Lost In The Madness of Losing: Graham Gano

[@DCGoldPants]

I'm ok with sticking by Gano during a rebuilding year. Letting him get his kicks and misses in.

I'm not ok with Danny Smith still. I feel like there is some aspect of his teams that has a breakdown every week....including Gano.

If the guy was that good, he's be a coordinator by now.

[sportjunkie07]

i dont get scared when gano kicks. maybe its because im admittingly homeristic on the guy. i feel like when he needs to make it.. he will.

wasnt worried at all with the 50 yard field goal.

he will be a great kicker for years.

[Skins Wingman]

i was glad he hit the 50 yarder, but lets not crown the guy yet.. its only 1 game. lets see how he does the rest of the year before we start talking about him being a great kicker

[sportjunkie07]

i was glad he hit the 50 yarder, but lets not crown the guy yet.. its only 1 game. lets see how he does the rest of the year before we start talking about him being a great kicker

just my opinion. i have never called for him to be benched or released. i see something in him and have since his first game as a skin.

[flock53]

That's a fact. All those years with the Eagles, could have been years with the Skins had they been patient. :doh:

Hindsight is 20/20 and telling the FO to be patient when fickle fans are NOT is hypocritical. There are way more "moving parts" to making a kick and even when it looks like a good hold to us, sometimes really isnt. Angle side/side and front/back and even where the laces are ALL contribute. Ive always wanted Gano and wanted him drafted in the last round, I thought he could be a dual threat like college w/ punting duties also.

[justice98]

Consistency is the key for him though.

[Bang]

Oh jeez...

What has been horrid ? Seriously ? Got a kick blocked(Orakpo blocked a kick) & Rocca's botched snap that was solely on him...

What is horrid ? Hell, the kicker starts banging 50 yarders & u STILL complain lol

2 blocked kicks in successive weeks and you can't see horrid?

Honestly, you shouldn't get two kicks blocked in five years, much less within 8 days.

Go take a nap or open the Danny Smith thread up again.

back to Gano, I do like his leg strength this year.. that fifty yarder had plenty of distance to spare.

And I also love his kickoffs, so long as the gum chomping idiot doesn't tell him to kick it to the pylon. Kick it deep, every time. Tell him to go try and hit a 70 yard FG on every kickoff. Dare them to come out and stop trying to get cute with the sidelines.

~Bang

[flock53]

Just a quick ?? Why is the punter holding?? Is he truly the best option and did he do this for his previous team?

[NoVaSkins21]

Hindsight is 20/20 and telling the FO to be patient when fickle fans are NOT is hypocritical.

Ever since Chip Lohmiller left, it was one kicker after another. The kicking carousel was in full swing and they had no answer at the position. Had they evaluated what they had, things may been different.

[pjfootballer]

Just a quick ?? Why is the punter holding?? Is he truly the best option and did he do this for his previous team?

I've always hated this trend. The backup or starting QB used to hold, but most teams have the punter because they can spend extra time working on this, while the QB is with the first team offense and the 2nd string QB is with the scout team helping the defense. QBs have better hands and if something happens like Monday, they have a better sense of getting up and trying to complete a pass then the punter does. I'd like to see Beck hold. I've NEVER been a fan of the punter holding.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Just a quick ?? Why is the punter holding?? Is he truly the best option and did he do this for his previous team?

I wondered this in the past and thought a QB would be more logical (so that any bad snap or fake FG would have a better success rate). Some board members educated me that the punter is the most logical person since he can spend the entire practice working with the kicker. If a QB is doing this in practice, he isn't practicing his real job. Made sense.

[CrypticVillain]

I have been saying that Gano would be solid for the last year now. People want to chop his head off every time he misses a kick, the dude is still young and he still has room to grow. Just let the man play and get off his case.......

And I also love his kickoffs, so long as the gum chomping idiot doesn't tell him to kick it to the pylon. Kick it deep, every time. Tell him to go try and hit a 70 yard FG on every kickoff. Dare them to come out and stop trying to get cute with the sidelines.

~Bang

I think we had a conversation about this already, but I have to add something to this.

Our defense is solid, I rather them have 80 yards to protect every time than to have them protect 80 yards some times and 60 yards other times. Kick out of the stadium and let the defense go to work.

[flock53]

I wondered this in the past and thought a QB would be more logical (so that any bad snap or fake FG would have a better success rate). Some board members educated me that the punter is the most logical person since he can spend the entire practice working with the kicker. If a QB is doing this in practice, he isn't practicing his real job. Made sense.

This does make sense, but on a botch the qb does have a .5% chance at doing something...LOL. I would think there would be NO problem w/ a punter seeing they should have the hand/eye cordination to do this on a consistant basis as they have to handle their own long snaps. I was just wondering. Must be just the bad karma we still have. I know the game is 60 min long BUT always seems that its ONE distinctive play that dooms us

[Bang]

I'd much rather see the backup QB holding.

Sure makes the fake more of a threat if the pass isn't thrown by a punter.

BUT, I think they should both work on it.. if the backup suddenly becomes the starter due to injury, you can't let him hold.

