I don't understand all the Lindell bashing

[Simon]

The guy hit two of the three kicks he was asked to make, the only exception being a 40+ yrdr from the left hash (a righties least favorite spot) into the wind which barely slid wide. He hit deep, high kickoffs all day long and I think he even made a big tackle on the Jags KR that got called back on a penalty.

And because he just missed one kick outside 40, it's like we've suddenly got a board full of that Sullivan guy. In addition to the wags who want to cut him right now we even had one math major who was ranting about how he cost us 6 points on Sunday

Lindell hasn't been great over his career, but he's been striking the ball very well every single time I've seen him this year. If he keeps regularly missing 42yrdrs then maybe giving him hell will be in order, but don't blame the kicker because Mularkey didn't have the guts or the confidence in his defense to let him try a 49yrdr from the right hash (I think) with the wind at his back when another 3points would have been enormous.

Cya

[Stussy109]

For an NFL kicker... he is terrible, one of the WORST in the league for 40+ yrds, which should be an average field goal for most kickers.

[cåblelady]

Right on! Simon.

 

[UConn James]

When a coach has to second-guess his player's ability to make even a mid-range FG.... that shouldn't happen at the uber-paid professional level.

 

If TD believes that kickers can be found on the street, then why doesn't he sign one of those guys, instead of retreads and area college players who have NO chance?

[Green Bay Bills]

I was MUCH more pissed at Moulds for his extremely untimely fumbles. I mean, that may have scored as many as 14 points, and in that case, we don't need our coach second guessing our kicker. I put Lindell as third goat behind Moulds and Clements.

[cåblelady]

I was MUCH more pissed at Moulds for his extremely untimely fumbles.  I mean, that may have scored as many as 14 points, and in that case, we don't need our coach second guessing our kicker.  I put Lindell as third goat behind Moulds and Clements.

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Wise post.

[Green Bay Bills]

Wise post. 

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Aw, thanks, I feel like I am a part of this board for the first time. (Blush)

[stevestojan]

I was MUCH more pissed at Moulds for his extremely untimely fumbles.  I mean, that may have scored as many as 14 points, and in that case, we don't need our coach second guessing our kicker.  I put Lindell as third goat behind Moulds and Clements.

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This is a joke, right?

 

You blame MOULDS more than Lindel? Are you f---ing serious? Moulds is one of the best in the entire league. He didnt just say, "oh !@#$ it, i dont feel like holding the ball anymore, I'm gonna put it down now and go take a rest".

 

Moulds has to worry about snap counts, routes, cornerbacks, safetys, cutting at the right time, making any necessary adjustments should he see or sence Bledsoe is in trouble, fight for footballs that are close, run as fast as humanly possible, and catch a ball within a 1 yard room of error.

 

Lindell has to kick field goals.

 

Now, you tell me. With ALL that moulds (and WRs in general) has to do, you tell me - who is doing the better job.

 

Folks, we arn't talking about ONE GAME. He was !@#$ing horrible ALL last year. Numbers dont lie. Excluding rookies, he was the worst in the league last year. Less than 50% from 40-49.

 

So please save me the "sticking up for Lindell" BS. We complained last year, and now he blatently lost us a game.

 

Sure, had Moulds not fumbled, we most likely would have won. BUT, you take Moulds out of that game all together, and guess what? We probably dont score AT ALL.

 

The biggest thing here is that we had a chance to put it away. How many teams cannot even ATTEMPT a 50yarder because their kicker is so !@#$ing bad? ... one that i know of.

[UConn James]

The biggest thing here is that we had a chance to put it away. How many teams cannot even ATTEMPT a 50yarder because their kicker is so !@#$ing bad? ... one that i know of.

 

Exactly. If we're at the 30-35 yard line with 2 seconds left, and we're down by 2, do you try that FG? Or do you have to have DB heave it up? Having a kicker with little accuracy limits the options a coach has and forces him into what may look like stupid decisions.

 

 

This is the same thing that's happening with the UConn team. The kicker, as nice a guy as he seems, just has no accuracy. Almost cost us the game this week, and it's getting the QB pleading with the coach to just let him try, b/c what the hell, Nuzie's not going to make it anyway.

[KD in CA]

The guy hit two of the three kicks he was asked to make, the only exception being a 40+ yrdr from the left hash (a righties least favorite spot) into the wind which barely slid wide. He hit deep, high kickoffs all day long and I think he even made a big tackle on the Jags KR that got called back on a penalty.

And because he just missed one kick outside 40, it's like we've suddenly got a board full of that Sullivan guy. In addition to the wags who want to cut him right now we even had one math major who was ranting about how he cost us 6 points on Sunday 

Lindell hasn't been great over his career, but he's been striking the ball very well every single time I've seen him this year. If he keeps regularly missing 42yrdrs then maybe giving him hell will be in order, but don't blame the kicker because Mularkey didn't have the guts or the confidence in his defense to let him try a 49yrdr from the right hash (I think) with the wind at his back when another 3points would have been enormous.

Cya

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My problem isn't so much with the miss, it happens (hell, Vanderjack missed from 48 to tie his game), but with the fact that a 50 yarder was apparently out of the question at a point in the game when 3 points would have been HUGE. That says to me that they don't believe in this guy and in the same situation again, the Bills would have to pass up an opportunity to score points.

 

Kicker is a bad place to skimp on the salary cap IMO.

[Typical TBD Guy]

As has already been noted, we don't want Lindell run out of town because of this one game. We are simply looking at Lindell's career production with the Seahawks, his production with the Bills in the past 17 games, extrapolating this production for the course of the entire 2004 season, and concluding that Lindell = no playoffs this year (if we expect to be playing in a lot of close games).

