Jason Myers is awful

[hawkfan68]

A kicker who is earning $4M per year, $7M guaranteed should not be ranked #20 in FGs, and 31st in XPs. IMHO, they should be in the top 5 in the league. Myers is not.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/2473037/jason-myers.

All he needs to do is put the ball in between the goal posts. He can't even do that consistently. Instead of putting the ball in the middle, he shanks it to the left or right on a consistent basis. Glad it didn't cost the Seahawks this game. It really could have the way the Seahawks defense let up after taking a 30-10 lead.

 

[Mad Dog]

Seems kicking is awful around the league this year so it's not just Myers. we've won two games based on kickers missing makeable FG's

 

[Appyhawk]

You are right. It has proven to be repetitive failure that must be addressed. Can't afford to give away points, especially with a team that operates on such a small margin for success. It's one thing to misfire on a 50 yard attempt, quite another to blow point after attempts on a regular basis.

 

[tdlabrie]

The question I have, though, is what happened to this guy from last year? He was not only good, he was ProBowl.

 

[Appyhawk]

I should have been more clear. I don't think Myers is an awful kicker. I think he's a very good kicker who currently has an awful problem.

 

[ivotuk]

IIRC, Clayton said this is the worst year ever for NFL kickers.

 

[getnasty]

IIRC, Clayton said this is the worst year ever for NFL kickers.

This, my guess is he is still better then average but not good enough i feel real comfortable

 

[Mad Dog]

Other than Tucker I don’t feel good about any NFL kicker.

But given the number of opportunities a lot of luck can go into making FG. That and there is less pressure on a losing team to make kicks. So I can see Myers doing well for the Jets.

 

[AROS]

I have been saying it all year long. What the hell has happened to the kickers? Where missing a field goal or extra point was a rarity unless it was 50+, is now not a shock. I said to my family right before Myers first point after attempt in the first quarter..."I bet he misses it." It was half joking. Then he missed it. Come on, man!

Even though they moved the extra point attempt back, what, 10 yards? That's still a gimee. I just don't understand why in the hell are so many kickers league-wide missing not just field goals but extra points?

 

[Zekker]

There is a two side to this problem.Who is holding a ball.How consistent he is.
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[chris98251]

Almost wondering if they changed something with the Kicking balls in some way that causes them to cut air different, a bit wider at center or shorter or something since it is almost across the board.

 

[sutz]

I did notice there was a patch of fresh sod right where the XP is spotted. I missed watching the missed XP, so I can't say there was a footing problem. Did anybody see if his plant foot slipped or something?

I was kind of wondering why they didn't spot the XP off of one of the hashmarks later in the game. I believe they have that option. But maybe he just changed cleats or something.

 

[AgentDib]

I don't think it's that much of a mystery. Ever since Deflategate the rules have tightened up around the kicking balls - they have two inspectors who make sure that the 12 game balls are within a 1 PSI range and there's a continuous chain of custody all the way until they get brought out for the kicks. There's no doubt that NFL kickers used to get away with doctoring the balls to their liking a little bit.

I would discourage posters from blindly comparing kickers across teams. Kicking in a dome vs. an open air stadium is extremely different and some teams have yet to play a single game in bad weather. Myers hasn't been great but you'll notice that the opposing kickers have struggled just as much if not more.

Cold weather can reduce distance, but Wind in particular can be much more of a headache then the average fan recognizes. Wind conditions thirty feet up in the air can be different than they are at ground level, and swirling winds such as at the north end zone of CenturyLink can be completely unpredictable. Soldier Field is a notoriously windy stadium and it isn't a coincidence that the Bears went through a number of kickers recently.

 

[olyfan63]

Myers has NOT cost us a game this year.
He *could have*, but he didn't; the team won anyway. We've won 2 HUGE games this year because opposing kickers missed what would have been game-winning FGs.

It's not like there are better kickers out there on the street, just for the taking.
The consistency issues typically have a root cause, and it's hard for us to say what it is. Snapper, holder, kicker, a matched unit, and all of them need to be consistent as a unit for the kicker to truly be consistent, not to mention weather, wind, and field surface type and conditions. We have bigger things to worry about as Seahawks fans, like our defense and having key players healthy and able to play.

 

[dopeboy206]

IIRC, Clayton said this is the worst year ever for NFL kickers.

This, my guess is he is still better then average but not good enough i feel real comfortable

#20 out of all kickers in FGs and #31 in xp is not better than average. And how many 50+ yarders does he kick? No more excuses for this guy. He has one job.


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[HawkFan72]

The question I have, though, is what happened to this guy from last year? He was not only good, he was ProBowl.

We are seeing why Janikowski beat him out in their competition last year.

I think Myers just had a really good year last year. Everyone thought he had turned a corner and become a good kicker, but overall he has been an inconsistent kicker in his career. I think last year was a fluke, which unfortunately is typical of guys in contract years.

 

[timmat]

This is an unpopular opinion whenever I mention it, and I'm sure folks can give a bunch of reasons why it's a bad idea, but....I wouldn't freak out if we used a decent draft pick if a stud kicker is available. Especially in this era where it seems good, consistent guys are getting more scarce. Once you find the right guy, they usually stick for many years. Rarely does a position have such a direct impact on scoring points - sort of important.

I've never understood why so many college programs have in the past viewed kicker as a walk-on position, and NFL teams refuse to use draft picks on the position. The kicker proves to be massively important year after year, and is a position that will win you a few - or cost you a few - in most seasons. Seems worthy of a pick if the right guy is around. And given that the league frowns upon drafting kickers, the #1 or #2 kicker would probably be available in most draft years even in later rounds.

And, it's not something you'd obviously do every year. How about if needed, maybe every 5 years or so pop a 4th round pick and get the #1 kicker coming out of college?

The highest drafted kicker in 2017, 2018, and 2019 was in the 5th round. I know the Hawks really value picks in those rounds, and maybe this isn't the best for our particular team then. But as an overall trend in NFL drafting, along with how bad kicking is getting, I don't get why across the league some more consideration isn't given for snatching up the best guys coming out of college.

 

[Appyhawk]

Because the kicking game is so important is why they named it football.
Not only do kickers score a lot of points and cover for offensive failure to convert red zone opportunities, kickers play a huge role in field position.
Not sure why anyone would object to investing a draft pick to obtain the services of a really good one. That's how we got our pro-bowl punter.
Speaking of our punter, why isn't he trying to learn to work as a place kicker? I know he does dropkicks. Seems he could at least serve as a backup option.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The question I have, though, is what happened to this guy from last year? He was not only good, he was ProBowl.

Pressure.

I think it's easier to be the kicker on a bad team with very little pressure for you to make kicks, than it is to be on a good team with that constant pressure for you to make 90% of your kicks.

I get what Pete's doing, he knows he needs Meyers so he's going to kill him with love and trust....................but ain't no way in hell if you hooked Pete up to a lie detector he'd be able to say he feels good about Meyers coming into a playoff game needing him to make a 40+ yard FG.