2019 Pats ST: Ain't Afraid of No Ghost
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Just to circle back to this, they do get some cap relief here that will help partially offset what they have to pay a new kicker, but it won't be realized until next year.
Gostkowski has a $750,000 roster bonus this year, or nearly $50k per game of the season. I do not believe it is guaranteed for injury so it will not be paid to him. Since it was LTBE because he played 16 games last year it will not give them any cap relief this year but they'll get a credit of nearly $600k next year. A small thing for sure but if you sign a player this year for $1 million you'll sort of recoup some of the doubling effect if you look at it as a two-year thing.
I’ll definitely be in the corner staring at the wall during field goal attempts if he kicks for the Patriots.
University of Georgia fans were calling him "The Blair Walsh Project" even before he graduated, FWIW.
Fair point. I figured since he was doing kickoff, they would have an idea of his placekicking abilities. But game conditions are a different animal.
Maybe. But that would entail finding another holder, which is usually the backup QB. In-season is no way to figure out if Stidham can be a good holder. Even finding an accurate placekicker without great range and using Bailey for long kicks doesn't make sense because that would require a second holder for when Bailey was kicking. I can't see that.
They’re also having Josh Gable in for a workout as well. They previously had him in at minicamp in 2017.
View: https://youtu.be/ZcdSCdOvtbs
View: https://youtu.be/ZcdSCdOvtbs
Bailey wanted to do kickoffs in the preseason, but his college numbers, 173 touchbacks in 291 kickoffs, 59%, would put him in the lowest quartile of touchbacks in the NFL. It obviously doesn't factor the returners taking the ball out of the end zone or the higher kicking tee in college, but he has stated that his ideal kick-off would "like a 4.3(-second) hang time 2 yards deep in the end zone, right on the numbers” between the sideline and the hashmarks," to entice a returner to try and return the ball. One would also assume that if he could kick off better than Ghost, particularly an injured Ghost, he would have been doing it. He also needed to work on his holding, so maybe BB decided that punting and holding were enough for him to handle this year.
omg omg omg omgomhdryhiu537gvfdjhffg37yvd
Koo is for Kicks.
P. S. My brother just emailed me the same.
Looking at the game logs for the Chargers 2017 season is a bit enlightening.
Koo, as noted, had one bad game where he missed two 44 yard FG attempts. Note that both misses were in that horrific stadium that the Chargers play in. Koo was then cut 2 games later in favor of Mike Novak. Novak really wasn't any better, going 1-3 on 40+ yard attempts, and got hurt after 7 games. They brought in Travis Koons, who missed on FG on his first game, but then made his next 7. Didn't matter, as he was cut after 3 games in favor of Nick Rose for the final 2 games for reasons unknown.
Koo, as noted, had one bad game where he missed two 44 yard FG attempts. Note that both misses were in that horrific stadium that the Chargers play in. Koo was then cut 2 games later in favor of Mike Novak. Novak really wasn't any better, going 1-3 on 40+ yard attempts, and got hurt after 7 games. They brought in Travis Koons, who missed on FG on his first game, but then made his next 7. Didn't matter, as he was cut after 3 games in favor of Nick Rose for the final 2 games for reasons unknown.
A FG kicker that is consistent and accurate inside the 40 may be just what this team needs considering it’s dominant defense and Bailey. Anything outside the 40 may be four down territory or pin them deep with Bailey.
Looks like in 2018, the average FG kicker made 96% of kicks that were 39 yards or less, 76% of kicks from 40-49 yards, and 63% of kicks 50 yards or longer (note that there are some sample size issues in that final category):
https://torontosun.com/sports/football/nfl/nfl-kickers-in-18-more-accurate-than-ever-from-up-to-40-yards
There are end of game scenarios where being able to get to just inside the 30 (resulting in a 46 yard kick) can be a difference maker. Mike Nugent is 75% for his career in the 40-49 yard range, but only 91% on shorter kicks. For comparison, Ghost is 94% under 40 yards (98% since 2013), and 77% on kicks from 40-49 yards (84% since 2013), and 71% on 50+ yard kicks (64% since 2013).
EDIT: Gostkowski has been better than average since 2013, and that is despite the fact he kicks in at least 10 games each year in relatively kicker-unfriendly stadiums (Foxboro, Buffalo, New York), and frequently in places such as Pittsburgh (which is notorious), Cleveland, Cincinnati, and KC.
