Mike Nugent injury kick-starts search BY RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Sunday, September 7th 2008, 10:20 PM MIAMI - The Jets could be in the market for a kicker. Jay Feely, anyone? Mike Nugent strained a muscle in his right thigh on the opening kickoff in Sunday's 20-14 win over the Dolphins, throwing the Jets' kicking game into chaos. He returned in the third quarter for a successful extra point, but his absence changed the complexion of the game. Clearly hurting, Nugent missed a 32-yard field goal in the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Jets eschewed a 40-yard attempt and wound up scoring on Brett Favre's fourth-down pass to Chansi Stuckey. But Eric Mangini went for a two-point conversion (failed) because he didn't think Nugent could make the PAT. The Jets seemed caught off guard, with no contingency plan for a PAT. On the sideline, backup QB Kellen Clemens, S Kerry Rhodes and P Ben Graham took practice kicks into the net. Actually, Graham worked on a drop kick. Even Favre was asked if he was capable of making a kick. No, he said. Mangini never went to the bullpen. "It's rare that you have a quality backup kicker in that situation," he said. When a reporter suggested that it was easy to kick a PAT, that a 12-year-old from a Punt, Pass & Kick competition could do the job, Mangini cracked, "Maybe I'll work out some of those 12-year-olds. Maybe they could do better." Graham handled kickoffs, but he was told to kick squibs. Clemens almost took the third-quarter PAT, but he was called back at the last second. "I held the single-season record for most PATs in high school," Clemens said. "We scored a lot, but I was only around 50%." Feely, a former Giant, was cut recently by the Chiefs and Dolphins. He's probably the most accomplished free-agent kicker. FIGHTIN' WORDS: Jets assistant DL coach Bryan Cox and Dolphins loudmouth Joey Porter had a shouting match in the pregame warmups. Cox, a former Dolphin, had to be restrained from going after Porter. Afterward, several Jets said Porter angered Cox by interfering with Nugent during a kicking warmup. FOR STARTERS: Aside from Favre, several players enjoyed successful Jets debuts: Rookie CB Dwight Lowery had a fantastic debut, with three pass breakups, including back-to-back stops at the goal line on a critical fourth-quarter series. He was victimized on an 11-yard scoring pass to TE David Martin. Lowery started for CB Justin Miller (toe/foot), who was inactive. TAKE TWO: OLB Bryan Thomas had two sacks, nearly equaling his 2007 production (2-1/2 sacks). ... Mangini improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Dolphins. ... Favre's 56-yard TD pass to Jerricho Cotchery was longer than all but one pass play last season, a 57-yarder from Chad Pennington to Laveranues Coles. ... The heat index at kickoff was 97, about 120 degrees warmer than the wind chill for Favre's previous start the NFC Championship Game in Green Bay.
Ben Graham should easily be able to pick PAT's at least. He played AFL here in Australia and someone like him should be able to do it. Are drop kicks allowed? If so, he'd easily do it.
Aussie Jet: Drop kicks are still on the books and yes Graham probably could kick the PATs but he is the holder and he can't do both and no one else has practiced it probably.
...but if drop kicks are an option, Gram could easily drop kick a PAT. I'm supprised it was not tried.
Exactly Graham could be doing drop kick FG attempts from 40 yards too. In australia in the AFL he regularly kicked 50-55 yard drop punts.
Well I guess I never really thought about a drop kick, its been used once in the last 70 years or so and our ball is different and nobody practices it. Safer to go for 2 I think and who is going to hold? Someone posted they asked Favre if he could kick. It is a coaches call.
No he couldn't. Drop kicks haven't been in use in the AFL for a generation. If he had a rugby background he could MAYBE do it, but even then the narrower shape of the ball in the NFL makes it much more difficult to drop kick it.
If I remember correctly, and thats a big if, Dough Flutie made a drop kick extra point not all that long ago in the NFL, so if Ben has the ability he may be able to for extra points. If you say they don't use them in the AFL then I doubt its a well honed skill of his, but I would love to see him work on it.
Whats bothering me this morning isnt a drop kick.....Im really concerned NOT that Nugent was faking the injury...but where his head is at. He came in later and kicked an extra point PERFECTLY. What I want to know is if he was yelling and screaming to Mangini that he could at least attempt the other extra point. If a "thigh bruise" was indeed the case...I at first thought it was a hamstring injury..which would make total sense. You cant kick again with a hamstring injury. yet an hour later hes nailing one. This whole thing makes no sense to me.
Well, as a soccer and rugby player, I know a thigh bruse can really reduce your distance and accuracy on kicks. He most likely got it worked on at half and was willing to risk it for a PAT, but not anything that required real power.
I hear you. Still, arent thigh bruises usually from being hit? I have received them in the past...and they hurt like hell...but how do you get a thigh bruise from kicking a football.
That i can agree with. I highly doubt it is a thigh bruise unless it happened on a kickoff in practice or something to that extent. Its more likely he pulled a muscle either on the opening kickoff or in warmups by not properly streching before hand. No matter what its a shitty situation to put a team in when they know they can not kick a FG all game long. We better have at least 3 guys in trying out this week.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard Mangini say. The team should always have an emergency kicker ready. "Quality backup" is not the expectation when your kicker goes down. "Emergency backup" is. And there's no excuse for not having one ready. NO EXCUSE !! For a guy who meticulously prepares and leaves nothing to chance, Mangini was caught with his pants down on this one. At least one guy on the squad should have kicked some PAT or short kickoffs this summer. It takes no time and prepares exactly for the situation we had on Sunday.
Really? Worried that we did not have a back up kicker? AYFKM? No team prepares for the kicker to go down because they almost never do. Its a freak situation.
In his press conference, mangini said the injury occurred during the opening kickoff. It could have been a pulled muscle but maybe he got hit on the play. I agree there has to be an emergency plan. I also agree that Nugent should have lobbied to kick that PAT. My worry now is that the Jets need to sign a kicker but will want to keep Nugent on the roster (or will lose hm) if this is not serious enough for the IR. In turn that means that someone on the 53 man roster will have to be sacrificed.
