The Avenger Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I saw the scrimmage last night and saw that Ryan Longwell got a series of FG tries (he made all of them) and kept waiting for Lindell to get a series but I never saw it. Did Lindell get a series of FG attempts, and if so, how did he do? If there is one position that I'm really not happy about this season it's kicker and I was hoping to see something last night to put me more at ease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 We never attempted any kicks (FG or PAT). Not sure why. The guy on the PA system said that the Packers would get to practice some kicks at the end, and then we would as well. I'm guessing that because of how late it was getting, they skipped our kicks. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Tate Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I saw the scrimmage last night and saw that Ryan Longwell got a series of FG tries (he made all of them) and kept waiting for Lindell to get a series but I never saw it. Did Lindell get a series of FG attempts, and if so, how did he do? If there is one position that I'm really not happy about this season it's kicker and I was hoping to see something last night to put me more at ease. 400760[/snapback] Nope, no FG attempts. Someone had a horrible looking kickoff (they didn't say who, and I couldn't read his number). Lindell had a on-side kick attempt that was recovered by GB. Planted it into the ground pretty well, good bounce, but traveled a little too far and fast to give his players a shot at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Nope, no FG attempts. Someone had a horrible looking kickoff (they didn't say who, and I couldn't read his number). Lindell had a on-side kick attempt that was recovered by GB. Planted it into the ground pretty well, good bounce, but traveled a little too far and fast to give his players a shot at it. 400767[/snapback] It looked like it was Lindell who had the crappy kickoff, but I'm not 100% sure. The onside kickoffs were kinda lame -- they were no contact! Isn't half the point of an onside kick the guys smashing together trying to get the ball? If there's no contact, the chances for recovering the kick go WAY down. CW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fake-Fat Sunny Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 The Bills seem to be managing Lindell and KO attempts in a way that they expect (more than simply hope because if they judged him that bad they likely would have kept some more alternative) him to do well. However, for the life of me I cannot figure out how this is supposed to work unless Lindell is more solid than his record of production or we get darn lucky. Kickers are weird birds and managing them is an art where the personality of the kicker says as much about what the successful thing to do may be. It strikes me that the fair, honorable and usually successful thing to do in managing and developing a player is to challenge the player. A good coach to me is one who uses both carrots and sticks to get the most out of his players (employees, charges, whatever). There really is a "tough love" relationship which describes the work of the best coaches like a Parcells in that they clearly criticize and demand a lot of their players, but this is leavened by their showing loyalty to their "boys" and standing up for them as long as they are making a quality effort and watching their teammates backs. The good coach creates a world where his team is actually a TEAM and they succeed in part because of this. Players are in fact treated differently based on their willingness to contribute to the whole and sacrifice for the teammates. However, if the HC is perceioved to be playing favorites and rewards a selfish player the TEAM breaks down an is only a team of independent contractors. However, kickers can be so weird and individual confidence is so critical to their performance that handling them is really an art. The Bills did seem to challenge Lindell by actively looking for and signing placekicekrs this offseason. However, they seemed to shy away from actually having any real competition for him this summer on the roster and appear to be committed to him in a sink or swim kind of way. I am not surprised that they did not give Lindell any practice or unofficial chances in this scrimmage because I doubt that suceeding in kicking would add much to his confidence and that if they blew a kick that might be fatal to his confidence. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted August 6, 2005 Author Share Posted August 6, 2005 The Bills did seem to challenge Lindell by actively looking for and signing placekicekrs this offseason. However, they seemed to shy away from actually having any real competition for him this summer on the roster and appear to be committed to him in a sink or swim kind of way. 400852[/snapback] Sinking or swimming with Lindell bothers me. In the past 2 seasons with the Bills he's attempted 10 FGs of 40+ yards and made only 4 of them. His long last year was 43 yards. It is so bad that the team only attempted 3 FGs of 40+ yards. That means that you pretty much have to penetrate within the opponent's 25 yard line to have a decent shot at coming away with points on the board. I think it's really dangerous to risk giving the offense a long field every time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachChuckDickerson Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Other than the Pitt game, did Lindell miss a lot of field goals last year? Did I miss something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadowdog69 Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Other than the Pitt game, did Lindell miss a lot of field goals last year? Did I miss something? 400984[/snapback] I remember the first game of the year when he blew a kick against Jacksonville. Woulda won us the game had he of hit it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie68 Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 lindell did not miss any of his kicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Avenger Posted August 6, 2005 Author Share Posted August 6, 2005 Other than the Pitt game, did Lindell miss a lot of field goals last year? Did I miss something? 400984[/snapback] No - he didn't miss that many, but he has no range and they don't generally bring him out to try a FG if the attempt will be more than 40 yards - that's a problem... You don't ever want to settle for a FG, but when you drive down the field and you're facing a 4th and 3 from your opponent's 25 you want to have a good shot at making the FG and putting points on the board. In that situation the Bills either have to go for it or punt because Lindell's range is terrible - that's a problem... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsWatch Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Sinking or swimming with Lindell bothers me. In the past 2 seasons with the Bills he's attempted 10 FGs of 40+ yards and made only 4 of them. His long last year was 43 yards. It is so bad that the team only attempted 3 FGs of 40+ yards. That means that you pretty much have to penetrate within the opponent's 25 yard line to have a decent shot at coming away with points on the board. I think it's really dangerous to risk giving the offense a long field every time... 400944[/snapback] Not entirely true..... they attempted several others but either a penality occured not on the kicker and they had to rekick from longer distance or in one case he made the FG but they called a timeout and it did not count. Lindell is not a strength but not as bad as some claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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