Kickers are a funny position to try to fill. While every team would like to have a guy who you can lock in for 10 years and be automatic (ie- a Morten Anderson type), the reality is that kickers tend to be very year to year, similar to relief pitchers in baseball.
Even if you look at the Giants first 2 Super Bowls, neither Raul Allegre (1986) nor Matt Bahr (1990) started the season with the Giants.
A few years ago, I wrote up a post that the Giants have been a team that has developed kickers that never actually played for them, and went with a veteran kicker, only to see that young kicker go on to have very good, and in some cases Pro Bowl careers. Just to name a few- Matt Stover, Olindo Mare, Todd Peterson, and Brandon McManus. I advocated cutting Josh Brown (before we all knew his history) to keep Chris Boswell, but the Giants played it safe and went with Brown and Boswell has found a home with the Steelers.
That leaves us with Aldrick Rosas. All we know about him is "he has a strong leg". That's the word from OTAs and workouts. Now, does that mean another Brad Daluiso type? A guy who the Giants can trot out there to hit a 54 yarder like it seems every other kicker in the NFL does to them? Or do the Giants look to bring in a veteran retread like a Dan Carpenter?
Part of me is wondering if this is the time the Giants go with the young guy and see if they can finally keep their own Matt Stover or Brandon McManus. However, the other part to keep in mind is that the Giants are in their championship window right now. This is a team built to win a Super Bowl this year. Do you risk going with a kid, who has a strong leg, but has never made a pressure kick before? This is why I wanted the Giants to keep Boswell a couple of years back. We knew the Giants weren't really going anywhere so let the young kicker learn. That's not the situation now. It's a tough call, and interesting to watch in the pre-season. I actually hope the Giants don't score as many TDs in the pre-season and get this kid on the field to kick and see what he does. Or they do the old Parcells trick in training camp. Put the kid on the field to kick at the end of the practice. Have the whole team watch him and he has to hit a 45 yarder. If he hits it, practice is over. If not, they run gassers. If Rosas is the guy, the Giants need to make sure he's ready for the clutch situations.
Wow! I really like your thinking!
Game. Set. Match. I'm on board with this.
Not a bad point about Bryant, I forgot to mention him. However, Bryant wasn't pushed aside after the SF botch. He was on the team in 2003. His bigger problem was the kickoff out of bounds in Week 2 vs. Dallas which set up OT with only a few seconds to go. Bryant got hurt during the season, but finished it up. Come 2004, Coughlin pushed out most of Fassel's guys. He first signed Bill Gramatica (the guy who tore his ACL celebrating vs. the Giants). And eventually went for veteran Steve Christie. So Bryant was more caught up in a coaching change than anything he did or didn't do.
Hell, 46 yds is long one for our kickers over the past decade.
Don't know anything about Rosas but he seems to be who they like and not just because its June...
He's no Footy McBigleg.
Here are some pre-season battles to watch:
CLE: Roberto Aguayo vs. Nick Folk (this is the big one)
CLE: Zane Gonzalez vs. Cody Parkey (Gonzalez and Elliott were 1-2 in the draft class; Parkey regained his form late in 2016.)
CIN: Jake Elliott vs. Randy Bullock vs. Jon Brown (Woo-hoo! Randy Bullock again!)
NYJ: Chandler Catanzaro vs. Ross Martin (meh)
CAR: Graham Gano vs. Harrison Butker (Gano is in his "cut" year)
I watched Dodge a lot in camp and was amazed at how bad he was and that in spite of this, the Giants did not get another punter in camp. It was not pressure that did Dodge in, it was poor technique. He was inconsistent in his drop and he was terrible at catching the snap and properly positioning the ball in his hands. He had a strong leg, but he was a klutz. This all happened when there was NO pressure in camp.
If you're lousy in camp you should never be allowed to play in a game. Blame the Giants for letting Dodge play. I doubt that they will let it happen again. Rosas seems to be consistent in his technique. The pressure test will come in camp and in preseason.
