Reiss: Patriots work out some free agents

[Ring 6]

I'm guessing the Pats are just updating their Rolodex, so to speak. . . .

But it's interesting: since Gostkowski won the job in 2006, they haven't even had so much as camp fodder for competition at K.

Yeah, thats why. What if he gets injured? They have no list to work from.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Hanson can be brilliant at times. But then he can come back and boom 2 straight punts into the end zone from midfield or hit a 35 yarder with no hangtime. Far too inconsistent for my liking but apparently BB likes something about the guy.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

BB addressed this topic at length. Said that the pro game stopped kicking left, right coffin corner years ago. The current pro kicking paradigm calls for kicking the ball high, and having it dead cat bounce up or backwards with your gunners making a play. Where Hanson has failed is that on kicks towards the EZ, he has kicked the ball such that it bounces too far fwd.

I agree with you and remember those discussions.

However, its not only the bounce forward issue... a lot of times his punts actually land in the endzone rather than inside the 10. I'm not going to rehash the specifics of that punting thread here, but suffice to say, Hanson does not have a very good success rate of pinning the opponent... his overal numbers are very good, but his percentage of success (# of times he pins them vs # of opportunities where he was within range to do so) is not good. Over the last 2 seasons, he has had more opportunities to pin the opponent than any other punter in the league, so his raw numbers are good.

Still, I've conceeded that BB is sticking with him and I'm sure there are valid reasons (his skill at holding among them).

 

[Ochmed Jones]

but apparently BB likes something about the guy.

And that is good enough for me. Besides all specialists live with the knowleddge that any failure could be their last.

Keep adding the speed dial punter numbers BB.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Tony Curtis is a lock, BB won't be able to fight his obsession with the TE.

 

[goldspeed101]

I have never really liked Hanson untill this year! I went to two games so far and since Im a special teams coach I had my eye on Hanson and Ghost. What I learned from my observation is Hanson can boom it High and Sam Aiken has the speed to get down field and down it, I think it was Aiken who downed Denver deep in their own territory!
Also Hanson and Ghost seemed to get along really really well so that could have something to do with it!

 

[spacecrime]

I think we can all agree it will be much more important in the end to make sure that the Pats can get a FG when they really need it, instead of a ten extra yards on their punts.

This statement is an interesting study in faulty logic.

Yes, it is better to make FGs than get 10 extra yards on punts, but to therefore conclude that it is better to lose 10 yards per punt so as to make sure some bad snaps are converted does not follow.

How many bad snaps that would not have been saved by an average punter. There have been few bad snaps, and an average punter should have handled the ones I saw, but say there are one or two bad snaps a season that would result in a missed FG without good reactions by the holder. (That is excessive - there aren't 32-64 missed FGs a year in the NFL due to bad snaps) Of the one or two a season, how many of those snaps if not handled would actually have affected the outcome of the game?

And why is it assumed that Hanson is the only punter in the universe who can adjust to an errant snap?

Another flaw in the statement: the extra ten yards is not nearly as important as pinning the opponent inside the 10 yard line, Hanson's biggest failure.

So rather than lose 10 yards per punt and not pin the opponent inside the game, why not just get a punter who can do those two things AND adjust to a bad snap?

 

[Jimke]

With the possible exception of long snapper, all of these positions

may be positions of need in 2010. The Patriots may choose not to

give Gostowski a Vinatieri-like salary. They might draft another kicker

or take a chance on a free agent or undrafted player. Hanson will be

a last minute re-signing or not re-signed at all. Here again, bring a couple

of punters to training camp. The hang-up in signing Ingram last year was

the Patriots wanted to split the bonus money between 2009 and 2010.

The Patriots can cancel out part of the bonus money by cutting Ingram.

 

[mgteich]

There are three reasons to bring in free agents now.
1) There is time to do so without disrupting game planning.
2) There could be an emergency need this season because of injury.
3) Belichick is always looking for 2010 competitors. He will sign on JAG free agents for 2010 as soon as he is allowed to do so.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I'm guessing the Pats are just updating their Rolodex, so to speak. . . .

But it's interesting: since Gostkowski won the job in 2006, they haven't even had so much as camp fodder for competition at K.

Scary thing is the word out of camp in 06 was Gramatica was favored to win the starting position and lost out at the last minute

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

This statement is an interesting study in faulty logic.

Yes, it is better to make FGs than get 10 extra yards on punts, but to therefore conclude that it is better to lose 10 yards per punt so as to make sure some bad snaps are converted does not follow.

How many bad snaps that would not have been saved by an average punter. There have been few bad snaps, and an average punter should have handled the ones I saw, but say there are one or two bad snaps a season that would result in a missed FG without good reactions by the holder. (That is excessive - there aren't 32-64 missed FGs a year in the NFL due to bad snaps) Of the one or two a season, how many of those snaps if not handled would actually have affected the outcome of the game?

And why is it assumed that Hanson is the only punter in the universe who can adjust to an errant snap?

Another flaw in the statement: the extra ten yards is not nearly as important as pinning the opponent inside the 10 yard line, Hanson's biggest failure.

So rather than lose 10 yards per punt and not pin the opponent inside the game, why not just get a punter who can do those two things AND adjust to a bad snap?

