Rackers Must Go! Now

[PACardsFan]

Rackers is costing this franchise big-time. He has prevented Whiz from executing his gameplan - get late into the 4th & come away with W's. I know that some on this board want the entire team to share the blame, but with a reliable leg, so many of our mistakes become insignificant. That's the beauty of having a Matt Stover or Adam Vinnetiari (spelling wrong). Don't you think their teams made mistakes during the course of their games. That doesn't stop these guys from making kicks that render those mistakes insignificant. Football is an emotional game & eventually the emotional well goes dry. This team will eventually tire of going to war every week, only to have the kicker not come through. Did anyone see the Cardinal bench after his miss. They were all on their knees AGONIZING. We can be excited that Whiz has this team playing hard for 4 qtrs, but without RESULTS, they will eventually quit. That's why it is so hard to turn around a losing culture. It's such a physical & emotional game & it's so easy for these guys to eventually say uncle & give up. When did the Colts finally go the distance? When they dumped a choker (Vandergacht) & brought in Adam V. The team busted their butts because in the end they knew their kicker was MONEY in the bank. Look at all the successful franchises. They all have kickers that come through. Reliabilty is far more important than distance. The Cardinal offense would just have to take into account that they need to move the ball an additional 5-7 yds in order to get into range. I'm convinced that if Rackers misses just ONE more FG (critical or not), he is a goner. He will need to go on a streak 7 make like 6 in a row to get off the Whiz Hot Seat.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

yawn.

Can you stop already?

Rackers kicked an amazing onside kick to even give himself a chance. It is like a pitcher getting a base hit in baseball. He had a chance to win, thats all you can ask for on the road. You cannot be an intelligent fan, and then blame this loss sorely on Rackers. You just can't.

 

[abomb]

Seriously. What is the point of another thread on this? Look at the waiver wire. Tell me who is better than Rackers.

Wake me up when this crap is over.

 

[Alan]

Ok. Lets trade for Stover, Elam or Vinetari.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

yawn.

Can you stop already?

Rackers kicked an amazing onside kick to even give himself a chance. It is like a pitcher getting a base hit in baseball. He had a chance to win, thats all you can ask for on the road. You cannot be an intelligent fan, and then blame this loss sorely on Rackers. You just can't.

Exactly...and if you're relying on your kicker to win every game from 55 yards away, you're not gonna win very many.

 

[JeffGollin]

I guess it was to be predicted - it's the morning after and the sandbox is beginning to fill up.

El Nose-o Spite-o Face-o:

If Racker's was to "go now", who's going to kick KO's, FG's and XP's for us? And - as disappointing as Neil has been - who (available to us in mid-season) is going to do it better?

Check the kicking stats for the other 31 NFL teams - Good FG kickers are in short supply.

Unless you can coax someone like Garo Ypremian (who figures to be somewhere in the AARP Witness Protection Program) to come out of retirement, any personnel decision we make has to be predicated on "what will be best for our football team right now?"

Jettisoning the kicker in mid-season is not, in my opinion, a decision that would be best for the Cardinals.

 

[Mulli]

OT:

Will Rackers face suspension for pulling Rogers by the helmet?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

OT:

Will Rackers face suspension for pulling Rogers by the helmet?

nah. They don't suspend kickers for unnecessary roughing.

He will probably get fined though.

With that said, way to go Rackers.

 

[PACardsFan]

Seriously. What is the point of another thread on this? Look at the waiver wire. Tell me who is better than Rackers.

Wake me up when this crap is over.

You're entitled to your opinion, but then don't bitch when we are staring at another top 5 pick in the draft. A kicker is not hard to find. How many hundreds of college teams are out there. Start auditioning them now. Did any of the following guys have household names or have "can't miss superstar" attached when they came into the NFL. Boronis, Gostkowski, Bryant, Folk, Rayner, etc, etc. Even the very good kickers seldom were even drafted. This position is not the QB position that requires adjustments to the speed of the NFL. Rackers has heavily influenced three of our four losses. You can continue to accept that, but Whisenhunt won't. Our FO is SICK & TIRED of losing & so am I.

 

[Mulli]

nah. They don't suspend kickers for unnecessary roughing.

He will probably get fined though.

With that said, way to go Rackers.

:scratch the Rackers incident over dumbest ways to lose a kicker list:

 

[Mulli]

You're entitled to your opinion, but then don't bitch when we are staring at another top 5 pick in the draft. A kicker is not hard to find. How many hundreds of college teams are out there. Start auditioning them now. Did any of the following guys have household names or have "can't miss superstar" attached when they came into the NFL. Boronis, Gostkowski, Bryant, Folk, Rayner, etc, etc. Even the very good kickers seldom were even drafted. This position is not the QB position that requires adjustments to the speed of the NFL. Rackers has heavily influenced three of our four losses. You can continue to accept that, but Whisenhunt won't. Our FO is SICK & TIRED of losing & so am I.

So, how do they audition college kickers during the season?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

You're entitled to your opinion, but then don't bitch when we are staring at another top 5 pick in the draft. A kicker is not hard to find. How many hundreds of college teams are out there. Start auditioning them now. Did any of the following guys have household names or have "can't miss superstar" attached when they came into the NFL. Boronis, Gostkowski, Bryant, Folk, Rayner, etc, etc. Even the very good kickers seldom were even drafted. This position is not the QB position that requires adjustments to the speed of the NFL. Rackers has heavily influenced three of our four losses. You can continue to accept that, but Whisenhunt won't. Our FO is SICK & TIRED of losing & so am I.

