Random Packer News & Notes

[skibrett15]

1 minute ago, Norm said:

There's another kicker in camp though isn't there?

yeah, ficken.

but not really an NFL vet who is providing any sort of threat to crosby.  It's pure lip service and keeping tabs on a guy for injury purposes.

[Norm]

3 hours ago, skibrett15 said:

or some UDFA we don't really know about. 

You sure can dance, I tell ya what.

 

You're right. That's what it is. And to split some duties I'm sure. But you just said why not at least have a UDFA type and we do...

You aren't going to sign Matt Bryant and ask him to compete with Crosby.... This is what you get

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by Norm

[skibrett15]

16 minutes ago, Norm said:

You sure can dance, I tell ya what.

 

You're right. That's what it is. And to split some duties I'm sure. But you just said why not at least have a UDFA type and we do...

You aren't going to sign Matt Bryant and ask him to compete with Crosby.... This is what you get

 

except that ficken is a guy who bounced around 2+ teams in the NFL and isn't an uproven UDFA.  If anything he's a proven NFL failure/potential reclamation project.  Doesn't make sense to have him over parkey who is a reclamation but at least had some NFL success.

 

This isn't a competition.  It's a sham/token competition with the upside that you get to see ficken in case crosby gets hurt.  Ficken could have 10% better accuracy in camp and he still wouldn't win this job.

 

They should have cut crosby and offered him the same deal as these other viable FA Ks.  They could still do this, but they choose not to for appearances.  The time is basically up to use the cap effectively, so they've already made the mistake.  They paid his tiny workout bonus, so they are probably keeping him regardless.

[MacReady]

2 hours ago, mikemike778 said:

If Crosby is making approx. 50% of his kicks from 50+ yards then what they says to me is that unless its 4th and whoa that's a long way then we probably shouldn't be kicking from 50+ yards.  Most of the time, I'd rather just go for it. If you don't make it then field position isn't as bad for a start.

 

Looking through some of the scenarios McCarthy sent him out makes me think a lot of it was on McCarthy.  If it’s 4th and 5 or less, I see no reason not to go for it or punt instead of kicking unless it’s end of game or half type scenarios.

[Norm]

59 minutes ago, skibrett15 said:

except that ficken is a guy who bounced around 2+ teams in the NFL and isn't an uproven UDFA.  If anything he's a proven NFL failure/potential reclamation project.  Doesn't make sense to have him over parkey who is a reclamation but at least had some NFL success.

 

This isn't a competition.  It's a sham/token competition with the upside that you get to see ficken in case crosby gets hurt.  Ficken could have 10% better accuracy in camp and he still wouldn't win this job.

 

They should have cut crosby and offered him the same deal as these other viable FA Ks.  They could still do this, but they choose not to for appearances.  The time is basically up to use the cap effectively, so they've already made the mistake.  They paid his tiny workout bonus, so they are probably keeping him regardless.

Dude, you mentioned ******* Koo, how is he any different? You're just all over the place. I understand what you are saying oh I'd take a UDFA type who hasn't gotten a chance, dude kicked like 5 times or something. Koo has bounced around, has only been on one active roster. Yet, he's "Koo" to go get but this other guy, nah...

Of course it's not a competition, because unlike you, they don't think they need one. They are comfortable with Crosby, you aren't. That's okay. It's not illegal to have opinions. 

I'm not even going to address the last part. That's all just silliness. 

[Cakeshoppe]

4 hours ago, skibrett15 said:

Isn't that the "expected part?" accounting for the length of the kick and lowering the expectation?  Or does it tread the 4th down kick as a normal play where a decent punt would be 0.00 and so on?

Right, from looking at it, it looks like it treats 4th down the same as any other down, so that it’s not how many points expected given that a kick is being attempted, only how many points expected given that it’s 4th and X from the Y yard line with Z minutes to play. There’s been a lot of discussion of the difficulty of Crosby’s kicks and that may factor into his expected points here (assuming for the moment that his level of difficulty with relation to kicking distance is in fact higher) but the converse is also true. If MM was calling for FGs on 4th and short or 4th and goal when other coaches would be going for it, that may also affect expected point differentials for FG plays. 

[PACKRULE]

1 hour ago, Outpost31 said:

Looking through some of the scenarios McCarthy sent him out makes me think a lot of it was on McCarthy.  If it’s 4th and 5 or less, I see no reason not to go for it or punt instead of kicking unless it’s end of game or half type scenarios.