 

No doubt Lindell SHOULD be cut, but the only question is who do we replace him with that's better? I can't think of any right now, and if TD doesn't have a clear-cut choice either, then we're stuck with this a-hole of a kicker.

[njsue]

Steve Christie was available too, before the not so Gmen snatched him up.

[KD in CA]

Steve Christie was available too, before the not so Gmen snatched him up.

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and he kicked a 53 yarder on Sunday

[Captain America]

Not having a quality kicker affects the coaches decision when the team should be in a good kickers feild goal range .I mean if you were a coach would you feeel comfortable with Lindell kicking a 48 yarder or maybe we should punt?Lindell blows .... :I starred in Brokeback Mountain:

[Simon]

we don't want Lindell run out of town because of this one game. We are simply looking at Lindell's career production with the Seahawks, his production with the Bills in the past 17 games, extrapolating this production for the course of the entire 2004 season

Maybe I'm suffering from wishful thinking, but the Lindell I've seen so far looks like a different kicker than the one I saw last year. I don't know if he's benefited from the underrated April, got some help from Hollis in the preseason or what, but the guy is striking the ball much better than he was in '03.

I want to see him in a couple more games before I'm ready to throw him on the scrap heap.

 

When a coach has to second-guess his player's ability to make even a mid-range FG.... that shouldn't happen at the uber-paid professional level.

 

My problem isn't so much with the miss, but with the fact that a 50 yarder was apparently out of the question at a point in the game when 3 points would have been HUGE

 

I'm sorry but I see that decision as a coach's problem, not Lindell's. I think he'd have made the kick and even if he hadn't the Jags were still over 60yrds from the endzone. I think Mularkey has to show more guts and better confidence in his defense.

 

now he blatently lost us a game.

 

Ummm, the only time he touched the ball in the second half he made a FG and hit a deep kickoff in the 3rdqrtr. After that he never came near the ball again yet he somehow "blatently(sic) lost us a game" ?

You've outdone yourself this time........

[AKC]

Over his career he's remained among the worst in the NFL in putting the ball into the end zone on his kick-offs, and once again on Sunday he failed to reach it.

 

I agree he's been striking the ball better and getting some additional distance and on most kicks more air time, but again he's working from such an area of low expectations that landing only one on the 10 Sunday qualifies for a big day on KOs for the guy.

 

We were one of the 3 worst teams in '03 on opponents position after the return. I won't hold the whole problem against the coverage team because I feel his short kicks were additionally too flat.

 

Maybe the bigger problem is that he missed both of his FGs over 50 yards and went 3 of 7 from over 40 (35th in the league) last year. This season opens up with him being one of only two kickers in the league to miss a 40-50 yard FG.

 

More importantly his head coach doesn't have faith in him- the guy who watches him at practice day after day and who meets regularly with his position coach to talk about his potential. It could be more of an indictment on Mularkey but my only record for the coach is this one game- I've had a lot more time to watch Rian.

 

I don't have the explanation for why a guy who cedes Lindell 40 pounds and 5 inches in Miami puts over 20 more kicks out of the end zone every season, but if Sunday was any indication we're on our way to asking that question once again this year.

[Alaska Darin]

When a coach has to second-guess his player's ability to make even a mid-range FG.... that shouldn't happen at the uber-paid professional level.

 

If TD believes that kickers can be found on the street, then why doesn't he sign one of those guys, instead of retreads and area college players who have NO chance?

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Since when is 47 yards "midrange?"

[Simon]

I agree he's been striking the ball better and getting some additional distance and on most kicks more air time, but again he's working from such an area of low expectations that landing only one on the 10 Sunday qualifies for a big day on KOs for the guy.

 

His kickoffs v Jax looked better than anything I saw from him last year. I thought they were consistently around the 5 and really seemed to have good hangtime. The Jags returners were hitting the first wave of covermen before the reached the twenty and the only time they took one outside the 30, they needed a blockintheback to do it.

I thought the 42yrd FG into the wind from the tough hash was also a good kick, just drawing a hair more than he intended. If he continues to strike the ball like that all year, I have little problem envisioning him being comfortably over 50% from that range(although The Hawk may have someting to say about that in Nov/Dec).

 

the guy who watches him at practice day after day and who meets regularly with his position coach to talk about his potential.

And there is exactly the one thing that gives me pause. I think both Mularkey and April are good football men and I'm inclined to trust their judgement. It's just hard to disbelieve one's own eyes when they've been telling you how much better he looks this year than he did last.

I'm going to keep my piehole shut 'til I get some more data on this one.

Cya

[AKC]

His kickoffs v Jax looked better than anything I saw from him last year. I thought they were consistently around the 5 and really seemed to have good hangtime. The Jags returners were hitting the first wave of covermen before the reached the twenty

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No doubt our coverage teams were better and Lindell with a little more air on his kicks played a aprt in allowing them time to get downfield, for the record his kicks were to the 10, 3 and 1.

[34-78-83]

So I know it's fun as fans to read into things and "decode" what we like to call coachspeak, but to me in this situation what Coach MM said about the rational of his decision was REALLY what he thought, and not some sort of spin. A 48 yard FG is long and risky for ANY and ALL Nfl kickers. Your defense is playing lights out to that point, and you have a chance to pin them on or inside the 20 with close to 2 min remaining. As I have said before, it's my opinion that most coaches would have made the same decision under the same circumstances.

 

What I'm getting to though is that to me a lot of this Lindell bashing has stemmed from the idea that the above mentioned decision showed a lack of confidence by MM in Lindell when in all probability it had very little weight in the overall process. Lindell is indeed at a crossroads in his career right here and now and needs to somehow find consistency, but the decision being referenced by many as evidence of no confidence by the coaches may not be very solid evidence at all in a court of........I don't know.......Coaches.