The official Cut Neil Rackers thread

[ajcardfan]

everyone chill. his second miss of the season.

Yeah, and when there was a thread earlier this season praising him, i said, "He's been good, but he hasn't had a pressure kick to end the game in more than two years. I'll still have my doubts until he delivers in that situation."


I have my doubts. but, what's even worse, Neil has his doubts when he gets in that situation IMO.

 

[AsUdUdE]

everyone chill. his second miss of the season.

Was going to post this exact same thing +1

My only thought is if he is really back from the groin injury... that is my only concern...

 

[PJ1]

Was going to post this exact same thing +1

My only thought is if he is really back from the groin injury... that is my only concern...

That miss had nothing to do with his groin. Between his ears is his problem.

 

[Chopper0080]

everyone chill. his second miss of the season.

This is the postseason. It usually only takes that 1 miss to end your season! I can't see a better option right now, but this is the last season for him.

 

[CardLogic]

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I happen to agree that Rackers is no good under pressure. I can't remember the last time he hit a game winner!

But it's really ignorant to suggest taking someone's life over a football game.


Mod's do what's right and either delete the thread or change the title.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

I was just sickened by the miss, but the more I think of it the less I blame him. He is clearly still not healthy from the groin issue and his mechanics are jacked up because of it.

 

[AzCards21]

People beat up on kickers but let's face it the other players get about 40 plays to get a highlite the kicker gets one.

How about we not let a 17 point lead disappear and count on a kick to win it?

 

[Chris_Sanders]

People beat up on kickers but let's face it the other players get about 40 plays to get a highlite the kicker gets one.

How about we not let a 17 point lead disappear and count on a kick to win it?

This sums up my opinion.

 

[conraddobler]

He kicked a ball through the uprights on a kickoff folks.

His mechanics are fine, IMO he choked.

Let's not rewrite history here, when I saw him pacing the sidelines I knew we were screwed and we hadn't crossed the 50 yet.

He had too much time to realize it was about to come down to him, once that sunk in, he repeated something that has happend more than once before.

It's just MO but you can't show mercy to a kicker or it will bite you.

People are just letting him off because we won the game, if Rogers hits that pass the first play of OT, Rackers is cut tomorrow.

Coaches can't let that slide you need clutch more than you need big legs and regular season stats, a kicker must be clutch.

 

[Big D]

This game just proved what we already know about Rackers- the guy isn't clutch. Seriously, was there anyone that actually felt confident when he came trotting out for the FG attempt? I couldn't watch because I knew in my heart he was going to miss. When I heard the crowd reaction I just shook my head and looked at the clock.

And that brings me to anothr point, who the hell called a timeout with 14 secs left? Let the freaking clock run down to about 3 secs then call the TO so the FG attempt is the last play of the game. I had visions of Marino/Cunningham faking a knee and then launching it deep.

Anyway those blaming injury or mechanics are simply choosing to look the other way IMO. We have known for awhile and certainly this game demonstrated it once again that Rackers can not be counted on in the clutch. Hopefully we can avoid putting him in those situations the rest of this playoff run like we did last year but something tells me this issue is going to rear it's ugly head again at some point.

 

[ajcardfan]

And that brings me to another point, who the hell called a timeout with 14 secs left? Let the freaking clock run down to about 3 secs then call the TO so the FG attempt is the last play of the game. I had visions of Marino/Cunningham faking a knee and then launching it deep.

Fitz called the timeout, which was a terrible mental error. That said, Rackers was way too nervous and rushed the kick. We would've been better off taking a delay penalty and trying to calm him down. I KNEW he was going to pull it, like he always does when he's wrong in the head.


I love his versatility on kickoffs, the tackles, etc. But, a kicker HAS to money with the game on the line or he's going to cost games. We are so fortunate that didn't leave us out of the playoffs yesterday. it was a terrible, TERRIBLE effort. If he kicked for another team, I'd have been LMAO he missed it so badly.

 

[82CardsGrad]

The guy hadn't missed a kick since Week 2. No kicker will ever be perfect... Unfortunately for us, Rackers miss came when it mattered most. He'll put it behind him and get on another streak.

 

[PoolBoy]

good point on the fitz timeout. rackers was over warming up, i was watching him, and graham yelled to him to get out there. Whiz said it was his bad he didn't communicate with Neil. You guys will be eating crow this weekend, mark it down.

 

[azsouthendzone]

everyone chill. his second miss of the season.

How many 50 yarders has he attempted this year? The Cards never kick 50 plus yard FGs because Whiz knows Rackers cannot make them. How many times does he reach the end zone on kick offs? Aside from the choke job last night, he just isn't very good anymore. Sad but true. However I don't care if it was his only miss of the year, it was a chip shot to send his team to round 2 and he blew it. There is no room for that in the NFL. Rackers needs replaced.