~Bang

[bowhunter]

I wondered this in the past and thought a QB would be more logical (so that any bad snap or fake FG would have a better success rate). Some board members educated me that the punter is the most logical person since he can spend the entire practice working with the kicker. If a QB is doing this in practice, he isn't practicing his real job. Made sense.

Also, I don't think Rex has a reputation for having sure hands. Perhaps the punter (or a WR) can work on throwing a 10 yard pass better than Rex can work on improving his hands

[Maximus71]

The Back up QB should have all the time in the world to practice being a holder and hopefuly have better hands.

[Joe_328]

Couldn't agree more with the OP.

Monday Night Football, prime time, our biggest rivals, for the tie, 50 yards... Nailed... If he didn't have nerves of steel before; he does now. Great job, Gano! Here's to a great year!

[Shawn12]

This thread can't be true. Some kind of mistake. I already saw a previous thread stating how horrible Gano was after one bad game. We all know that's all you need to be classifed as a bum on ES. Therefore, this thread is logically illogical and must be deleted.

[Bang]

This thread can't be true. Some kind of mistake. I already saw a previous thread stating how horrible Gano was after one bad game. We all know that's all you need to be classifed as a bum on ES. Therefore, this thread is logically illogical and must be deleted.

Well, let's face it. The guy missed 11 last year and his first one this year.

I think it was on him to show it.. and a lot of people are here acknowledging that he has.

If we could get things like the snap hold and blocking on the left side down, I'd feel very comfortable with him coming in for a FG now.

It's not him anymore that is causing my jitters when the FG team trots out.

~Bang

[More Complete]

After last year, and the first game, I started to close my eyes every time he walked out. However, the way he was kicking on Monday night, I felt like if we needed him to kick the game winner, he would have nailed it. He's young. Let's hope he can get better and keep up the consistency for many years to come.

[Son of Gadsden]

Maybe this is a stupid question and ill catch hell for it, but if kickers like Gano can kick through the uprights on a kickoff (not really consistent, but we've seen several happen this season and preseason), how come anything beyond 50 yards is unlikely, and anything beyond 60 is damn near impossible? Why not try a 70 yarder at the end of a game in a situation where you need a field goal rather than throwing a hail mary? Wouldn't it at least be worth a shot? I understand kickoffs are kicked completely different than field goals...by why not try and capture that scenario? Maybe the kick would be too easy to block?

[S.T.real,lights,out]

His kickoffs were exceptional, too.

Yea! I thought he finally had a really good overall game. Hopefully he can keep it up!

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Maybe this is a stupid question and ill catch hell for it, but if kickers like Gano can kick through the uprights on a kickoff (not really consistent, but we've seen several happen this season and preseason), how come anything beyond 50 yards is unlikely, and anything beyond 60 is damn near impossible? Why not try a 70 yarder at the end of a game in a situation where you need a field goal rather than throwing a hail mary? Wouldn't it at least be worth a shot? I understand kickoffs are kicked completely different than field goals...by why not try and capture that scenario? Maybe the kick would be too easy to block?

I would assume because they usually take a 10 yard run up to get it through the end zone. I don't think the blocking would hold up long enough to allow that. On FGs, they are generally only a couple yards behind the holder.

I suppose you could have a play where you set the holder back even further and give the kicker more time to run up. Seems like a tough proposition.

[Bang]

Maybe this is a stupid question and ill catch hell for it, but if kickers like Gano can kick through the uprights on a kickoff (not really consistent, but we've seen several happen this season and preseason), how come anything beyond 50 yards is unlikely, and anything beyond 60 is damn near impossible? Why not try a 70 yarder at the end of a game in a situation where you need a field goal rather than throwing a hail mary? Wouldn't it at least be worth a shot? I understand kickoffs are kicked completely different than field goals...by why not try and capture that scenario? Maybe the kick would be too easy to block?

The tee makes a big difference

The holder places it on the ground.. a tee gives it elevation so the kicker can really get his foot under it for height and distance.

that and the fact that the holder has to get it down fast, and it's not placed just so perfectly like it is when the kicker tees it up. Much different set of circumstances leading to the acual kick.

~Bang

[PerryMason]

The tee makes a big difference

The holder places it on the ground.. a tee gives it elevation so the kicker can really get his foot under it for height and distance.

that and the fact that the holder has to get it down fast, and it's not placed just so perfectly like it is when the kicker tees it up. Much different set of circumstances leading to the acual kick.

~Bang

The tee does make a slight difference for foot placement on the ball, but the biggest difference is the run up. A ten yard run up provides a ton of extra momentum through the ball as opposed to a 3 step kick (the first of which is just a jab step and really provides nothing but rhythm). I have always been interested in having the holder 12 yards from the snap instead of the usual 8 and seeing if a kicker could have a run up without a possible block being a problem. If so, it could revolutionize kicking distances.

Along the same lines, I'm still waiting for someone to try the "no rush" field goal that is allowed under the rules from the spot of a fair catch after a punt. If someone's punting from their endzone with just seconds left on the clock you can call for a fair catch and get a feild goal attempt from that spot and the defenders can't rush. This would provide for the kicker to run up on it and make the distances available much further.