Studs and Duds vs The Vikings

[tynimiller]

Seriously narveson is a one leval upgrade from last year. At least he makes all the XPs. Carlson was terrible on FGs and XPs.
What we need is a reliable money guy who will make the kicks at a level commesurate with the top 10 kickers in the league. I thought joseph was going to be their choice. He spent the whole preseason with GB so he was familiar with everyone. Bringing in a new guy, a rookie no less involves a lot of adjustments not only on the field but outside of football too, finding a place to live for himself and family developing relationships and friendships with other players etc. Theres alot of extras to deal with. Why management decided to go down the same parh as last year, ie developing a rookie is beyond me.

Having a guy that is a top 10 kicker in the league would be tremendous and rare for a team to get that consistently from a guy.

I've broken this down some other places but even the best kicker arguably ever Justin Tucker who holds the best career FG% is below 90% (he could creep it above by seasons end after his ROUGH start).

BUT,

Let's look at what it takes to be a top 10 kicker typically most years (eliminated any kickers with less than 10 games played):

2023 - that would mean 92.1% (in 2023 only 11 kickers ended with over 90% and only 18 over 85%)
2022 - that would mean 88.0% (in 2022 only 9 kickers ended with over 90% and only 19 over 85%)
2021 - that would mean 89.3% (in 2021 only 9 kickers ended with over 90% and only 17 over 85%)
2020 - that would mean 92.3% (in 2020 only 11 kickers ended with over 90% and only 15 over 85%)
2019 - that would mean 86.2% (in 2019 only 5 kickers ended with over 90% and only 11 over 85%)

So the last five years even a top 10 kicker is under 90% and one year nearly 85%.

For referencing Anders last year was just shy of 82% on FGs - but the extra points were abysmal for him was more the issue.

 

[chemist]

Having a guy that is a top 10 kicker in the league would be tremendous and rare for a team to get that consistently from a guy.

I've broken this down some other places but even the best kicker arguably ever Justin Tucker who holds the best career FG% is below 90% (he could creep it above by seasons end after his ROUGH start).

BUT,

Let's look at what it takes to be a top 10 kicker typically most years (eliminated any kickers with less than 10 games played):

2023 - that would mean 92.1% (in 2023 only 11 kickers ended with over 90% and only 18 over 85%)
2022 - that would mean 88.0% (in 2022 only 9 kickers ended with over 90% and only 19 over 85%)
2021 - that would mean 89.3% (in 2021 only 9 kickers ended with over 90% and only 17 over 85%)
2020 - that would mean 92.3% (in 2020 only 11 kickers ended with over 90% and only 15 over 85%)
2019 - that would mean 86.2% (in 2019 only 5 kickers ended with over 90% and only 11 over 85%)

So the last five years even a top 10 kicker is under 90% and one year nearly 85%.

For referencing Anders last year was just shy of 82% on FGs - but the extra points were abysmal for him was more the issue.

A good summary of data. Appreciate the time and effort that went into collecting it. If we do away with the hard number of 90% and just go with being in the top ten in the league whether its a bad year or good year for kickers at least we would have a guy who is competitive in that department and would give us a good chance of being competitive especially in close games where we need that one kick to put us over the top.
As I recall carslon was ranked last in XPs and in the bottom ten in the league in FGs last year. Not the kind of performance you want.

 

[Sanguine camper]

I think the reason Carlson is gone is that his kicks just sailed erratically and even when he made a kick, it often just barely squeezed inside the upright. He didn't give anyone the impression he would make his next kick.

 

[chemist]

I think the reason Carlson is gone is that his kicks just sailed erratically and even when he made a kick, it often just barely squeezed inside the upright. He didn't give anyone the impression he would make his next kick.

You hit the nail on the head. Whenever he came on the field everyone held their breath not knowing where his kick would end up, even if it was just a short XP. He wasn’t someone you could trust. You cant run a team successfully in the NFL with a guy in an important position who makes you shudder every time he steps on the field.