What you fail to understand is the rythym of the fild goal, Gotkowski already had to get used to a new snapper this year, and if you added a new holder, I guarentee that his FG percentage would have suffered. The timing from snap to hold to kick must be precise, and you just can't grab three guys and make is automatic. They need time together, biggest case in piont. Tony Romo, was the holder for the Cowboys 2 years ago, he was the back-up QB, half way through the season, he takes over for Bledsoe, but he is still the holder, what happens? The Cowboys are a 13 yard FG away from winning a PLAYOFF GAME, on what amounted to an extra piont kick, Romo's timing and practice are off, because he is now the starting QB and he bobbles a perfect snap costing Dallas the game and the Patriots about 5 spots in the draft (Deion Branch Pick).

 

[Pats726]

This statement is an interesting study in faulty logic.

Yes, it is better to make FGs than get 10 extra yards on punts, but to therefore conclude that it is better to lose 10 yards per punt so as to make sure some bad snaps are converted does not follow.

How many bad snaps that would not have been saved by an average punter. There have been few bad snaps, and an average punter should have handled the ones I saw, but say there are one or two bad snaps a season that would result in a missed FG without good reactions by the holder. (That is excessive - there aren't 32-64 missed FGs a year in the NFL due to bad snaps) Of the one or two a season, how many of those snaps if not handled would actually have affected the outcome of the game?

And why is it assumed that Hanson is the only punter in the universe who can adjust to an errant snap?

Another flaw in the statement: the extra ten yards is not nearly as important as pinning the opponent inside the 10 yard line, Hanson's biggest failure.

So rather than lose 10 yards per punt and not pin the opponent inside the game, why not just get a punter who can do those two things AND adjust to a bad snap?

I think you are right in the long run...looking at next year..that is very true..and it does seem that coffin corner kicking is a dead art and the new high..back spin downing it inside the 10 MORE of what kickers do..but bringing in a punter/holder now would not be good..as Ingram, Hansen and Gostkowski work as a unit and changing that would NOT be good. NO Hansen is not the only punter that can adjust to an errant snap but if you think changing a component now will be like Madden and quick interchangeable parts..that is silly. Changing a holder is a big deal and the reason why it doesn't happen all that often. It's better to have high percentages than low ones..wouldn't you agree??

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Observant fans of the BB years know two things. First we all know that he has a fascination for TEs, drafting, signing as many as he can. But worse yet, BB is stubborn, stubborn, stubborn in his love for certain inept punters. My take, it's probably some deep Freudian incident in his upbringing that Halberstam decided was too embarrasing to reveal in his "Education of a Coach".

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Observant fans of the BB years know two things. First we all know that he has a fascination for TEs, drafting, signing as many as he can. But worse yet, BB is stubborn, stubborn, stubborn in his love for certain inept punters. My take, it's probably some deep Freudian incident in his upbringing that Halberstam decided was too embarrasing to reveal in his "Education of a Coach".

Inept may not be the right word, let's try consistent. Now some will argue consistently bad, but recall how NE plays out of doors in Northern climes during the Fall and Winter, and two of the three other teams in the division play in some of the worst weather/wind stadiums in the league - that's 10 games/season minimum where the elements can take a hand. Somehow I think BB makes that a consideration when selecting a Punter. Hanson showed people something in Buffalo last season, and for all the grousing he's been pretty much the same Punter all three of his seasons with NE - this season certainly is looking fairly similar to 2007 & 2008 when you look at his NFL.com stats. I thought 2008 was good for him since it seemed his Punt coverage unit was horrible, I believe the coaches had him booming touchbacks and kicking OOB whenever there was a danger of a big return (Leon Washington comes to mind...I hope BB can steal him away from Rexy now that he's underpaid and coming off an injury).

I agree with BigCountry, Lansanah is a throwback ILB who can also back up 3-4 OLB and may even be able to take some 4-3 DE reps, I hope he is still available when BB goes to sign some players early for the 2010 offseason - he'll give McKenzie a run for his money. However, all three LBs are Special Teamers, which is why they were getting a look now.

The reality of test drives for P, K, and LS is simply a numbers game, lose one and you're at 0% on the roster, these test drives are the insurance policy.

 

[Dragda]

Two words...

Shadow. Roster.

I hate that expression for some reason. shadow roster

 

[Pats726]

The reality of test drives for P, K, and LS is simply a numbers game, lose one and you're at 0% on the roster, these test drives are the insurance policy.

I agree they do need to have some idea about these 3 positions JUST in case...but I don't think it's exactly at 0.....Welker can kick..in a pinch...and I am sure there's a long snapper somewhere.... Ninkovich?? or??? SO maybe 5%...BUT I do agree it's great to have a look see and who is out there just in case.

 

[mgteich]

Yes, we have emergency backups for our specialt eams specialists, if they are needed for part of a game. If there is an injury that causes a player to be out for a full game, we would add a player.

I agree they do need to have some idea about these 3 positions JUST in case...but I don't think it's exactly at 0.....Welker can kick..in a pinch...and I am sure there's a long snapper somewhere.... Ninkovich?? or??? SO maybe 5%...BUT I do agree it's great to have a look see and who is out there just in case.