Monday, December 21, 2009

Kicking and Screaming

Cowboys fans have been kicking and screaming recently.

A poor output of the former leading to a more vicious helping of the latter.

The Cowboys are moving forward with a new kicker as they have signed Shaun Suisham, the former Redskins who missed two kicks in the Cowboys win over Washington, in place of Nick Folk, who has missed an NFL-leading 10 field goals this season. Suisham will get his first chance at his second go-around with Dallas when he takes on the same Redskins in Washington on Sunday.

But as frustrating as it was seeing Folk miss for six consecutive games -- left, right, short, off the upright -- after looking at all the kickers that have been in Dallas since Jerry Jones took over, he's arguably the most consistent kicker the Cowboys have had.

His first two years built up a long line of credit that he exercised to the limit this season. Folk's time in Dallas is done. He will no doubt catch on with another organization and go on to have a perfectly acceptable if not exceptional NFL career as a kicker. Heck, he might even have a chance this offseason to get his head right, tweak his game, and perhaps compete for the Cowboys kicking job next season.

Folk was supposed to be the answer for the Cowboys kicking woes of the 2000s. Heck, he was an actual draft pick. Now he has been cut. Folk has a 64% on his kicks this year, which was second-worst in the NFL only to Jason Elam, who was 12-of-19 for 63% and was let go by the Falcons a few weeks ago. Not good.

Moving forward however, the Cowboys absolutely must have a kicker that can convert as the team makes a run toward the playoffs. And thus, despite Folk's two strong seasons to start his career, this change had to be made.

Here's a look at how Folk and other kickers have performed with the Cowboys in the Jerry Jones era:

YearKickerFG MadeFG AttPctBlocked
2009Nick Folk
18
28
64%
0
2008Nick Folk
20
22
91%
0
2007Nick Folk*
26
31
84%
1
2006Martin Gramatica
6
8
75%
0
2006Mike Vanderjagt
13
18
72%
1
2005Jose Cortez
12
16
75%
0
2005Shaun Suisham
3
4
75%
0
2005Billy Cundiff
5
8
62%
1
2004Billy Cundiff
20
26
77%
0
2003Billy Cundiff
23
29
79%
0
2002Billy Cundiff
12
19
63%
0
2001Jon Hilbert
11
16
69%
1
2001Tim Seder
11
17
65%
2
2000Tim Seder
25
33
76%
1
1999Eddie Murray
7
9
78%
0
1999Richie Cunningham
12
22
55%
0
1998Richie Cunningham
29
35
83%
0
1997Richie Cunningham
34
37
92%
1
1996Chris Boniol
32
36
89%
1
1995Chris Boniol
27
28
96%
0
1994Chris Boniol
22
29
76%
2
1993Eddie Murray
28
33
85%
0
1993Lin Elliot
2
4
50%
0
1992Lin Elliot
24
35
69%
1
1991Ken Willis
27
39
69%
3
1990Ken Willis
18
25
72%
0
1989Luis Zendejas
5
9
56%
0
1989Roger Ruzek
5
11
46%
0
TOTAL
477
627
76%
15
*Pro Bowl

more kicking numbers to come...

1 comment:

Ivy said...

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The NFL Draft is
working with Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy to study brain trauma in football. The league will ask former and current NFL players to donate their brains to science. Presumably, with fancy boxes to ship the brains, like they do for Super Bowl rings.
Page 2 loves this idea.
Scientists could study Mark Sanchez's brain to find out what he doesn't understand about the words "double-covered." They could study Tony Sparano's brain to find out what he sees in Pat White that no one else does. And they could look at Brett Favre's brain on the subject of waffling.

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