K Rian Lindell - should Pats sign him to compete with Gostkowski?

[sb1]

Ghost simply isn't good from long distance. Watching AV nail that 50 yarder for the colts last night makes me wish he were still here.

I don't know if Adam would be more productive than Ghost at this point in his career but I do know that he's one of the most clutch kickers I have ever seen.

And I believe BB sends AV out to kick that FG against the Giants in the Super Bowl without a second thought, and there would be no 4th and 13.

 

[jbb9s]

its always interesting to see how polarizing a subject this is.

the people who do like and support Stephen have to realize that the people that don't aren't saying he sucks. they are just saying he may not be the 3rd best kicker in the league, which is how he is paid.

the other interesting thing about Stephen is that even inclusive of college, he has never really had many pressure packed 4th Qtr or OT kicks. Its half coincidental and half playing on a really good regular season team. So to speculate on his nerves or clutch is hard since there is not much of a sample set.

 

[jbb9s]

And I believe BB sends AV out to kick that FG against the Giants in the Super Bowl without a second thought, and there would be no 4th and 13.

That will always be a mystery. But with that same logic, BB would be out there trading for and drafting high caliber corner backs and stud safeties to shut down the Mannings in the 4th quarter of AFFCGs and SBs.

So the spectrum of how he perceives games are won is different than how we speculate from our couches.

 

[PatriotReign]

It's a shame they couldn't find a way to keep Robbie Gould.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

its always interesting to see how polarizing a subject this is.

the people who do like and support Stephen have to realize that the people that don't aren't saying he sucks. they are just saying he may not be the 3rd best kicker in the league, which is how he is paid.

the other interesting thing about Stephen is that even inclusive of college, he has never really had many pressure packed 4th Qtr or OT kicks. Its half coincidental and half playing on a really good regular season team. So to speculate on his nerves or clutch is hard since there is not much of a sample set.

True, this is a polarizing subject and both sides can be a bit extreme. Ghost is actually a pretty good clutch kicker IMO. Other than the AZ game last year I can't remember him costing us a game and his playoff performance has been very solid. People remember his misses alot and believe each is such an important miss but the fact is, there is never actually a good time to miss a kick and misses happen. So going on his career numbers he is fine, the problem with that is that the numbers in comparison to kickers league-wide have gone down ever since the injury in 2010 and he's yet to have a season like the ones he had prior to the injury (after a rocky rookie campaign, he was fantastic). He is being paid like the #'s pre-injury and I think if he goes another year with #'s similar to the past 2 seasons instead, it's hard to justify that contract and we should think long and hard about addressing the position next season when alot can be saved by replacing him. Also I don't see any problem with bringing in a second kicker for the rest of preseason, it'd be alot more useful than a second punter.

 

[goheels22002]

Ghost simply isn't good from long distance. Watching AV nail that 50 yarder for the colts last night makes me wish he were still here.

Gostkowski is 11th in all-time NFL field goal percentage. Adam Vinatieri is 15th all-time. Gostkowski has converted 94.1% of his FG attempts in the playoffs. Vinatieri is at 81.4% in the playoffs.

NFL Career Field Goal % Leaders - Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[Sciz]

Signed by the Bucs. Makes a ton of sense because their punter handles kickoffs. Lindell's weak leg won't be an issue in that regard.

 

[RayClay]

Regardless of opinions, I'd like to break down why this type of thread isn't logical. Every player has a contract year and many are temporarily overpaid or underpaid.

We don't take our top receivers or running backs and drop them because they are only 10th best but are paid like third best. Like any other position it's highly unlikely we would find a better player for less money, or a better player at all, simply because other teams aren't going to give us the ninth best kicker, RB, WR or whatever.

Just because it's a kicker, why do people think we'll get better (unlikely, the good kickers aren't free) and discount the very real possibility we'll get a stinker and have to bring in competition for years until maybe having to waste a draft pick while some team i happy as hell to pick up our personnel mistake.

Kickers have up and down streaks. You're better off getting a scrip for valium if your nerves are that bad than forcing the club to go through that hell.

I know Gost had to stop and start for a bad hold or snap and hit the post from 50. He pushed right on a couple others. 50 yarders aren't gimmes, he's 70% career and this is preseason, when you work on things and the don't count.

If he gets close tomissing enough that the team needs to think of a replacement we'll have to go through that and I'm not looking forward to it. Bur he's not close, so chill and be glad we don't have chaos, we have some misses from 50 in preseason.

 

[RayClay]

Long time Bills kicker has just been released, 81% career accuracy is there any chance he's brought in to challenge Gostkowski for the final few weeks of pre-season? His career long is 56 yards.

Even if he weren't to make the roster, bringing him in would be a wise move imo because it might give Gostkowski the kick up the backside he needs to step up his game a bit more.

Thought that name sounded familiar. They all miss kicks they should make.

 

[YearbookCurfew]

If you're going to look at replacing Gostkowski, it's going to be a college player at a fraction of the cost.

Couldn't agree more. A rookie kicker will have youth and come at a younger price.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Great idea, another horrible game by Gostkowski.

 

[Big-T]

The most impressive thing about Gostkowski this year is his kick offs, I can only recall one being returned and that was because they fumbled it out of the end zone!

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

He was nails today. Still don't really understand why he uses that big draw on the 35-49 yarders from the right hash, where he pushes outside the upright and then shapes it several yards back. Just crack it through the uprights like everyone else in the league. That's what he does from the middle and the left. Having two different kicks seems like asking for trouble. Several of his misses have been when he pushes it out there and it stays out there. Even some makes are because it stays just inside the upright.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The most impressive thing about Gostkowski this year is his kick offs, I can only recall one being returned and that was because they fumbled it out of the end zone!

That's because he hasn't had any others returned. :rocker:

 

[Fencer]

Gostowski had a stellar game today -- but did I see correctly that he clipped or almost clipped the right upright on his first PAT?