 

[azsouthendzone]

As a matter of fact Rackers has not even attempted a 50 plus yard field goal in 2009 and there were plenty of opportunities. He is a liability.

 

[82CardsGrad]

As a matter of fact Rackers has not even attempted a 50 plus yard field goal in 2009 and there were plenty of opportunities. He is a liability.

Could it be because we had an amazing weapon in our punter? You know, the dude he tied an NFL record for kicks inside the 20??

We won the west and hit 10 wins for the first time in forever... Nope... I'm toally fine with Rackers as our kicker...

 

[PoolBoy]

how many extra possessions and touchdowns did he save us with his mortar kicks and kickoff coverage. add that to his 2 misses all year, and ill keep him around.

 

[azsouthendzone]

Could it be because we had an amazing weapon in our punter? You know, the dude he tied an NFL record for kicks inside the 20??

We won the west and hit 10 wins for the first time in forever... Nope... I'm toally fine with Rackers as our kicker...

Yeah that's it....lets pin them instead of take 3 points....right. That sounds logical. Every coach would kill for a great punter so they wouldn't have to score 3 points from 50 out. If you have a good kicker, you kick and take the points. If you don't, you punt. It is that simple. He won't be back in 2010.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Yeah that's it....lets pin them instead of take 3 points....right. That sounds logical. Every coach would kill for a great punter so they wouldn't have to score 3 points from 50 out. If you have a good kicker, you kick and take the points. If you don't, you punt. It is that simple. He won't be back in 2010.

Care to name the number of teams that possess such great "50 yard" kickers? You act as if they are a dime a dozen... We used Graham and our defense very effectively, and I would take that all game long over attempting 50 yarders, where if you miss the ball is placed on the 40 yard line or more...
Let's see... pin a team inside their 20, or risk giving a team the ball on the 40 yard line or greater? Hmmmmm......

Oh. Green Bay attempted a 55 yarder yesterday and missed, which gave us the ball on our 45. How did that work for Green Bay?

 

[Russ Smith]

Fitz called the timeout, which was a terrible mental error. That said, Rackers was way too nervous and rushed the kick. We would've been better off taking a delay penalty and trying to calm him down. I KNEW he was going to pull it, like he always does when he's wrong in the head.


I love his versatility on kickoffs, the tackles, etc. But, a kicker HAS to money with the game on the line or he's going to cost games. We are so fortunate that didn't leave us out of the playoffs yesterday. it was a terrible, TERRIBLE effort. If he kicked for another team, I'd have been LMAO he missed it so badly.

I actually thought we did that on purpose so if there was a bad snap we might have time for another play since it was first down? but I don't recall if that was the last TO.

Like others I was expecting Rackers to miss.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I actually thought we did that on purpose so if there was a bad snap we might have time for another play since it was first down? but I don't recall if that was the last TO.

Like others I was expecting Rackers to miss.

We still had one timeout left...

 

[azsouthendzone]

how many extra possessions and touchdowns did he save us with his mortar kicks and kickoff coverage. add that to his 2 misses all year, and ill keep him around.

So you will take a pooch kicker over a kicker who scores in the clutch? You want a guy that can bounce one to the 30 over a guy who can split the uprights as time expires? The same arguement was made when they let Scott Player go and it is more about sentiment than performance. It is nice to see him make a tackle every now and then on a big return that his short kickoffs set up but you do not miss 30 yard FGs for the win in the playoffs and keep your job. He has had more than enough opportunities in his career. Some of the most gut wrenching losses in franchise history he played a major role in. I am not saying cut him now, although I wouldn't be opposed. But you cannot tell me that there isn't a college kicker out there with more upside. They have to look into upgrading the position in 2010.

 

[Russ Smith]

We still had one timeout left...

So had it been a bad snap we recover call TO and kick again. But from what AJ posted it sounds like Fitz just called the TO by mistake.

 

[azsouthendzone]

Care to name the number of teams that possess such great "50 yard" kickers? You act as if they are a dime a dozen... We used Graham and our defense very effectively, and I would take that all game long over attempting 50 yarders, where if you miss the ball is placed on the 40 yard line or more...
Let's see... pin a team inside their 20, or risk giving a team the ball on the 40 yard line or greater? Hmmmmm......

Oh. Green Bay attempted a 55 yarder yesterday and missed, which gave us the ball on our 45. How did that work for Green Bay?

How many teams do not attempt ONE 50 yard FG in a single season? It is one thing to play percentages and another to not have the ability to even attempt the kick. If your logic is correct then Whisenhunt is truly rewriting the rules of the game. I don't buy it.

 

[PJ1]

So had it been a bad snap we recover call TO and kick again. But from what AJ posted it sounds like Fitz just called the TO by mistake.

Aikman and Buck stated the TO was taken then in case of a bad snap or at least they thought so. So did I.