The Texans needs to be working out more kickers

[Texecutioner]

Okay, I don't want to go through this ridiculous debacle all over again to where it effects the over all season like it did last year. Rackers was obviously not a complete replacement for Brown, since Kubes can't even trust him to hit a 53 yarder when the game is possibly on the line. We obviously didn't fix any of these kicker problems if we can't even trust the guy to hit a FG like that in OT.

So go find one. Keep looking. Go try out some more kickers and bring another one on this roster with some potential. At least get someone that will get Rackers practicing like crazy to get better and to keep his job. Last season Kubes made a big mistake by not working out other kickers and got complacent with Brown and it cost us the playoffs. That could happen all over again for all we know and we could be in the playoffs possibly this time in a position to win, but possibly lose if we don't have a guy who can nail it for us when we're in scoring position. Kickers are a very important position on any football team despite what people think. They have a very strong effect on the outcomes of games every single week in this league and we need a guy that we can trust. We're not one of these bottom feeder teams anymore to where it isn't that big of a deal. We are a big time team that can potentially beat anyone on any field and way to many games will come down to the wire where your kicker has to put the nail in the coffin and we need a guy who can be consistent and can do that. We need a guy that we can trust.

[Texan_Bill]

While I agree that the Texans should always be looking to upgrade I totally disagree with the "since Kubes can't even trust him to hit a 53 yarder" comment. Anything over 45 yards is not a "gimme" for any kicker in the league. If he misses, do you really want McNabb starting from the 43 yard line??? HELL NO!!!

It would've been dumb to gamble there. I wish Turk would've gotten off a better punt and been able to pin them inside the 20, but regardless, the Texans netted 23 yards by punting.

[Allstar]

No matter what kicker we had out there, Kubiak would have punted. It was the wind that made his decision. He just had a 'gut feeling' with the wind. There is no possible way that we will go look for a new kicker right after the competition in camp. IMO, it's ridiculous to even suggest it.

[Dutchrudder]

How about Shayne Graham?

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

While I agree that the Texans should always be looking to upgrade I totally disagree with the "since Kubes can't even trust him to hit a 53 yarder" comment. Anything over 45 yards is not a "gimme" for any kicker in the league. If he misses, do you really want McNabb starting from the 43 yard line??? HELL NO!!!

It would've been dumb to gamble there. I wish Turk would've gotten off a better punt and been able to pin them inside the 20, but regardless, the Texans netted 23 yards by punting.

It was actually from the 34, but the delay of game after the decision to punt made it the 39. Net of 14 yards at best, but enough to make the Redskin's FG attempt too far for their guy.

[Texan_Bill]

Shayne Graham is only 9 of 18 from beyond 50.
Adam Vinatieri is 10 of 22

Rackers 19 of 39


I'm not a betting man, but I know enough to not like those odds.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

It was actually from the 34, but the delay of game after the decision to punt made it the 39. Net of 14 yards at best, but enough to make the Redskin's FG attempt too far for their guy.

Ball is spotted at the hold, not the LOS on a missed FG attempt (unless it was inside the 20).

53 yard attempt, the ball would be spotted at the 43.

[dc_txtech]

Rackers is 5/18 from 50+ over the last 4 seasons. Do you really want him lining up to kick a 53 yarder? When we went with Neil over Kris, we took accuracy over distance. I was praying that Kubes didn't trot Rackers out there to kick a 53 yard FG.

[Double Barrel]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

While I agree that the Texans should always be looking to upgrade I totally disagree with the "since Kubes can't even trust him to hit a 53 yarder" comment. Anything over 45 yards is not a "gimme" for any kicker in the league. If he misses, do you really want McNabb starting from the 43 yard line??? HELL NO!!!

It would've been dumb to gamble there. I wish Turk would've gotten off a better punt and been able to pin them inside the 20, but regardless, the Texans netted 23 yards by punting.

I tend to agree with this. Heck, the Redskins kicker was 50% from 52 yards, so it's certainly not an easy kick.

Besides, our defense would've held if not for that bonehead penalty. So Kubiak's strategy was sound in relying on the defense. You can't coach to anticipate stupid penalties.

My gut reaction at the time was to kick, but I quickly realized the folly when we punted. People would be asking for Kubiak's head if they had tried and missed and gave the Redskins that field position. Look how short the field was for us when we got the ball back. It's a dangerous decision, and I don't mind being a little conservative and putting your defense on notice.

[Texecutioner]

Originally Posted by Allstar

No matter what kicker we had out there, Kubiak would have punted. It was the wind that made his decision. He just had a 'gut feeling' with the wind. There is no possible way that we will go look for a new kicker right after the competition in camp. IMO, it's ridiculous to even suggest it.

