Kicker saga continues, Bears cut all - only Piniero remains

[soulman]

2 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

Biggs in his mailbag today about Joey Slye, for those looking for some perspective: 

Joey Slye looked like the best kicker on the field Thursday. Signed just two week ago, how was he not on the Bears’ radar? Jamie Kohl, the consultant they hired, should be fired. — Jeffrey L., Parts Unknown

Slye had the best night of any kicker on the field last week at Soldier Field, no question about that, as he nailed field goals from 29, 42 and 55 yards in the preseason opener for the Panthers. It was an impressive performance by Slye, and he showed plenty of leg strength, which he was known for during his career at Virginia Tech, where he became the school’s all-time leading scorer. To suggest Kohl is unfamiliar with Slye would be inaccurate. Slye has trained through Kohl’s kicking camps previously. Reality is Slye has struggled with accuracy, which is something he dealt with as a senior for the Hokies, when he made 15 of 22 field goals (68.2 percent). The Buccaneers and Browns gave Slye tryouts in 2018 and he couldn’t stick. The Giants brought him in during May when the Bears were having their kicker carnival at Halas Hall and they didn’t sign him. Then the Giants signed Slye just before training camp and cut him four days later. The Panthers signed him because veteran Graham Gano is dealing with a sore left plant leg. Even after Slye’s nice performance, he’s viewed as a camp leg until Gano gets healthy. Could that change? I suppose so. The point is Slye hasn’t done well enough at previous stops to stick. So to suggest Kohl isn’t doing his job for the Bears based on four kicks by a guy on one night is, well, wide right of the mark. Kohl isn’t the guy that cut Robbie Gould. He didn’t sign Connor Barth. He didn’t pay big time for Cody Parkey. He’s doing his best to help the Bears navigate through some serious kicking issues. I’m not sure Slye is really a solution for the Bears.

   We gotta stop this idea of wandering around like toddlers in a toy store wanting every toy or book on the shelf just because they're new.

Every NFL team needs an established PK and most have signed or drafted one and developed him which is what we're all about now.

It would have been nice to have had Robbie back but how easily could we have afforded $5 mil a year for a PK going forward when we already know we're gonna have to make some sacrifices in future years to get under the cap.  It happens to every good team.

If we're this far along I'm more than willing to see it play out over the next three games then give the winner at least 4 regular season games to get his groove on.  Fry and Piniero have put in the time and effort and one of them deserves his shot at becoming "that guy".

Lord knows there's no lack of vets out there like others we've pulled off the scrap heap if we get desperate enough to think we need one.

Edited August 14, 2019 by soulman

[G08]

I went back and watched Piñeiro's kicks at Florida and with Oakland last season... I think we've ****ed up his mechanics.

Hopefully the kid takes to them as the preseason progresses. Personally I don't like to see mechanics tweaked unless absolutely necessary.

[Sugashane]

4 hours ago, G08 said:

I went back and watched Piñeiro's kicks at Florida and with Oakland last season... I think we've ****ed up his mechanics.

Hopefully the kid takes to them as the preseason progresses. Personally I don't like to see mechanics tweaked unless absolutely necessary.

Agree wholeheartedly. To me he has the leg strength you can't teach, so the only time something should be tweaked is to correct an issue that is becoming common (pulling to the left, plant foot too far back or inconsistently placed, etc). 

[dll2000]

15 hours ago, G08 said:

I went back and watched Piñeiro's kicks at Florida and with Oakland last season... I think we've ****ed up his mechanics.

Hopefully the kid takes to them as the preseason progresses. Personally I don't like to see mechanics tweaked unless absolutely necessary.

That's not good.  I don't know enough to comment on the mechanics of it.

If we had a close up shot of side by side we could see.  

[AZBearsFan]

I’m just not nearly as worried about this kicker thing as so many people are. I believe that a guy who just made 16 FG in a row in live game action before Saturday is probably capable of continuing to be pretty accurate. Fry has missed 1 kick in his last 18 in live game action and people are ready to cut the cord. 