PA, lets put it this way. How about you create a thread for Warner, because of his 3 turnovers. If we don't have any of those, we probably win.

Dockett gets a thread too, because his penalty kept a drive alive that caused a score.

Special teams gets one, because they allowed an 80 yard kickoff, etc.

You just aren't looking at the bigger picture.

 

[PACardsFan]

Watch this guy on the sideline. I was there yesterday & watched him pace up & down the sideline all day. My daughter-in-law said the same thing. The guy is a nervous wreck. I don't like to see that in my kicker, especially when the game is on the line. Most everyone else seems to be Ok with it though, so let's keep losing games we should win. And the beat goes on.

 

[abomb]

Watch this guy on the sideline. I was there yesterday & watched him pace up & down the sideline all day. My daughter-in-law said the same thing. The guy is a nervous wreck. I don't like to see that in my kicker, especially when the game is on the line. Most everyone else seems to be Ok with it though, so let's keep losing games we should win. And the beat goes on.

Here we go with the experts in reading body language again. You're too much.

Again, search the waiver wire and tell me who the Cardinals should bring in.

 

[PACardsFan]

PA, lets put it this way. How about you create a thread for Warner, because of his 3 turnovers. If we don't have any of those, we probably win.

Dockett gets a thread too, because his penalty kept a drive alive that caused a score.

Special teams gets one, because they allowed an 80 yard kickoff, etc.

You just aren't looking at the bigger picture.

You don't quite get it. With one swing of his leg, Rackers eliminates ALL those other mistakes. It's not easy being a kicker & it takes a special breed. Rackers is not that breed of kicker. The above mistakes will always happen to some extent in a football game, but the kicker is untouched & MUST convert in the clutch if that team is going to be successful. Position players don't always respect kickers, especially those that go unscathed & let them down. These guys are physically killing themselves to win & they will lose that desire to put their bodies on the line when a guy with a clean uniform chokes every week.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Maybe we should sign the Redskins Kicker.

 

[football karma]

Here is the truth:

Rackers is an average, to above average field goal kicker.

The issue is that with the Cardinals playing so many close games -- there will be several decided by a kick in the fourth quarter. That puts the focus on Rackers.

Kicker is just like any other position -- if you can upgrade it -- go for it. But to think you can bring somebody off the street right now and upgrade is foolish.

 

[abomb]

Here is the truth:

Rackers is an average, to above average field goal kicker.

The issue is that with the Cardinals playing so many close games -- there will be several decided by a very long kick in the fourth quarter. That puts the focus on Rackers.

Kicker is just like any other position -- if you can upgrade it -- go for it. But to think you can bring somebody off the street right now and upgrade is foolish.

ftfy

 

[RugbyMuffin]

How about this,

The guy choked. It happens.

Rackers should have made the 55 yarder. It is not even an effort for the guy, we all know that.

I think he just choked. Plain and simple.

Getting rid of him now will do nothing. We are stuck with him for the rest of the year, and I say we give him the rest of the year to earn some trust because right now I don't trust the guy with the game on the line.

 

[PACardsFan]

So, how do they audition college kickers during the season?

C'mon. I'm talking about guys that have since graduated from the college game & are following a different career path. These guys are still practicing & auditioning, hoping for a chance.

 

[WisconsinCard]

Watch this guy on the sideline. I was there yesterday & watched him pace up & down the sideline all day. My daughter-in-law said the same thing. The guy is a nervous wreck. I don't like to see that in my kicker, especially when the game is on the line. Most everyone else seems to be Ok with it though, so let's keep losing games we should win. And the beat goes on.

I was there yesterday also, and I can tell you that he wasn't ready to make that kick. He was 25 yards away from the holder when he realized that we were ready to snap it. He had to sprint up to the holder. I think he thought Wash was going to call a TO. I said to PA after the game we need to audition some kickers in the next week or so to make him atleast think about it.

 

[abomb]

C'mon. I'm talking about guys that have since graduated from the college game & are following a different career path. These guys are still practicing & auditioning, hoping for a chance.

So basically guys that 32 NFL teams have deemed not talented enough to sign?

 

[MadCardDisease]

I was there yesterday also, and I can tell you that he wasn't ready to make that kick. He was 25 yards away from the holder when he realized that we were ready to snap it. He had to sprint up to the holder. I think he thought Wash was going to call a TO. I said to PA after the game we need to audition some kickers in the next week or so to make him atleast think about it.

That's a great idea.

Lets Ice our own kicker! Lets really get into his head and mess with it with 9 games remaining.

 

[football karma]

How about this,

The guy choked. It happens.

Rackers should have made the 55 yarder. It is not even an effort for the guy, we all know that.

I think he just choked. Plain and simple.

Getting rid of him now will do nothing. We are stuck with him for the rest of the year, and I say we give him the rest of the year to earn some trust because right now I don't trust the guy with the game on the line.

missing a 55 yarder isnt choking

Its the equivalent of taking a three pointer to win a basketball game and missing --

had that been a 40 yarder -- I would absolutely agree with you

 

[WisconsinCard]

Here is the truth:

Rackers is an average, to above average field goal kicker.

The issue is that with the Cardinals playing so many close games -- there will be several decided by a kick in the fourth quarter. That puts the focus on Rackers.

Kicker is just like any other position -- if you can upgrade it -- go for it. But to think you can bring somebody off the street right now and upgrade is foolish.

I agree with a lot of this. But the truth is he can't make it when the $ on the table. He chokes, that is excatly why Natti let him ago. Just now we are seeing it too.