A tale of Two Kickers

GL · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

After the performance of Sean Fleming and Troy Westwood, especially in
missing their OT fieldgoals, you have to wonder if both Winnipeg and
Edmonton might not be in the market for a new kicker fairly soon. Suddenly
BC keeping Rob Pikula around seems like a good idea as his value might go
up.

I am wondering if Westwood just doesn't have the leg strength for the longer
fieldgoals anymore? His attempts at long kicks reminded me of Lui Pasaglia
at the end. Don't get me wrong, I think LUi was a great kicker but the
record he set in his last year for FG % was tainted to say the least in that
BC actually kept two FG kickers on the roster and only used Lui for the
short high percentage jobs. I doubt Winnipeg will want to do that with
Westwood. When you run off at the mouth like he does, you better perform
and last night he didn't.

The change in kick return blocking rules certainly made the kickreturns more
exciting and included a 121 yard TD run by Bashir Levingston on a missed FG.
I suspect you will see more attention paid to kicking the ball out of bounds
on punts and perhaps not trying those longer fieldgoals, especially with
certain kickers who don't have the range anymore.

At the risk of stirring up the single point frenzy again, the OT in the
Edmonton - Winnipeg game was a prime example of why it can be a good thing.
When the OT missed FGs went into the endzone, you had a couple of exciting
plays as they tried to run the ball out of the endzone. Instead of a boring
"missed kick - yawn - game over" play, we ha some excitement.

When you think of it, the most boring play in the game now is probably the
convert. At one time when we didn't have kickers who did nothing but kick,
the success rate on converts was in the 80-90% range, now maybe one convert
is missed per year by all the kickers COMBINED. Maybe it is time for a rule
change to either make the TD worth 7 poiints and do away with useless onvert
attempts or move the convert back to say the 35 yard line and put some
excitement / doubt into it.

T

Archived from group: rec>sport>football>canadian

gary · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:38:16 -0600, "GL"
wrote:

SNIP

>When you think of it, the most boring play in the game now is probably the
>convert. At one time when we didn't have kickers who did nothing but kick,
>the success rate on converts was in the 80-90% range, now maybe one convert
>is missed per year by all the kickers COMBINED. Maybe it is time for a rule
>change to either make the TD worth 7 poiints and do away with useless onvert
>attempts or move the convert back to say the 35 yard line and put some
>excitement / doubt into it.

A thought that has occurred to me is that the line of
scrimmage for the convert attempt should be the same line of scrimmage
from which the touchdown was scored. If a team runs the ball in for a
td from the 3 yard line, then the convert line of scrimmage is the 3
yd line. On the other hand, if the team scores with a bomb from their
own 20 yard line, then good luck to the kicker as he tries the convert
from behind his own 20.

But at the very least I like your idea of moving the convert
back so there is more doubt/skill involved.

- Gary

GL · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

And just as an update in case you haven't heard, Winnipeg got Rob Pikula
from BC for a conditional draft pick. I think Pikula might end up putting
Westwood out of his misery. BC should have hung on to PIkula for another
game or two until Winnipeg got more desperate and upped the ante!

Glen · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 25

On Jul 2, 12:55 am, "GL" wrote:
> And just as an update in case you haven't heard, Winnipeg got Rob Pikula
> from BC for a conditional draft pick. I think Pikula might end up putting
> Westwood out of his misery. BC should have hung on to PIkula for another
> game or two until Winnipeg got more desperate and upped the ante!

There is also word that Pat Fleming's tenure with the Bombers will
soon end. Apparently Pikula is to replace Fleming and not Westwood for
the time being.

IMHO, the longevity of CFL kickers since the 1970's has resulted in
for the most part lesser quality Canadian kickers coming out of the
universities and colleges. There was a time when any CFL team would
have no problem in quickly finding a a high quality Canadian kicker.

Glen

GL · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

G> There is also word that Pat Fleming's tenure with the Bombers will
G> soon end. Apparently Pikula is to replace Fleming and not Westwood for
G> the time being.

Yeah, I forgot. The same news release had Pat Fleming as being cut.

Glen · Joined: 07 Aug 2007 Posts: 25

On Jul 2, 5:45 pm, "GL" wrote:
> G> There is also word that Pat Fleming's tenure with the Bombers will
> G> soon end. Apparently Pikula is to replace Fleming and not Westwood for
> G> the time being.
>
> Yeah, I forgot. The same news release had Pat Fleming as being cut.

It's official, Pikula will replace Westwood for the Bombers' home
opener against the Als. Coach Berry has said if Pikula performs well
then Westwood will likely be released. Although Westwood won't dress
he remains on the team's active roster for now.

Glen

Real dynasties don't have FG kickers settle Superbowl victor You ain't a dynasty when the kicker has to settle the game.

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