It's ridiculous to even suggest it? What the hell are you smoking? We can't even trust our guy to win a game for us. Did you watch the Texans last season when we put to much trust into Brown? How well did that work? Oh, that's right it cost us to miss the playoffs. Do you think that Rackers is this great kicker right now after he missed a 47 yarder as well? Did you forget about that one? You don't get complacent just because you signed a guy. You make sure that he is the guy, and Rackers may not be. I want to see a guy that the coach has confidence in. There are way to many games that come down to FG's in the NFL as to who wins or loses.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by dc_txtech

Rackers is 5/18 from 50+ over the last 4 seasons. Do you really want him lining up to kick a 53 yarder? When we went with Neil over Kris, we took accuracy over distance. I was praying that Kubes didn't trot Rackers out there to kick a 53 yard FG.

19 of 39 for his career.

[HardKnockTexan]

Rackers made the kick we needed to win the game. Plus, on kickoffs, he continually puts the ball 5 yards deep into the endzone. Lets have a reason to want to replace our kicker before calling for his head.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

Shayne Graham is only 9 of 18 from beyond 50.
Adam Vinatieri is 10 of 22

Rackers 19 of 39


I'm not a betting man, but I know enough to not like those odds.

The funny part is Kris Brown is actually over 50% from 50 yards. (18 of 33)

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

Ball is spotted at the hold, not the LOS on a missed FG attempt (unless it was inside the 20).

53 yard attempt, the ball would be spotted at the 43.

I was talking about the punt. The punt essentially netted 14 yards by going from the 34 to the 20. The FG is a whole other story, but Rackers did miss a 47 yard FG earlier in the game, so a ~49 is not necessarily a gimme. Personally, I think they should have gone for it on 4th and 4.

[Rey]

Rackers kicking a 50+ yard FG into the wind in overtime.....Do not want....

If they can find a kicker out there that they think is better than Rackers...Bring him in and evaluate him...

But with the whole kicking competition thing during the off-season, I think it would be kind of foolish to bring in an unproven kicker to replace Rackers...That means the whole kicker competition thing, and putting them in "pressure" situations was a waste of time and really didn't even matter...

Not sure I want just some random kicker off the street coming in...If they were to do that I'd be shocked...

If they were to do that, they'd be putting a lot of faith in that kicker because the second he misses a crucial kick Kubiak and Smith would be lambasted...

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

I was talking about the punt. The punt essentially netted 14 yards by going from the 34 to the 20. The FG is a whole other story, but Rackers did miss a 47 yard FG earlier in the game, so a ~44 is not necessarily a gimme. Personally, I think they should have gone for it on 4th and 4.

Your missing my point. If we would've kicked and missed the ball would've been spotted at the 43 - that's the 23 yard net I'm referring to.

[Texecutioner]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

My gut reaction at the time was to kick, but I quickly realized the folly when we punted. People would be asking for Kubiak's head if they had tried and missed and gave the Redskins that field position. Look how short the field was for us when we got the ball back. It's a dangerous decision, and I don't mind being a little conservative and putting your defense on notice.

I would agree with this if our secondary hadn't been getting toasted all game long, but I've seen Mcnabb go down the field and win big games at the end of a game to many times to want to trust our young secondary against a vet like that who routinely made comebacks for years with the Eagles garbage WR's that they had for a long time.

It worked out in that game obviously, but going forward I don't want to have to trust a young secondary in a situation like that when it might be against the Colts the next time around when you know Manning is going down the field and scoring. We need a guy that can put a game away. Kris Brown was that guy for many years and I had a lot of faith in him. Hell, I was at the game where he kicked like 5 FG's or something like that and the game winning one a few years ago. We need a guy that we can rely on. Not just a guy that can we can strut out there for 35 yarders and extra points.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Rey

Rackers kicking a 50+ yard FG into the wind in overtime.....Do not want....

If they can find a kicker out there that they think is better than Rackers...Bring him in and evaluate him...

But with the whole kicking competition thing during the off-season, I think it would be kind of foolish to bring in an unproven kicker to replace Rackers...That means the whole kicker competition thing, and putting them in "pressure" situations was a waste of time and really didn't even matter...

Not sure I want just some random kicker off the street coming in...If they were to do that I'd be shocked...

If they were to do that, they'd be putting a lot of faith in that kicker because the second he misses a crucial kick Kubiak and Smith would be lambasted...

I'll bet donuts to dollars, they won't find a kicker with a much better career average than Rackers as it relates to 50+ yarders.

[HOU-TEX]

We've got Schaub's backside protector out 4 games, our secondary's giving up 400 burgers on a weekly basis and we're worried about the freakin kicker? Maybe it's just me, but we've got more important issues to deal with. IMO, a stopgap kicker can be found easy if Rackers ends up going mental

We need to be working out tackles, if anyone. If Salaam has to play we're doomed

[Dutchrudder]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

Your missing my point. If we would've kicked and missed the ball would've been spotted at the 43 - that's the 23 yard net I'm referring to.

Oh, gotcha. Nvm then...