Should we be worried about K Matt Gay?

Are you worried about Matt Gay?

  • Yes. We need another kicker.

    Votes: 26 51.0%

  • No. He'll be fine.

    Votes: 4 7.8%

  • He's a kicker. I always worry

    Votes: 21 41.2%
  • Total voters
    51
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Absolutely NoCal... it's maddening...
 
It's very strange.

Dallas seems to be a mess of a team on a number of levels but somehow they ALWAYS seem to be able to draft or sign a kicker that ends up near the top of the league in performance.

We used to have that years ago, but now it's just a succession of journeymen.

I am not sure Matt Gay was worthy of the contract he got when Washington signed him, double as queasy now.
 
If the defense is better than last year by a significant amount, then I will be less worried about the kicker situation because I truly believe the offense is going to pick up where it left off and be even better than last season, but the defense, while I do think will be somewhat improved, I have a wait & see approach for now.
 
SkinsFTW said:
Lohmiller was a 70% kicker. We can definitely find better, and have, and let them go elsewhere.
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I remember loving Chip Lohmiller so your stat had me curious. I know the ability and expectations of kickers has changed over the years.

I was lazy and asked two different AIs for the FG% for NFL kckers in the years he was with the Skins. They came in at 74.4% and 74.8%. Lohmiller in those years was 71.4%. I guess we had been so shaky in the years prior to that I loved average. And he could hit from 50 at times which was saying something
 
DixieFlatline said:
I remember loving Chip Lohmiller so your stat had me curious. I know the ability and expectations of kickers has changed over the years.

I was lazy and asked two different AIs for the FG% for NFL kckers in the years he was with the Skins. They came in at 74.4% and 74.8%. Lohmiller in those years was 71.4%. I guess we had been so shaky in the years prior to that I loved average. And he could hit from 50 at times which was saying something
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Here's what I remember: whenever they needed a kick to win a game, he seemed to hit it. I didn't know the average or anything. He also led the league in scoring in 1991 with 149 points. He played for the team when I was 12 - 18.

He did have a really bad 1993, fell off a cliff. Went 16 for 28. yuck. For all the years the team was good, he was between 72 and 75.

Honestly, my memory is he was a 100% kicker. :) I don't remember him ever missing a kick. So, clearly that's because we won a lot of games and I was 12 when he showed up, and most importantly, he didn't blow game winner after game winner.

Funny how time messes with memories...
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
Here's what I remember: whenever they needed a kick to win a game, he seemed to hit it. I didn't know the average or anything. He also led the league in scoring in 1991 with 149 points. He played for the team when I was 12 - 18.

He did have a really bad 1993, fell off a cliff. Went 16 for 28. yuck. For all the years the team was good, he was between 72 and 75.

Honestly, my memory is he was a 100% kicker. :) I don't remember him ever missing a kick. So, clearly that's because we won a lot of games and I was 12 when he showed up, and most importantly, he didn't blow game winner after game winner.

Funny how time messes with memories...
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Exactly...I remember him being money. Maybe it was as you said that he hit the kicks when you really needed it. I had complete trust in him.

He was a beneficiary of our 91 team to get to that scoring title but you take advantage of what you are given.
 
NoCalSkins said:
If the defense is better than last year by a significant amount, then I will be less worried about the kicker situation because I truly believe the offense is going to pick up where it left off and be even better than last season, but the defense, while I do think will be somewhat improved, I have a wait & see approach for now.
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Speaking of picking up where we left off, maybe we’ll keep converting 4th downs the way we did last year instead of kicking, but we still need a guy who can kick. Last year’s kicker by committee was surprisingly effective (lucky?), but that missed extra point in Dallas still stings, and it would be nice to have the position settled.

Matt Gay has been a consistent 80% kicker for six years, he could be that guy. The preseason misses and last year’s struggles from 50+ are unnerving, but he was still 3 for 5 and perfect on extra points in the preseason, and he didn’t miss inside the 50 last season.
 
DixieFlatline said:
I remember loving Chip Lohmiller so your stat had me curious. I know the ability and expectations of kickers has changed over the years.

I was lazy and asked two different AIs for the FG% for NFL kckers in the years he was with the Skins. They came in at 74.4% and 74.8%. Lohmiller in those years was 71.4%. I guess we had been so shaky in the years prior to that I loved average. And he could hit from 50 at times which was saying something
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This got me thinking too. Lohmiller led the league in scoring in 1991, so that may also be part of our collective memory he was great. But that’s mostly because he attempted 43 field goals and 56 !!! extra points. He was still just good for 72%.

