Should We Punt Groom?

[Big C]

hes not really booming punts, they arent that far, hes doing average

[offiss]

His last punt against Dallas was perfect he didn't allow them to field it, and kepr it in bounds which allowed us to run a lot more time off the clock, after the earlier return, and with enough time to drive for a fieldgoal, that was big.

[Hog1]

Our special teams in general are letting us down. We have not gotten many good returns. Punter is marginal so far (at best). If not for the kicker, stopping the return in Dallas, we lose! Definately, an area of prime comcern

[celts32]

Groom has not hurt us much. He's young with a strong leg. I see no need to drop him unless he starts shanking off 20 yarders on us. the only way to get a good consistent kicking game is to develop someone young and stop running in retreads every year.

[scowan]

Special Teams has been average, because we thought A. Brown was the answer and he wasn't, so we are back to Thrash, who is real smart with the football, but not a blazer by any means. I am just glad that Hall's injury really did not play into Monday night. We could get anyone to kick XPs. If he wouldn't get hurt, I would love to see Moss return kicks again like he has elsewhere, but that is very dangerous duty! Maybe I don't really want to see that happen.

[That Guy]

Originally Posted by scowan

Special Teams has been average, because we thought A. Brown was the answer and he wasn't, so we are back to Thrash, who is real smart with the football, but not a blazer by any means. I am just glad that Hall's injury really did not play into Monday night. We could get anyone to kick XPs. If he wouldn't get hurt, I would love to see Moss return kicks again like he has elsewhere, but that is very dangerous duty! Maybe I don't really want to see that happen.

the bigger problem is him getting worn out... he runs a lot of deep routes, then has to get back to the huddle, adding ST returns as well (with the extra tackles) and he'd be huffing too soon.

[jbcjr14]

Originally Posted by scowan

Special Teams has been average, because we thought A. Brown was the answer and he wasn't, so we are back to Thrash, who is real smart with the football, but not a blazer by any means. I am just glad that Hall's injury really did not play into Monday night. We could get anyone to kick XPs. If he wouldn't get hurt, I would love to see Moss return kicks again like he has elsewhere, but that is very dangerous duty! Maybe I don't really want to see that happen.

Remember a few years back when we thought Thrash had amazing speed??? Damn, its a bitch to get old.

[SKINSnCANES]

Originally Posted by offiss

His last punt against Dallas was perfect he didn't allow them to field it, and kepr it in bounds which allowed us to run a lot more time off the clock, after the earlier return, and with enough time to drive for a fieldgoal, that was big.

Wasnt his last punt only perfect because it had a huge bounce? Didnt it land really short and they were saying how it was a bad kick but then it rolled a good 15 yards and made it so he couldnt get the ball? It may have been the previous punt Im thinking of but he did have some short ones.

[JWsleep]

Groom will improve--I just hope it's soon, because we have no options there.

As for the overall teams play, I've been disappointed. I'm starting to think that Danny Smith is all sizzle and no steak. Wasn't this a priority?

[AnonEmouse]

Originally Posted by RedskinRat

Totally agree. In Europe we have a billion people that can kick a ball straight up, with a fade/slice ect playing Rugby (ok, slightly less than a billion) and I never understood why they weren't recruited into the NFL more often.

Has anyone esle seen the kicks in Rugby for the conversions from crazy angles?

1) Rugby kickers generally kick on the full run when aiming for touch. Gives them more power than a virtually standing kick (punt).
2) When going for touch they are doing exactly that. Accuracy is second to distance. Watch a rugby game all the way through and you will see plenty of wayward kicks.
3) When kicking penalties (think FG's) they have all the time in the world (well virtually) to set the ball up, line up the kick and kick the ball. NFL kickers have a limited time to set up (play clock) and about 1 second to make the kick. Not the same environment.
4) Rugby ball is bigger and softer than a football. I know for a fact kicking them is different enough to make a big difference, especially considering the 3 points above.

NFL kickers generally come from a soccer background, even if they haven't kicked all the way through high school and college. Rubgy players have kicked their way from school (12 years old or so) thorugh college and university. Retraining them wouldn't be worth the effort for NFL teams.

Oh, and the last ime I saw a rugby player try to play pro football (London Monarchs Martin Offiah) it was a miserable failure.

[offiss]

Originally Posted by SKINSnCANES

Wasnt his last punt only perfect because it had a huge bounce? Didnt it land really short and they were saying how it was a bad kick but then it rolled a good 15 yards and made it so he couldnt get the ball? It may have been the previous punt Im thinking of but he did have some short ones.

I didn't roll a long way that I can remember, it did take a good role but not that far, the key to that kick was exactly what he did kick it high and not to deep so we could hopefully do what we did eat up precious seconds off the clock and disallow a return, both happened, who really knows if that's what he was trying to do, it's a tough kick for anyone, it could have been a fluke but it sure was effective.

[RedskinRat]

Originally Posted by AnonEmouse

1) Rugby kickers generally kick on the full run when aiming for touch. Gives them more power than a virtually standing kick (punt).
2) When going for touch they are doing exactly that. Accuracy is second to distance. Watch a rugby game all the way through and you will see plenty of wayward kicks.
3) When kicking penalties (think FG's) they have all the time in the world (well virtually) to set the ball up, line up the kick and kick the ball. NFL kickers have a limited time to set up (play clock) and about 1 second to make the kick. Not the same environment.
4) Rugby ball is bigger and softer than a football. I know for a fact kicking them is different enough to make a big difference, especially considering the 3 points above.

NFL kickers generally come from a soccer background, even if they haven't kicked all the way through high school and college. Rubgy players have kicked their way from school (12 years old or so) thorugh college and university. Retraining them wouldn't be worth the effort for NFL teams.

Oh, and the last ime I saw a rugby player try to play pro football (London Monarchs Martin Offiah) it was a miserable failure.

All good points. How's the weather?

[illdefined]

Originally Posted by AnonEmouse

Oh, and the last ime I saw a rugby player try to play pro football (London Monarchs Martin Offiah) it was a miserable failure.

would be funny to see a Rugby tackle from the kicker that the returner wasn't expecting .

[skinsfanthru&thru]

Originally Posted by AnonEmouse

1) Oh, and the last ime I saw a rugby player try to play pro football (London Monarchs Martin Offiah) it was a miserable failure.

wasn't darren bennet (ex-punter of the Chargers currently with Minnesota) a former rugby player? or am I just assuming cuz he is from australia that he played rugby ?

[BigSKINBauer]

Groom is fine but the only thing is he doesn't drop the ball in the 10, like if he was to punt from our 45 or so the ball would only hit about at the 20, i remember saying atleast twice that Tooop could have drop that ball in the 10 during this season.

Otherwise we are lucky to have Groom as tooop is hurt