Rivercard
Too much good stuff
Not really. The two points didn't matter. It would have negated a possible blocked kick (see KC) and allowed for a less stressful kick at the 20 instead of the 15.
Still it would have been a ballsy call.
Interesting on Rackers miss
- Thread starter Russ Smith
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Not really. The two points didn't matter. It would have negated a possible blocked kick (see KC) and allowed for a less stressful kick at the 20 instead of the 15.
Still it would have been a ballsy call.
Hester almost broke one earlier so there had to be a feeling he was more likely than normal to return it. I am not saying you are wrong but Hester is an electrifying punt returner. It wasn;t only the lack of hang time but the coverage downfield was horrendous...I mean, peewee football horrendous. Absolutely no lane discipline at all. Player is not innocent but hardly the only reason that punt was returned.
It is gutsy and maybe a bit silly but still a viable option given what was happening during the game at that time...knowing momentum had definitely shifted and Hester almost broke the other one.
Burg72
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Player, being the veteran he is, should of put enough hangtime on it to force a fair catch, even if it was a shorter punt. The Bears offense wasn't doing anything that night. Player blew it.
Rivercard
Too much good stuff
I would imagine a long hangtime was the plan but the ol' leg didn't cooperate. Player seems like he's lost it.
Burg72
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yep
OP
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The problem is in this case I think its' totally hindsight. We're up 6, a safety makes it 4, they still need a TD to go ahead and if they get that we can still tie with a FG of our own. But as someone else said, you only take the safety if you KNOW that Hester is going to run it back.
If we're punting from the endzone by all means take the safety, but where we punted from it's not the same. He just made a bad kick and Francisco messed up his lane and the rest is history.
Burg72
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It's just a case of "should, woulda, coulda"
Rivercard
Too much good stuff
Still, it would have been moot if Rackers wouldn't have missed 2 FG's. Man, special teams have really killed us this year.
Burg72
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and if we didn't settle for FGs off of the TOs instead of, at the least, one TD.
I was terrified of Hester all night long.
Absolutely hindsight on that.
Although the strategy there to do it would be sound, as you outlined. I wouldn't have called for it personally but if they did do it you couldn't say it was the wrong move...just incredibly conservative to do so.
I would have either kicked it out of bounds or kicked it with a ton of hang...I think Player tried to kick with hang and just drove it instead.
kerouac9
Klowned by Keim
It's frankly embarrassing that so many fans are closing ranks to protect a way overpaid kicker who made a ton of meaningless field goals last year but when he's actually needed to close out games--a kicker's job--has choked on his last two attempts.
Is it really that hard to believe that when the pressure's on, this guy just cracks? It happens all the time...
Is it really that hard to believe that when the pressure's on, this guy just cracks? It happens all the time...
Shouldn't have even got to his miss.
JasonKGME
I'm a uncle's monkey??
Rackers record for game winning/tieing kicks since coming to AZ, other then the 2 this year he only had 2:
2004 Week 9 @ Miami, :23 seconds to go, score tied after AZ scored last minute TD, extra point is good to win the game.
2004 Week 14 Vs SF, 1:03 to go, Rackers makes 22 yard FG to tie the score sending it to overtime.
So that puts him 2/2, with his misses being a 51 yard FG, and a 42 yarder.
In his Career he only has 2 overtime kicks, 1 extra point made, 1 FG for 30-39 yard range, also made to win the game.
Don;t know if he has had enough clutch kicks to really judge his ability to Clutch kick, I do think 2 misses with 1 being over 50 yards, and 1 being possible tipped it would be hard to say that he is a choker in that position.
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Irregardless, once he's there he has to come through at least once of the two chances he had. I was thinking of his miss against KC when I watched Josh Brown nail a 54 yd game winner for the Hags. I never thought that Rackers would get an even easier chance to redeem himself the next week and watch him gag AGAIN.
kerouac9
Klowned by Keim
Neither of those are clutch situations, though. The first was an extra point to win the game, but if he misses, the game's still going into overtime.
The second field goal was with 1-plus minutes left in the game. As we all know at this point, there's plenty that can happen in that minute.
I think we know enough at this point to say that Neil Rackers is no Adam Vinitiari. The question now is why is he being paid as if he were?
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Sorry, but Neil Rackers is a choker until he's proven otherwise. An unattributed article a week after the fact doesn't do much to sway the evidence.
JasonKGME
I'm a uncle's monkey??
Ok, so 1:03 is not clutch because there is over a minute left, but 58 seconds and missed is a clutch choke?? 5 seconds is that HUGE of a difference?
Goldfield
Formally known as BEERZ
Yes...
You have to ask?
The NFL CBA has a minimum spending requirement remember. The Cards have to pay guys like that to stay above the minimum.
That's why they cut younger, lower paid players like Capshaw and keep older guys like Player.
