Kicking Game

[mikeak]

It cost us against Arizona and it cost us yesterday.

The lack of FG attempt at the half was costly. Maybe everything plays out differently but at the end of the day you have to look at that as a huge "non-play".

I think the snaps are non-consistent and based on blocks etc that we never had before I am really wondering if the ball is being snapped at a slower speed. Ie the difference between a 101mph pitch and a 94mph pitch. I can't really measure that so just guessing

What I can say though is that it is costing us points for sure and it seems like it is costing us games.

I can't believe we gambled like that for a few hundred $K's.....

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I can't believe we gambled like that for a few hundred $K's.....

You talking about the long snapper? Cause that wasn't his fault on either Haushka's miss last week or Ryan dropping the ball yesterday.

How bout two highly paid kickers doing their damn job.

 

[253hawk]

The snap by Frese was absolutely perfect, Ryan just Romo'd it.

 

[KARAVARUS]

Timing seems off. Confidence is shaken. Even if the snap is good, past failures can work on your phyche leading up to the hold/kick/follow through. You can't just say 'the snap was fine' and call it good. It's a calibrated play, period. I was a kicker. If you tweak the mechanics at all, the calibration is off. Fixable, but needs fixing.

 

[KARAVARUS]

Seriously can't stress it enough. Ever heard the phrase, 'it's like clockwork?' What do think that means? It means it's set to function in a mathematical and calibrated way. It's a machine. If your clock's calibration is off, your clock will run fast or slow and it won't function how it's supposed to. Stop saying the snap was fine. You don't know what you're talking about. It could be, but you are not kicking game experts. The point is, the calibration needs dialing in. It's easy to say Ryan botched it or Stephen missed it, but they are the cogs in the machine that are the same, so let's at least consider it could be a timing issue with the NEW long snapper. It's at least worth discussing.

 

[Year of The Hawk]

We can only comment on what we see. Unless someone is privy to insider info on the Hawks we will have to comment on what we see. And from what most of us saw it was a botched hold. Yes there is a possibility of something to do with the snap but there is also the possibility of the Browns winning the Superbowl. Yes the Long snapper has made mistakes in the past. Does not make him responsible for all bad kicks and does not mean he will not improve with time.

 

[mikeak]

What we are seeing is the kicking game having issues

What has changed is the long snapper

Conclusion. The issues are tied to the long snapper.

Like when Unger had all the bad snaps to RW. Focus changes on making sure where the ball is leading to less focus on other items

 

[KARAVARUS]

We can only comment on what we see. Unless someone is privy to insider info on the Hawks we will have to comment on what we see. And from what most of us saw it was a botched hold. Yes there is a possibility of something to do with the snap but there is also the possibility of the Browns winning the Superbowl. Yes the Long snapper has made mistakes in the past. Does not make him responsible for all bad kicks and does not mean he will not improve with time.

Great analysis here. Likening the possibility of a timing issue with the LS to the likelihood of the Browns winning the Super Bowl. Rubber band argument, man. Would you please at least consider the possibility that the kicking game is predicated upon timing, and that something in that timing may be maligned? I'm not saying for sure that it's the snapper. In fact, I'm not pinning blame on anyone, because I don't know what is off. But simply saying 'the snap was fine', is quite naive.

 

[Ambrose83]

So where is the timing issue? Snap gets called.. snapper snaps it? What am I missing here

 

[HawkerD]

The basic argument here seems to be that without Gresham the Hawks kicking game is in the toilet. If this was Frese's first game then I buy it. Fact is that they have been working together for over 6 months and have practiced the plays in question thousands of times so they should have the "mechanics worked out by now. Now if Frese is truly inconsistent on some aspect of his snaps then that should of played out in practice as well.

 

[timmat]

Ryan had to make some pretty good snags on a few punts against NO - low snaps as I recall. For the most part, the snaps aren't horrible - they're just not as consistent, and I do believe it's in their heads a bit. It's sort of like when they say a pitcher is 'wild within the strike zone'. It was previously a part of the team we never gave a second thought to. But including preseason - we've seen enough to conclude the three of them aren't quite in sync. And for me, we've seen too much of it, given we are only 7 games into the regular season.

 

[TwistedHusky]

The kicking game was good - consistent and reliable.

We changed the LS.

The kicking game got much worse.

Thus it must be the fault of the kicker?

It isn't like Haushka is not a known quantity. Yes, guys get older and lose effectiveness. And yes, sometimes kickers just get their version of the yips. But the most reasonable and obvious answer is that messing around with the system to get him the ball has screwed up his effectiveness.

We did something to get cute and get an advantage that ultimately put us at a disadvantage. All to save a lousy few hundred thousand that will more than be offset by the additional losses.

 

[TorontoHawk]

Timing seems off. Confidence is shaken. Even if the snap is good, past failures can work on your phyche leading up to the hold/kick/follow through. You can't just say 'the snap was fine' and call it good. It's a calibrated play, period. I was a kicker. If you tweak the mechanics at all, the calibration is off. Fixable, but needs fixing.

Man some on here will find anything to blame the player they dislike, the snap was a good snap and Ryan messed the hold up.

 

[253hawk]

So even when it's a perfect snap, it's still Frese's fault. :roll:

 

[HawkerD]

Hauschka was 40 for 44 (90.9%) on Extra Points in 2015 with Gresham as LS. That isn't great. Shows a little bit lack of focus at times because he did better kicking FGs (93.5%).