 

[Pugger]

After relooking at that 1st Love INT. The ball was actually right on target to Doubs but Musgrave had sat down in a hole right in its path. He obviously thought it was directed at him and high jumped and barely tipped it. It then hit Doubs and deflected into the air perfectly in stride to the MN Defender.

Thats 2 weeks in a row that happened for MN. Although last week it was their DL that tipped a pass right into the stride of a LB. Almost identical except GB did it to ourselves.

That type of stuff happens to every QB on occasion. However that was the 1 INT where I don’t fault Love. The other 2 were his fault. Although 1 was a perfectly played Defense where he was covering Kraft up the seam and dropped off at the perfect time. The throw was actually near perfect.

It's unfortunate some INTs will go into the QB's stats if the ball gets tipped or bounces off a receiver's hands into the arms of a defender.

 

[Pugger]

Seriously narveson is a one leval upgrade from last year. At least he makes all the XPs. Carlson was terrible on FGs and XPs.
What we need is a reliable money guy who will make the kicks at a level commesurate with the top 10 kickers in the league. I thought joseph was going to be their choice. He spent the whole preseason with GB so he was familiar with everyone. Bringing in a new guy, a rookie no less involves a lot of adjustments not only on the field but outside of football too, finding a place to live for himself and family developing relationships and friendships with other players etc. Theres alot of extras to deal with. Why management decided to go down the same parh as last year, ie developing a rookie is beyond me.

Unfortunately I doubt we'll find a top 10 kicker at this stage of the season but even one better than average would be an upgrade. I hope we find someone better next spring and finally stabilize this position once and for all. If we got one of those FGs last Sunday we probably win that one.

 

[OldSchool101]

all good points.

Analyzing a Kicker in some ways is like analyzing last weeks loss. If they are correctable mistakes and you show some progress then I’d even say a bad day can be used as motivation.

I’m pretty sure Narveson knows he’s on the chopping block. Yet making the same mistake and getting jumpy at Kicker is probably what got us into this mess. Anyone can have a really tough day. Also, 1 Kick hit the upright almost exactly like one of his other misses. There’s 2 Misses that were corrected with a yard stick type adjustment.

As I’ve said before though. I’m not afraid to bring in a Kicker to PS. We’ve done this before it’s not unheard of at all. We did it with Crosby and he’s a seasoned Kicker. Someone might argue that would add pressure. Yet I WANT a K who plays better under pressure. IF having competition makes Narveson queazy in the stomach, what will he do in an NFC game with a 49 yard game winner on the line to make the Super Bowl

I’ve still got to call a spade a spade.

Dud: Narveson

Stud: Malik Willis covering 1 poor performance by our team with 2 exceptional performances.
That loss was a bonus because of Malik. All that matters is winning our next game. 3-2 and we are right in the thick.

 

[tynimiller]

FTR giving him a dud is utterly fair, very fair.

 

[OldSchool101]

FTR giving him a dud is utterly fair, very fair.

It’ll be that much sweeter when he redeems himself. I have Faith in him I don’t like giving up on people too early. Give him an opportunity to redeem himself. We obviously saw “something” in this kid let’s not second guess ourselves.

 

[rmontro]

Thats awesome! I’d want Rodney Dangerfield prime as my Caddy.

Seriously, Narveson sounds like a name right out of Animal House or Caddyshack.

 

[Vegscott]

The Good
- Jayden Reed is a stud.
- Same goes for XM.
- The run game is fine (but I still miss Aaron Jones).
- Resiliency counts for something. Coming back from 28-0 ain’t easy.

The Bad
- More Undisciplined penalties.
- Zero pass rush; Darnold had all day to pick and choose. No one on this D has opposing O-lines saying ‘Oh no, we have to face HIM this week’.
- Receiver drops. And some bad throws into coverage. Willis should have started to give JL a little more time to be 100%. He earned it.

The Ugly
- I truly wanted to believe we had finally found our kicker. Guess not. Willing to give the kid one more chance though.
- Did I mention the non-existent Pass Rush? Do I need to start doubting Hafley already?

I love this young team. There’s a lot of talent there to work with. MLF - please make it happen.