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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.No and that's a good thing, we need him back.I know kickers are not considered premium free agents but I am quite surprised no one has taken a run at Ghost. There are a lot of shaky kickers in the NFL and as we have seen it could be the difference between a playoff spot and early golf season.
Has anyone heard anything?
I am fine with letting Gost walk. The simply matter of the fact is I just don't trust him. He has missed at least 1 kick in the super bowl 4 times in a row. Not mention the Denver playoff game. That is 4 runs in a row that when the big moment have come around he has missed and they were all makable kicks.
I have said recently and it has proven to be an unpopular opinion, but I stand by it.
I am fine with letting Gost walk. The simple matter of the fact is I just don't trust him. He has missed at least 1 kick in the super bowl 3 times in a row. Not mention the Denver playoff game. That is 4 runs in a row that when the big moment has come around he has missed; and they were all makable kicks.
It's sad cause until 2015 he was absolute nails in the playoffs mostly.
Bronco - missed XP - forces the Pats to go for a 2PT conv and fail as opposed to going to OT.
Falcons - missed XP - forces the Pats to go for not 1 but 2 2PT conv. They get both but it made it a lot harder.
Eagles - Missed XP and FG (and passed up on a 55 yard kick cause they didn't trust their kicker). They could have been up 40-38 and just have sat on the ball late or have been down 37-38 and the Eagles would not have been able to pin their ears back and rush. The run game would still have been alive as a FG was all we needed.
Rams - missed a 47 yard kick early in the game. Also they passed up on a 51 yard chance.
I don't think you can just shrug these off. This is a consistent trend that shows the bigger the game the more shaky he gets.
In the last 4 years they have been in 11 playoff games. Of these 11 games 6 were competitive and 5 were not.
In the 5 non-competitive games he missed 1 XP and 1 FG (from 53 yards).
In the 6 competitive games he missed 3 XPs and 2 FGs (from 19 and 47 yards) Not to mentioned they passed up on a few makable kicks in lieu of going for it.
He was only perfect in 2 competitive games (Jags and KC AFCCG). In these games he was asked to make 7 XPs and 2 FGs (49 yards vs KC and 19 vs Jags). I guess you need to give him props for that 49 yarder; then again it was 14-0 at the time so not much pressure within the context.
I am not trying to dump on Gost but can we not pretend that there isn't an issue here that has persisted for YEARS in big games.
If you trust him to make a big kick in a close playoff game then clearly you haven't been paying attention. If you want the Pats to win another super bowl then it should seriously be discussed if using 4M on Gost is the best way to do. If you think he is going to miss at least 1 XP or 1 FG in a close playoff game or super bowl where those points come at a premium in tight games I just don't see why this can't be a debate.
Not this **** again. One of the best kickers in the league and thanks to his kickoff ability more valuable than his predecessor but because the entire team ****ed up the Denver game and the Eagles SB he becomes a scapegoat.
You might have a point if at some point we play an almost perfect game at every other spot than kicking and then lose the game due to a miss. But for every game you mention that we lost I can give you at least 2-3 more impactful screwups than missed XPs or missed FGs starting with that seemingly infallible GOAT QB of ours.
And maybe most importantly. Why would you introduce volatility into a position that is mostly solved. Have you seen how some of the supposedly highly regarded younger kickers mentally totally melt away nowadays ? Or do you just assume that his successor will be someone on the level of Tucker ?
My only question would be, can you be sure his replacement would be more reliable? That’s what would concern me with bringing in someone new. Ghost has had some fluffs in big spots, albeit not always costly, but overall, he’s still largely a reliable kicker with some good pop in his foot. Not necessarily easy to replace.
When the playoffs come around he is good for about 1 miss every big game. If that is something you think you can live with sign him. For most teams it would be fine. For the Patriots who will likely be in 1-2 big games in the playoffs this year it gives me pause.
He sucks. Get a new kicker. Even the one he made was shaky.
Look I understand where you are coming from. But lets not pretend Vinatieri (or any other kicker in history) was perfect in the postseason. That's the thing with percentages. Even if you have a kicker who makes it 95% of the time he will still miss sometimes.
And this can happen at irrelevant junctions or at very relevant ones. The same way that a QB will throw INTs, receivers will drop easy completions and RBs might fumble the ball.
The thing that makes it clear that his teammates and coaching staff trusts him is the scene from this SB where Brady essentially said "what are we talking about here, lets kick it" with no hesitation.
And in the end he made the absolute clutch kick in the SB this year when we needed him. Just like his predecessor.
No, I can't say his replacement will be more reliable. That is the question right? : P
The way I see it there are 4 options.
1 - He is more reliable and we save money.
2 - He is equally reliable and we save money.
3 - He is less reliable but the money we can use elsewhere is a value add.
4 - He is less reliable and the money we can use elsewhere is a value loss.
I am not saying all options are equally likely but I am okay rolling the dice here. Now if Gost wants to come back at a pay cut that could work too. But if someone tells me we need to bring Gost back AND make him one of the highest paid kickers in the NFL then I am totally against it.
No way. He simply doesn't deserve to be paid top market. His performance hasn't demonstrated that IMO.
And it seems 31 other GMs agree as well seeing as no one has jumped on him yet.
Fair enough. Maybe it’s my conservative nature, but for me, better the devil you know. To be honest, I’ve done zero scouting of kickers in the draft so this is one I’ll just wait on to see what happens. It’s just that I know what I’m getting with Ghost and I’m comfortable with that (albeit with crossed fingers at times).