MM was stubborn in the last few years and seemed to hate not taking points and would give up field position if Mason missed. Put so much pressure on our D, mind you our D sucked. Really maybe Mason is better if he gets closer more often for his kicks. He still gets paid to much for my liking and his kick offs suck he doesn't do good enough with touch backs.

 

This isn't good enough. Nearly half his KO's are returned.

Year	Team	G	KO	Yds	OOB	Avg	TB	Pct	Ret	Avg	TD	OSK	OSKR
2018	Green Bay Packers	16	83	5,168	0	62.3	41	49.4	39	26.0	1	3	0

 

Edited July 3, 2019 by PACKRULE

[Norm]

Lol Mason makes 4 million this year eh? Is that right?

[MacReady]

@PACKRULE, are you 100% sure Crosby hasn’t been instructed to kick returnable kicks?  I find it hard to believe Crosby is incapable of kicking a touchback when he wants to.

[Shanedorf]

13 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

I find it hard to believe Crosby is incapable of kicking a touchback when he wants to.

There may have been directional calls from Zook; each game and situation is different -
In the Packers- Rams game, the Rams kicked it right to the end zone line which put Monty into no-mans land and he made a fateful choice. The Rams kicker can kick it out of the stadium if he so chooses, but in this case strategery made the shorter kick a game-winner. Without knowing the ST calls, its hard to slam a kicker for not getting a touchback every time.

Also noted: The kickoff distance does drop later in the season as the weather turns, the ball gets harder, the air gets denser and the kickers' legs fatigue.
It happens every year and it highlights why box score scouting is relatively useless for this particular endeavor

[AlexGreen#20]

Every kicker in the NFL is kicking high and to the 2 now. You can't judge them on distance really anymore. It's pretty much all hang time and directional on kickoffs. If Crosby can't kick it 65 in the air off a tee, his leg is fried. He'll be able to do that until he's 55 unless his leg falls off with an injury. 

[PACKRULE]

4 hours ago, Outpost31 said:

@PACKRULE, are you 100% sure Crosby hasn’t been instructed to kick returnable kicks?  I find it hard to believe Crosby is incapable of kicking a touchback when he wants to.

I would say maybe a handful of designed short kicks. Mason has never pounded them deep into the EZ. His strong leg to me is a bit of a myth I think from kicking on CO. 

[PACKRULE]

2 hours ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Every kicker in the NFL is kicking high and to the 2 now. You can't judge them on distance really anymore. It's pretty much all hang time and directional on kickoffs. If Crosby can't kick it 65 in the air off a tee, his leg is fried. He'll be able to do that until he's 55 unless his leg falls off with an injury. 

Crosby has never been great at TB even before They moved the kick spot. His deepest kicks without wind are often returnable. If our strategy was to pin them deep it clearly didn’t work considering the avg return was 26 yards. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by PACKRULE

[AlexGreen#20]

11 minutes ago, PACKRULE said:

Crosby has never been great at TB even before They moved the kick spot. His deepest kicks without wind are often returnable. If our strategy was to pin them deep it clearly didn’t work considering the avg return was 26 yards. 

So you're honestly trying to argue that the guy with the leg for 55 yard field goals can't get it 70 on kickoffs? That's moronic. If we wanted touchbacks, we would have them. 

The average return and the average starting position aren't the same thing. If you return the ball 26 yards from 3 yards deep in the endzone, you're an idiot who should have taken a touchback.

[PACKRULE]

1 hour ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

So you're honestly trying to argue that the guy with the leg for 55 yard field goals can't get it 70 on kickoffs? That's moronic. If we wanted touchbacks, we would have them. 

The average return and the average starting position aren't the same thing. If you return the ball 26 yards from 3 yards deep in the endzone, you're an idiot who should have taken a touchback.

Yes I am saying that.

His stats speak for themselves.  They are terrible over his career. His leg is mediocre and his power is a myth. He isn’t the worst FGK. Add in the KOs and it’s pretty easy to see what he is as a kicker  

NFL.com shows it clearly. He’s brutal. From 07-10 he never broke 20 TBs in a season. They moved it up 5 yards and he still can’t get over 50 %. You trying to say the short kick was something over this years is what is moronic  sorry to name call you can’t seem to debate without it. Last season there was talk of letting the punter take on some KO duty likely to push mason.

We rarely employed the short kick last year  our coverage was not good enough. Crosby was tasked with kicking it deep and just isn’t very good at it and never has been according to his profile I included it for you.

Kick off moved up prior to 11 go figure  he has the leg power of Thor’s little sister. 

http://www.nfl.com/player/masoncrosby/2507232/careerstats

 

Edited July 4, 2019 by PACKRULE