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I think I read that Bailey made some over 50 kicks in college but I can’t see where I saw it. Given Nugent’s fairly weak (for a pro kicker) leg, I wonder if there is thought of using Bailey for over 50s.
Of all the names Ive heard Nugent was probably the one that I was least excited about. Oh well.
I'm glad the Patriots got a look at so many other kickers. I doubt Nugent has a stranglehold on the position.
The KooKoo Train is... waiting at the depot and ready to take over.
Just glad he's a Patriot, even if it's a brief moment. I believe that makes him only the 2nd Korean Patriot ever, after Eugene Chung. Now, he understandably got a lot of hate but did have 5 NFL seasons in all.
Here's a nice story on Chung back in 2017:
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2732985-chargers-kicker-younghoe-koos-story-is-familiar-for-many-korean-americans
I believe he was on The Ringer podcast with Simmons once as well:
https://www.theringer.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/2017/9/6/16264422/younghoe-koo-nfl-chargers-kicker-podcast-interview
P. S. Chung also got a ring with the Eagles as an Assistant OL coach
How is he on kickoffs?
It's possible Nugent is here because he's a known quantity and if Koo impresses in practice the next few weeks, they go to him.
Who would hold in that case? I don’t imagine Nugent has done much holding in his career.
I could see Bailey kicking off, this I don’t see.
Looking through his game logs:
- Game 1 @ Broncos:
- KO: 65 yards/touchback
- TD: 65 yards/touchback
- TD: 78 yards/returned for 36 yards
- TD: 65 yards/touchback
- Game 2 vs Dolphins:
- FG: 68 yards/returned for 20 yards
- TD: 65 yards/returned for 34 yards
- KO: 65 yards/touchback
- TD: 59 yards/returned for 17 yards
- Game 3 vs Chiefs:
- TD: 67 yards/returned for 42 yards
- KO: 65 yards/returned for 24 yards
- Game 4 vs Eagles:
- TD: 65 yards/touchback
- KO: 65 yards/touchback
- TD: 65 yards/touchback
- TD: 65 yards/touchback
I found it. It's his Stanford bio page but I misread it. It's talking about his field goal kicking as a senior in high school not in college. It says he made 12 of 16, including three over 50 and that he was the Stanford emergency kicker but you're right he never kicked there, it appears.
https://gostanford.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=7533
So I am seeing the Koo stats above-- where it was just one bad game. Yet from Jeff Howe in the Atlantic, he writes:
14. Koo’s only action came with the Chargers in 2017 when he was 3 of 6 on field goals, including 1 of 4 from 40-49 yards and 2 of 2 on kicks of 29 yards or less. He made all nine extra points in four games. He was ultimately released for Nick Novak.
So either Howe is wrong, or SoSH is. And, if I were a wagering individual, I would place my bets on the incorrect person being the one that rhymes with "cow" not "Josh"
14. Koo’s only action came with the Chargers in 2017 when he was 3 of 6 on field goals, including 1 of 4 from 40-49 yards and 2 of 2 on kicks of 29 yards or less. He made all nine extra points in four games. He was ultimately released for Nick Novak.
So either Howe is wrong, or SoSH is. And, if I were a wagering individual, I would place my bets on the incorrect person being the one that rhymes with "cow" not "Josh"
Because talking about options to replace Ghost are a legitimate topic of discussion for this thread
Otherwise this thread would be ... Ghost is injured ... he had surgery ... he's out for the season ... close the thread
Not sure where the discrepancy is. He had one bad game, on the shitty SD field, where he went 1 of 3. Which is what SoSH and Howe said.
Except it was an article about a practice squad wide receiver.
The reason it is in this thread is because there were a flurry of posts in the roster / injury thread when the Gost news broke yesterday, a bunch of posts got moved to the new thread, and the McKnight post was in between a bunch of Gost posts, so it got moved by accident.
Sorry-- I guess it comes in the framing... or to quote "Archer" --- 'Phrasing!'
Howe:
Rich Hill:
So their are different denominators for the stats, at the least.
One includes college stats. In 2016 he was at Georgia Southern. In 2017, he played 4 games for the Chargers.
I guess our coach is like his owner, he prefers an old hoe to...
and yes, I am thoroughly ashamed of myself.
and yes, I am thoroughly ashamed of myself.
He missed a game tying 44 yard FG in Denver during the opening game of 2017. The hot take narrative being spouted on 98.5 and 93.7 right now is that he single-handedly destroyed the Chargers season during those first 2 games.