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My Thought on Cundiff

Bulldog

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The Redskins signed Cundiff to make the 45 and in field goals that seemed over time to be an adventure for other kickers we have had here.

His record beyond 50 was not good and the front office and coaching staff obviously knew and evaluated that.

Kickers are like goaltenders or pitchers, they have a routine and when they vary from how they normally play to compensate for other circumstances they often get thrown off and lose confidence in what they are doing.

In asking Cundiff to try what were essentially unmakeable field goals of 62 and 57 yards I think it's possible that Shanahan got the kicker out of his normal routine of steps or angle of approach to the ball (to make it go further) that then cost him both in accuracy and confidence on the shorter kickers later on today.

I don't know that's the case. But it's strange Cundiff came out against NO and the beginning of the Rams games and looked like he was in a good zone on his kicks.

An old coaching bromide I heard years ago, was that to be a successful coach you needed to ask a guy to only do what he was athletically capable of doing, or else your risk his confidence and performance.

It appears Mike treats his kickers like Bruce Boudreau treated goalies, and that is they are interchangeable and any 'psyche' issues are irrelevant.

But as we all know by watching the NFL for years these guys ARE affected by being taken out of their routine.

If it's the end of the game and we have to try a 55 yard field goal or lose a game and have absolutely no other choice, then I agree we need to see if Cundiff can convert it.

But in the Rams game the best chance was to run another offensive play on fourth down.

And in today's game early, that 57 yard kick was not a 'must have' at that time.

You have to know how to manage your personnel.
 
Er ... if merely asking Cundiff to attempt a 57-yarder somehow psyched him into missing two easy ones he shouldn't be a professional kicker. I think you're thinking too hard about this. Guy just had a bad day.
 
I agree Henry. Cundiff was 5-6 on FGs (by my count) entering today. Barring asking him to make a stupid 62 yarder, he was perfect entering today's game. He had a bad day.

Give me a 'bad day' that has me kicking a high pressure game-ending 41 yarder to seal a road win any day of the year :)

But yeah, for Cundiff, it was a down day.

Those calling for him to be replaced? I don't get it. I'll take 'generally consistent' over 'dramatically spectacular' any day.
 
the salient point critics calling for cutting Cundiff after 4 weeks ignore is that the Redskins haven't been able to find a consistent kicker for TEN YEARS. Gano was one of the worst percentage wise in 2010 before the protection problems last season. Shaun Suisham made all the early game field goals and posted a good percentage but consistently came up short in kicks in the second half and especially the fourth quarter to get the team the win.
 
The coaches knew what we were getting with Cundiff. Don’t take that to mean that I thought it was a good idea or anything, I’m just saying the staff has to know his limitations. He has shown that he is not the guy who can make kicks beyond 50, period. Why bother trying unless there are no other choices? He’s also not what I would consider clutch either. Yeah, I know he made the kick yesterday but his recent history is known by everyone and that last kick was trying like hell to go wide.

Just as the league changes the template of the ideal QB from time to time, the template for the ideal kicker has changed. If your kicker can’t make a quarter (or better) of their kicks form 50-55 yards that limits what you can do as an offense and will cost you games. The best kickers are making from 55-60 or more from time to time. If you don’t even have that option as a coach it hurts.

I know that even the best kickers have off days and Cundiff had one yesterday. If he hadn’t made the kick to end the game there would have been people in the street with pitch-forks and torches. As it is we still need to look for a better kicker. I’ll also echo what a lot of people have already said; Why can’t we find a freakin kicker? Every other team seems to be able to find one.
 
I'd like to see both Gano and Rackers come back, and let's have another competition.

If Cundiff wins it, then great. But remember that he was just beaten out by a rookie in Baltimore, and never earned anything here. He was just handed the job.

I'm a strong believer in competition. Gano at least beat Rackers. Let's see all three of them again.
 
Yep, the Redskins under Gibbs were strong enough to carry a kicker that during the regular season was basically capable of making extra points and field goals under 35 yards.

Team and the league have changed. All of these games come down to 3-7 point differentials and a good kicker next to a good quarterback is one of the keys.
 
PFT: Cundiff won't be getting the boot, yet

Before winning Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, Redskins kicker Billy Cundiff tried to blow it, missing not one, not two, but three field goals.

A day after after Cundiff snatched victory from the jaws of defeat that had been snatched from the jaws of victory, coach Mike Shanahan gave Cundiff an endorsement, of sorts.

“We’re not going to work out any kickers this week,” Shanahan said.

This week.

From PFT.
 
Yep, the Redskins under Gibbs were strong enough to carry a kicker that during the regular season was basically capable of making extra points and field goals under 35 yards.

Team and the league have changed. All of these games come down to 3-7 point differentials and a good kicker next to a good quarterback is one of the keys.


I was kidding of course. One day we MAY get back to a point where we can afford to use a later round pick on a kicker and secure the postion for 10 years, like we did with Lohmiller
 
Lohmiller was drafted in the second round. Beathard made a major investment there :)
 

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