CLE: Roberto Aguayo vs. Nick Folk (this is the big one)
CLE: Zane Gonzalez vs. Cody Parkey (Gonzalez and Elliott were 1-2 in the draft class; Parkey regained his form late in 2016.)...
He kicks a very high ball that wouldn't do well at Giants stadium.
I would like to see what Carpenter could do indoors in a division with a lot of indoor stadiums.
I don't know what is stats are for indoor vs outdoor but suspect they are very favorable.
Folk would be a free agent, and an obvious alternative to Rosas. He's a proven pro, and he knows the stadium like the back of his hand. Since the Bucs may be reluctant to give up on Aguayo so soon, Folk is the man to watch. The strange thing is that TB gave him a $750K+ guarantee. That's a lot of cash for an insurance kicker. Could they possibly carry both?
I haven't read anything bad about him. also, you know the team is loaded when this thread is this active. its a good thing
Why was he one of the best ever? I am not being a dick. It is a serious question. I remember reading at the time that he wasn't great from 40+ yards or something like that. At the time everybody felt he was a huge reach by Tampa and it seems to still hold true. I want nothing to do with Aguayo.
I always find it funny that Tynes is the "but he had balls " guy because he made the 47 yd FG in OT that sent us to the Super Bowl.But, he missed a 43 & 36 yard FGs that would have sent us to the SB in regulation. He DID have balls in kicking that 47 yarder in OT as did TC, who originally was going to punt but when Tynes ran on the field, went for the FG. All the ass't coaches were screaming punt because field position would have been great for Favre but TC said go for it.How would Giant historians have looked at him if we had lost in OT? Would he have been our Scott Norwood? Thank God it didn't come to that!
2014 established his reputation as a clutch kicker. Closer inspection does reveal a little asterisk: his clutch kicks were mostly short, and his long kicks were mostly low-pressure.
In 2015, he extended the PAT streak to 198 while slumping slightly on FGs beyond 40 yards. Despite that hiccup, he continued to bolster his pro credentials by improving his kickoff distance.
In hindsight, it seems that Aguayo was overrated; but he entered the draft early with no real flaws. Maybe, despite playing at the highest level of NCAA competition, he just never faced the kind of pressure in college that he does in the NFL.
What good is a guy who can occasionally reach from 50+, if you have to cross your fingers from 40?
Mike fr Warwick : 1:30 pm : link : reply
tynes knew he was going to make it. The way youknow you are going to hitt that free throw. IF you have ever experienced that.
7 minutes left, he misses a 43 yarder....
4 seconds left in game, misses a 36 yarder....
In overtime, he now attempts a 47 yarder.....up to this point no one has hit a fg over 40 yards in a playoff game in Green Bay.......and Tynes just knew he was going to make it?
One of those earlier misses was like 20 yards off to the left.
Either way, he was correct and it was great...
When he was drafted I heard TC was pissed they Made him keep him. One of the guys who came in to train at our academy was his old special teams coach who got fired by the Dolphins that year. Said they pretty much forced Dodge on him.
Inside stories like that make it clear that although we hear a lot about how coaches and GMs work together it's definitely not always so clear cut. Not a slam on the Dodge pick. All GMs miss. And coaches fall in love w guys who bust out all the time too
Just remembered that story w your post. He did have big bicepts at least.
Preseason 80,000 plus? Not likely.
So my comment was not absurd but rather based on the player's comments(knew he could make it based on the miss) and the result. Not based on what I would like to think happened or some version that fits my opinion now or then.
I should have elaborated on the free throw comment. It was about having confidence in your ability to adjust and make it. For those that have competed in anything you have to have confidence in yourself and believe in yourself to be successful. It's why Tynes ran on the field uncalled. He believed and knew he would make it. Often that is difference in winning and losing. This s my competitive experience.
If he did not believe.... why run out there? Why try the longest playoff FG in GB playoff history in those conditions? Leave Favre at mid field? To be the scapegoat?
No... he was thinking we are going home. He was sure of it.
So no I was not kidding anybody.