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Will Special Teams play actually improve in 2022?


vike daddy

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The Vikings quietly worked out a new kicker on Saturday, his name is Nick Sciba. In his NFL debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sciba nailed all three of kicks. The rookie hit two field goals, one from 29 yards and one from 38 yards, as well as an XP in Pittsburgh’s 35-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Shortly after, he was waived by the Steelers in favor of Matthew Wright.

Perhaps a perfect three-kick day isn’t that impressive, but what will impress is what came prior to that while he was in in college. During four years at Wake Forest, Sciba became the second-most accurate kicker in NCAA history by making 89.9% of his field goals. He sits 0.1% behind Brett Baer for the top spot, who made 90% of his field goals for the University of Louisiana.

Sciba narrowly missed out on that record, but he did get the record for most consecutive field goals made. From 2018-2019, Sciba had a stretch where he was automatic to the tune of 34 consecutive field goals made.

Overall, Sciba made 80-of-89 field goals for the Demon Deacons, and he was perfect on XP attempts, nailing all 193 attempts. Overall, that means he went 273-for-282 in his career, and 96.8% of his kicks went through the uprights.

https://purpleptsd.com/2022/vikings/top_news/vikings-worked-out-a-new-kicker/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

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7 hours ago, vike daddy said:

The Vikings quietly worked out a new kicker on Saturday, his name is Nick Sciba. In his NFL debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sciba nailed all three of kicks. The rookie hit two field goals, one from 29 yards and one from 38 yards, as well as an XP in Pittsburgh’s 35-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Shortly after, he was waived by the Steelers in favor of Matthew Wright.

Perhaps a perfect three-kick day isn’t that impressive, but what will impress is what came prior to that while he was in in college. During four years at Wake Forest, Sciba became the second-most accurate kicker in NCAA history by making 89.9% of his field goals. He sits 0.1% behind Brett Baer for the top spot, who made 90% of his field goals for the University of Louisiana.

Sciba narrowly missed out on that record, but he did get the record for most consecutive field goals made. From 2018-2019, Sciba had a stretch where he was automatic to the tune of 34 consecutive field goals made.

Overall, Sciba made 80-of-89 field goals for the Demon Deacons, and he was perfect on XP attempts, nailing all 193 attempts. Overall, that means he went 273-for-282 in his career, and 96.8% of his kicks went through the uprights.

https://purpleptsd.com/2022/vikings/top_news/vikings-worked-out-a-new-kicker/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

I suspect leg strength is likely the reason he hasn't caught on with another team. If that's the case, it's hard to justify dropping Joseph for him, as Joseph's field goal misses have all been from 50+ this year. The missed XPs are concerning, but I don't know if it's a good idea to be tweaking the kicking game in season because of that. I'm glad they're looking though. No stone unturned. 

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Joseph will most likely remain the Vikings K for the rest of this season. Vikings should look at other options in the off-season, not sure it is worth re-signing Joseph at likely more than his current salary of $2.43M. Then again, who is available in FA/draft, and would we want to go that route. Could be a "better the devil you know than the devil you don't know" type of situation.

Special teams was not very special yesterday. They gave up a 35 yard punt return and got fooled on the 4th and 8 fake punt for 42 yards. 

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2 hours ago, swede700 said:

Something like that.  He actually hasn't missed anything in awhile.  He hasn't missed an XP since Thanksgiving and a FG since the day before Halloween.  

I just think its a bad practice to not have patience with players.   They are human and make mistakes, as we all do.  When coaching staffs react emotionally, and give players the boot after some mistake, the team suffers in the long run.  If this coaching staff had reacted to one of his kissed XP/FG's rashly, we'd have paid for it.

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6 minutes ago, perrynoid said:

I just think its a bad practice to not have patience with players.   They are human and make mistakes, as we all do.  When coaching staffs react emotionally, and give players the boot after some mistake, the team suffers in the long run.  If this coaching staff had reacted to one of his kissed XP/FG's rashly, we'd have paid for it.

We certainly have experience with that.  If our previous coach had had Adam Vinatieri as the kicker way back when, he would have been gone in a split second after missing 3 FGs in his 2nd game.  

Edited by swede700
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