As you said, Lohmiller’s 72.1% was not far off the league average 73.5%. There were some 80% kickers then, but not as many as there are now, when the league average is 84%.

The game has changed so much, not only has the league average gone up, but way more guys are kicking 60 yarders now. It will be interesting to see if the new K ball rules will have an effect, I expect Tucker’s 66-yard FG record to be broken soon, there are guys who can do it. Cam Little just made a 70-yard kick in preseason. Sadly, Aubrey could break the record too. His career long is 65 yards, he made a 66-yard kick in the preseason, and he is 24 of 27 from 50+. I’m not sure Gay, who is 28 of 45 from 50+ and has a career long of 58, is quite at that elite level, but he did kick four 50-yarders in one game, so maybe.
 
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Faithful Fan said:
This got me thinking too. Lohmiller led the league in scoring in 1991, so that may also be part of our collective memory he was great. But that’s mostly because he attempted 43 field goals and 56 !!! extra points, he was still just good for 72%.

As you said, Lohmiller’s 72.1% was not far off the league average 73.5%. There were some 80% kickers then, but not as many as there are now, when the league average is 84%.

The game has changed so much, not only has the league average gone up, but way more guys are kicking 60 yarders now. It will be interesting to see if the new K ball rules will have an effect, the kickers seem to think it will help to be allowed to break in the balls more.
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The game has changed a lot. When Mosley broke the record for consecutive Fgs at 21 to beat the Giants and clinch a playoff beth, the 42 yarder was far from given. Not long after that we had Steve Cox who was the long range FG specialist. Can you imagine having a roster so spot for that now?
 
Voice_of_Reason said:
Here's what I remember: whenever they needed a kick to win a game, he seemed to hit it. I didn't know the average or anything. He also led the league in scoring in 1991 with 149 points. He played for the team when I was 12 - 18.
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Here's what you probably really remembered

 
For those wishing we’d kept on with McManus through the drama…



The grass isn’t always greener (though I’m sure we can find greener grass than our current kicker, don’t get me wrong!)
 
Boone said:
Interestingly enough, there are at least 2 kickers previously with Washington (Slye and Gano) who have not missed a kick in preseason. I liked Slye and thought it was probably a mistake to not retain him, but who knows?
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Perhaps they were not fabulous enough.

OK, I'll show myself out.

Carry on.

HTTR!
 
Honestly, I don't remember the last time I was truly comfortable with our kicker.

Lohmiller maybe? LOL
 
My reaction every time Gay misses a field goal.

farley.gif
 
After leaving Hopkins was a 90% kicker for the Chargers and Browns from 2021-2023. He was 12-14 for the Football Team in 2021 and for some reason ended up with the Chargers going 18-20 the rest of the season.

So instead we go with guys who have been a combined sub 80%.

Siebert was perfect inside 50 last year but was 2-5 over 50.

So far Gay is 3-6 so far and last year with the Colts missed 6 of 9 from 50+. This dude isn't an upgrade.
 
Gay hitting a 50+ yarder yesterday inspires little confidence for me.

He did it on a do-over after Carroll tried icing him.

As badly as we played in the GB game, had he made two kicks, we somehow could have made a game of it.

He will cost us an important game before the year is up at this rate.

Quinn needs to get back to being aggressive on fourth downs once the offense finds more of a rhythm.
 
Im not sold that matt gay is the answer at kicker but i dont think its as bad as other do.

I like that he has a strong leg, the misses he's had aren’t due to a weak leg, his misses from mid 50's would have been good from 65 had they split the uprights.

His kickoffs haven't been terrible, yes he had the out of bounds kick this week but it was a low liner that fell in the zone and was almost a great kickoff but just squeeked out of bounds and every kicker is learning how to kickoff now but overall his kickoffs have been pretty good.

Mostly, i like how he kicks a very straight end over end ball that flies true and doesn't bend like a banana.

I personally think that its a lot easier to get your groove back when you kick straight professional looking balls than when your kicks are hooking like a boomerang or worse yet fluttering like a knuckleball.

Im not sure there's a whole lot out there that I'd be more confident in right now.
 
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