I also believe a guy who made 88% of his FG in the SEC in college and 85% thus far across 2 preseasons (6/7) is probably capable of continuing to connect at about that rate. Pineiro is 44/50 in live game FG attempts since 2016 and people can’t wait to replace him with the next shiny new button they see. 

I can’t decide if I’m just getting more patient as I get older or more foolish. I suppose it could be both. 

[WindyCity]

27 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

I’m just not nearly as worried about this kicker thing as so many people are. I believe that a guy who just made 16 FG in a row in live game action before Saturday is probably capable of continuing to be pretty accurate. Fry has missed 1 kick in his last 18 in live game action and people are ready to cut the cord. 

I also believe a guy who made 88% of his FG in the SEC in college and 85% thus far across 2 preseasons (6/7) is probably capable of continuing to connect at about that rate. Pineiro is 44/50 in live game FG attempts since 2016 and people can’t wait to replace him with the next shiny new button they see. 

I can’t decide if I’m just getting more patient as I get older or more foolish. I suppose it could be both. 

We are officially revoking your ability to complain about kickers in season.

You are now the president of the PineroFry fan club

[Epyon]

Word is that we offered a conditional 5th for vedvick, and the conditions where basically a lock to be met. We where only out bid by Minn offering a 5th completely without conditions. 

 

[soulman]

1 hour ago, Epyon said:

Word is that we offered a conditional 5th for vedvick, and the conditions where basically a lock to be met. We where only out bid by Minn offering a 5th completely without conditions. 

 

No big deal.  Minny changes PKs more often than some change their socks.  In another year or two we'll have another shot at him.

[dll2000]

14 hours ago, WindyCity said:

We are officially revoking your ability to complain about kickers in season.

You are now the president of the PineroFry fan club

So who do you want and for what price?

[Ty21]

14 hours ago, AZBearsFan said:

I’m just not nearly as worried about this kicker thing as so many people are. I believe that a guy who just made 16 FG in a row in live game action before Saturday is probably capable of continuing to be pretty accurate. Fry has missed 1 kick in his last 18 in live game action and people are ready to cut the cord. 

I also believe a guy who made 88% of his FG in the SEC in college and 85% thus far across 2 preseasons (6/7) is probably capable of continuing to connect at about that rate. Pineiro is 44/50 in live game FG attempts since 2016 and people can’t wait to replace him with the next shiny new button they see. 

I can’t decide if I’m just getting more patient as I get older or more foolish. I suppose it could be both. 

I think everyone just hopes we can find the most perfect kicker of all time so we can all see that it was the kicker that lost us the game in the playoff last year but an underwhelming and overly cautious offense 

[dll2000]

1 hour ago, Tyty said:

I think everyone just hopes we can find the most perfect kicker of all time so we can all see that it was the kicker that lost us the game in the playoff last year but an underwhelming and overly cautious offense 

I think people always forget that kick was tipped and still traveled 43 yards and missed by 4 inches.  Pretty damn good kick.  This after a perfectly timed ice time out.

Give some credit to Cox and Philly defense.  Cox is an amazing football player and even if it wasn't Cox in middle Howard and Oline couldn't run ball between tackles all year.  But Cox was there so forget about it. 

I think but for Burton's freak groin injury that game goes other way.  They took Cohen out of game with doubles, every other guy got shut down man to man and it took us a full half to figure out Robinson was where we had to go. 

 

 

 

[beardown3231]

1 minute ago, dll2000 said:

I think people always forget that kick was tipped and still traveled 43 yards and missed by 4 inches.  Pretty damn good kick.  This after a perfectly timed ice time out.

Give some credit to Cox and Philly defense.  Cox is an amazing football player and even if it wasn't Cox in middle Howard and Oline couldn't run ball between tackles all year.  But Cox was there so forget about it. 

I think but for Burton's freak groin injury that game goes other way.  They took Cohen out of game with doubles, every other guy got shut down man to man and it took us a full half to figure out Robinson was where we had to go. 

 

 

 

The ball was touched by a guy's nail. Every kicking expert has said that such a light grazing wouldn't have made a difference.

