I'll probably be crucified for this on this board, but I think the jets should sign former fin kicker Mare TO DO KICKOFFS ONLY. With the fins signing Feeley they'll eventually cut Mare, and I read that he led the NFL in touchbacks last year. Nugent was good on PAT and FG, but I've seen high school kickers get the ball further than him on kickoffs. Nugent puts the opponent on a short field ALL THE TIME (see playoffs v. Pats) and the jets defense is always playing on the wrong side of the 50. So what if we have to use a roster spot for a kickoff specialist? No, I don't think Graham can kickoff.
He is great at kicking the ball of, but there is no way he accepts a job to just do kickoffs. No way....
He can get a job as a Kicker, why would he want to just KO? I don't have a problem having a KOS(i'd prefer not to but Nugent's KOs are killing us) but I can't see Mare being a KOS.
needing two roster spots for kickers is exactly why we never should've drafted Nugent, especially not in the high 2nd round.
Yes, because his 27/30 was just awful. Also, we did the stat run down last year and Nugent's average starting position was in the middle of the league. Mare kicks the ball extremely low so he is far more susceptible to long returns. Nugent will continue to work on his kickoffs and be a great kicker in this league. We were working out in the OSU practice facility a few weeks ago and he was knocking 58 yarders like it was an extra point. I just love the people that say he has no leg strength. We all know there is more to kickoffs then touchbacks...at least I hope everyone knows that.
Nugent has the weakest kickoff leg in the league. There is no denying that. He is money on fgs though.
Except when I was watching him firsthand almost lose the Tennessee game for us. I remember thinking that another game like this and he would be outta here. Props to him though, he did recover nicely the rest of the season....
Nugent had the 4th lowest KO average in the league at 60.5 yards. He had the 2nd fewest touchbacks with 2. However, he had the 8th lowest return average at 21.2 yards, giving us an average net of 39.3 yards. Or an average starting field position on 30.7 yard line. To put that number into perspective: The team with the highest KO distance (Denver) had a net of 41. The team with the lowest return average (Tampa) had a net of 43.8. The team with the most touchbacks (Miami) had a net of 41.1. The team with the lowest KO average (Minni) had a net of 35.9. The team with the highest return average (Oakland) had a net of 36.2. The team with the lest touchbacks (Washington) had a net of 39.7. http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/OFF-KICKING/2006/regular?sort_col_1=3&_1:col_1=5&_1:col_2=9 It seems to me that Nugent's KOs are by no means elite, but they also by no means absolutely god awful.
if you sign that kicker thas another spot on the roster that another skilled position or lineman will be cut from. dont think its a good idea.
I don't see why the Giants don't make a run for Mare. They can have him on the cheap and honestly I'm glad the Phins got Feely cause he's a choke artist.
Nice post. Good information. Thanks. Also, I imagine the Giants will bring in a veteran kicker of some sort to compete with Houston. I'm not sure Mare would want in that situation though. I was suprised he got cut for Feely...but maybe there was more to it.
Thanks. Your comment has motivated me to play with the numbers some more. According to my math (which I hope is right), the league average for net yardage on a KO is 42.3 yards which translates to starting on the 27.7 yard line. Nugent was a 3 yards worse than the league average at 39.3 net, starting on the 30.7 yard line. Is 3 yards that big of a deal?
BS. No, we shouldn't sign another kicker to save Westhoff's ass on this, he needs to find a solution to this because Nugent is his guy. He has had carte blanche in the draft and he needs to take responsibility on this, and if it means cutting Nugent and finding a better kicker, then fine. And if he needs to tweak our KO formations to crutch Nuge's weak KO leg, then he can do that. We can't waste 2 roster spots for kickers. We're rebuilding. In a year where we're making a run, maybe. We're not making a run this year.
How many Rings does Vinatieri have? Think about John Kasey in the Pats-Panthers Superbowl. I don?t want Mare, cuz i think we shouldn?t show Nugget, that we don?t trust him and i think, he?s still improving, and will be pretty good at Kickoffs, too very soon. But don?t underestimate constant good Kick offs.
good stats--well developed analysis. I believe however, we can do a LOT better than Nugent on kickoffs--we should never be satisfied with being below the league average.
you're probably right that Mare would want to work full-time. I don't think he will have that many options, though. We'll see.
