets back to 2002 form, he could win out the job from a rookie, or we might keep him and a rookie on the roster. One for KO, one for K. Signings like this just cannot hurt.

Furthermore, I wouldn't be suprised if we not only draft a K, but sign a UDFA K.

I agree..they will bring in a few kickers..draft UFDA..I also heard that one of the Revolution players was interested...why not??

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

Which brother hurt himself head-butting another player? It wasn't the same one that hurt himself jumping around was it?

 

[PATSNUTme]

Which brother hurt himself head-butting another player? It wasn't the same one that hurt himself jumping around was it?

I think it was Bill. Ended his career.

 

[spacecrime]

Sorry if I missed this elesewlhere, but has contract details on Grammatica been released? Number of years? Signing bonus?

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Well, it was a nice run.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Some choice observations from Curren And Felger:

"Martin Gramatica -- a kicker who went from "Automatica" to "erratica" -- was signed by the Patriots yesterday after spending 2005 out of the NFL.

Gramatica, 30, went bad in a hurry. After making 110 of 134 field goals in his first four years in the league with Tampa Bay he made just 16 of 26 in 2003 for the Bucs. Jettisoned by Tampa Bay, he was signed by the Colts in 2004 and went just 11 of 19. He's 10 for 17 from 30-49 yards in his last two years in the league after going 65 for 80 from that distance in his first four years with Tampa.

Last fall, The Bradenton Herald spoke to Gramatica months after he had surgery to repair torn muscles in his groin and lower abdomen.

"The surgery healed everything that was wrong. . . . Everybody in the world thinks I can't kick anymore since I struggled the last few years, but that's not the case," said Gramatica (who was likely overestimating the number of people with an opinion on his kicking future). "I've been kicking, and it feels great. We're still building my leg power for field goals and kickoffs, but other than that, I feel 100 times better than I have in a while. I can go out and run sprints, and I haven't been able to do that in two or three years without feeling it the next day."

http://www.projo.com/patriots/content/projo_20060407_07patsjo.e60b472.html

''In the meantime, the Patriots didn’t get any better yesterday with the signings of Jones and Gramatica. Ideally, these are emergency/last resort-type players. If the Pats have to rely on either, they’re in trouble.

Jones is a terrific gunner on special teams. But if he’s the insurance in case Rodney Harrison doesn’t return to health and Eugene Wilson doesn’t return to form, watch out.

Gramatica? He was out of football in 2005 after missing 17 kicks of 30 yards or longer over a stretch of 27 games from September 2003 to November 2004. As for his bad-weather experience, he was born in Argentina, went to high school in Florida and spent the first six years of his career in Tampa and the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, where the Colts signed him to help on kickoffs through the end of 2004.

Speaking of Indianapolis, the Colts and new kicker Adam Vinatieri come to Gillette Stadium on Nov. 5 for NBC’s nationally televised Sunday night game.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to a kick."


http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=134008&format=&page=2

 

[BelichickFan]

Of course Felger will say that, he was married to "sign Vinatieri, whatever it takes". No-one here or in the Boston media has a clue about Gramatica. Is it less that 50-50 that he returns to his former self ? I would imagine so. But it's worth a shot. If he can't do it, no harm. If he can, we'll have as good a kicker as Vinatieri (in different ways) for much less money.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Not my thoughts at all. Why all the negativity? In his best years, this guy was known as automatica. Great from 50+. Strong leg. Can kick off. Just needs to chill and not try to make any tackles. I see Gramatica as the Pats kicker next year.

In his best years Adam was the best overall kicker on the planet. He was also durable.

What makes no sense in all this is if an abdominal/groin injury literally ruined his career between 2003 and 2004, why did he wait until he was unemployed for 6 months the middle of 2005 to have surgery to correct an injury that was costing him millions?

Kickers can be maddeningly inconsistent from year to year, but this guy fell into the black hole and did nothing about it for two and a half years???

Just saying...

The other flying Gramatica who apparently tore a hammy during one of their patented post routine FG piroettes is apparently now kicking in the Arena league.

 

[Joe_n99]

BB has same pet peeves as me...

I am really starting to believe that the same stupid things that bother me bother BB too.

I have my own little Pats depth chart and having the blank space next to kicker was driving me up the freaking wall!

I can here BB saying the exact same thing going through my mind..."Go find me a kicker to sign who isn't going to mess up my cap and might compete for the job in TC, just so I can fill this empty space on my sheet!".


PS Following the same thinking next FA signings will be LB and a DT..

 

[Pats726]

Of course Felger will say that, he was married to "sign Vinatieri, whatever it takes". No-one here or in the Boston media has a clue about Gramatica. Is it less that 50-50 that he returns to his former self ? I would imagine so. But it's worth a shot. If he can't do it, no harm. If he can, we'll have as good a kicker as Vinatieri (in different ways) for much less money.

Felger would have slammed Lombardi in the mid 60s if he was alive..I take his opinion with less and less meaning as he shows how NOT smart he is. He's to me following in the Borges trail..the Herald version..now that pond scum Mannix is gone. Frrankly, I thought he was smarter than that and one would think he would understand how incredible this front office is compared with those of the past here..He did write a book about that..albeit short and not in depth, but nonetheless I guess he didn't understand what he wrote.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

His emotional at times on air persona aside, Felger understands that perfectly. What he also understands and what some seem to be struggling with lately is the concept that they do make mistakes occasionally, and in the case of AV - since they were apparently willing and certainly able to pay him the money at the 11th hour after unfortunately alienating him to the point he decided moving on and indoors and there were zero viable alternatives beyond entering the TC kicking sweepstakes three years earlier than they needed to - they likely made a doozie. Will they figure something out to once again keep it from costing them - possibly, maybe even probably given their track record in dodging bullits. But they created a difficult task for themselves and the team where there need have been none when enough existed already.

 

[PromisedLand]

I don't exactly agree with his opinion of Tebucky either. We all know he was never a great safety (bad angles to the ball carrier, bad tackling form/failure to wrap up, etc.) but he was a big hitter and a very speedy strong guy who was almost never hurt. He was the starting free safety for our first Super Bowl team. A lot of people were wailing when we didn't re-sign him (just as they are wailing now about Givens, Vinitiari and McGinest). He isn't great, but he isn't (wasn't?) terrible either.

 

[DefenseRules]

What is the big deal? It's April 7th, we haven't even had the draft yet. All of these guys still have to get through training camp and preseason. Can we all relax and let BB/Pioli do their jobs in peace? Let's wait and see how this team comes together before making predictions. I've already seen people designate Gramatica as our new kicker. So I guess Brad Seely is wasting his time interviewing all of those college prospects that the team sent him to look at. There will be at least 2 more kickers brought to camp to compete for the job. Gramatica will have to prove to BB and the coaching staff that he can do the job. There is no way that BB will give him or anyone else the job unless they have earned it.

 

[Terry Glenn is a cowgirl]

My prediction was correct.

We signed the hamburglar. I wonder if he is going to wear that ridiculous face mask during the winter games.

T-buck-ee wasn't too bad. He will be for insurance.