The struggling kicker made 75% of his FG's that day. O struggled as I imagined they would in their first playoff game. Despite Amos the D was good even without Jackson. O'Donnell ****ed up his final punt. That game was on Parkey and the ST.

[AZBearsFan]

17 hours ago, WindyCity said:

We are officially revoking your ability to complain about kickers in season.

You are now the president of the PineroFry fan club

If that means I expect our kickers to be on par with most other NFL kickers and not as infallibly accurate as a kicker in Madden then so be it. I never said I wouldn’t be critical. I’m saying that I’m not going to overreact to every single imperfect moment from an imperfect position. All kickers miss. It's incredibly frustrating especially when it happens at an important time, but it’s an unavoidable reality of football. 

Calling for a new kicker every damn week serves what purpose exactly? Guess what happens if we acquire Joey Slye or any other kicker? They are going to miss at some point too. By the current standard Eddy Pineiro could be the next Justin Tucker and we would never find out because he’s not PERFECT so he wasn’t good enough. Think about that! Is that not insane? 

It seems pretty clear that we aren’t getting a vet and that our kicker at least to start the season is going to be a kid. Nagy has said that it’s the in game kicks that matter most. Pineiro has made 88% of his in game FGs across 50 attempts over the last 3+ calendar years and has a massive leg. If that doesn’t earn him even the slightest benefit of the doubt to potentially be the guy, then what will? Fry has made 17 of his last 18 in game kicks. If that doesn’t earn him even the slightest benefit of the doubt to potentially be the guy, then what will? Had all of those 16 consecutive makes before Friday’s miss come in a Bears jersey would people be more willing to accept his being human? Sure doesn’t seem so. Are you going to give Joey Slye more rope if we bring him in? How could you justify that? Why does his 2 weeks of good game performance trump the good overall game in game performances over a more extended period of time across the resumes of Pineiro and Fry? Seriously? Explain the logic. 

Maybe before you criticize me for having the audacity to expect less than perfection consider that the alternative you are seeking is entirely unattainable. Any other rookie is going to be imperfect. Any vet available in late August is going to be imperfect. Robbie Gould would have been imperfect too. Swapping our rookies for another rookie is nothing more than trading one unknown with which you aren’t comfortable with another unknown with which you won’t be comfortable. You’re certainly welcome to keep driving yourself crazy searching for something that doesn’t actually exist, but I’m over it. 

[dll2000]

2 hours ago, beardown3231 said:

The ball was touched by a guy's nail. Every kicking expert has said that such a light grazing wouldn't have made a difference.

The struggling kicker made 75% of his FG's that day. O struggled as I imagined they would in their first playoff game. Despite Amos the D was good even without Jackson. O'Donnell ****ed up his final punt. That game was on Parkey and the ST.

Bull.  When a football has to travel 129 feet in Winter any touching of it makes a significant difference.  How do you touch a ball with just a finger nail anyway unless you have press ons? 

You could argue that it wasn’t properly high enough to clear line, that I am not sure.  If true then I have no defense to that.

He sucked on season, but made every kick that day besides the one that was tipped. 

[beardown3231]

30 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

Bull.  When a football has to travel 129 feet in Winter any touching of it makes a significant difference.  How do you touch a ball with just a finger nail anyway unless you have press ons? 

You could argue that it wasn’t properly high enough to clear line, that I am not sure.  If true then I have no defense to that.

He sucked on season, but made every kick that day besides the one that was tipped. 

If kicking experts said it, I'm going to side with them. It literally took 30-45 minutes postgame for an extremely zoomed in & grainy video to emerge for anyone to know it was tipped, and even the Philly player said it was very slight. A lot of people have long fingernails that aren't press ons, dude.

And yes, it probably wasn't high enough.

I'm not going to use "well he made his previous 3 kicks and XP so there must have been a deflection" excuse, because Parkey was inconsistent all season. He missed kicks in all kinds of weather, so he just sucked.

Edited August 18, 2019 by beardown3231