Read This Before Shouting "Fire the Kicker"

[TD_washingtonredskins]

1 minute ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

I meant everything I said.

 

I am in favor of moving on from Hopkins and had been even prior to Sunday.  I’ll venture a guess that Rivera has been trying to hang on and not crush his confidence anymore than it already is.  
 

But moving on doesn’t necessarily mean that we are automatically going to replace him with someone better.  If there was always someone better available, it would make every coach and GM’s job a whole lot easier.  Solid kickers don’t just grow on trees nor is there much rhyme or reason for what separates those that last and those that don’t.

 

Kickers are unique creatures that need confidence hence why you don’t see as much competition for this position as you do other positions across the league.  
 

I just don’t and never have gotten into coach speak like so many of you guys seem to do.  I feel like fans put entirely too much stock into what a coach says.  As if he said what you said he should say about it changes anything about the scenario we find ourselves in.

 

 

Good post...

 

I think your second point is the most important for people to read...it's very possible that the kicking game is going to be worse from here on out than it was over the first 6 games. We will see though. 

 

I'm not overly into coach speak, just pointing out that there's an easy way to answer the question, not scapegoat someone, but also not look like a hypocrite 3 days later when you cut the guy. 

[Conn]

I would like to preemptively remind people in here that if Blewitt is bad, that doesn’t mean Hopkins is good. More qualified competition should have been brought in this offseason when we all knew it was needed. And now here we are, week 7, relying on a guy with no professional experience who hasn’t kicked in a game in 5 years. This is a failure of Rivera’s process even if miraculously the outcome is good.

[LetsBCooley]

I haven't seen anyone on here mention it that Hopkins salary was $2.5 million per season. Simple, he didn't live up to his contract. You can obviously argue that he was being paid too much, but the fact was he was one of the worst kickers in regard to making kicks between 50 to 55 yards(either he would miss or not attempt anything over like 51 yards). Quite frankly, I was seeing a lot of the opponents kickers were making 50 to 55 yards with far more accuracy than Hopkins. The guy has the leg strength, but his accuracy has been questionable multiple times and even some of his made kicks have looked awkward at times.

 

Newly signed Chris Blewitt's salary will be $780k.

 

With the teams revolving door with kickers being cut and then succeeding with another team, you have to wonder that maybe the team has never had serious thought into hiring a good kicking coach or consultant?

I'm not expecting much from Blewitt. He's cheap and I think he's worth a shot considering this looks like an ugly lost season anyways. In the offseason they can probably pickup another vet who was let go or sign an undrafted kicker, as most teams don't risk picking a kicker in the draft.

[Rex Tomb]

8 minutes ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

I would like to preemptively remind people in here that if Blewitt is bad, that doesn’t mean Hopkins is good. More qualified competition should have been brought in this offseason when we all knew it was needed. And now here we are, week 7, relying on a guy with no professional experience who hasn’t kicked in a game in 5 years. This is a failure of Rivera’s process even if miraculously the outcome is good.

Haven't they had Blewitt on the team for a few weeks at this point? If so, they clearly saw something that said he was better than Hopkins.  Sucks for Hopkins though, he always seemed like such a good dude.  Hoping he catches on somewhere else.

[Wildbunny]

2 hours ago, MisterPinstripe said:

And what do you have to say about us going for it on 4th and 10 because we dont trust Hopkins to kick a FG over 50 yards?

 

 

Ok sure, you can go and use this kind of mentality to run your football team is you want. That's acceptable.

 

Still going with that mentality, Hopkins is definately not the first guy I cut.

 

Let's start with guys that are really hampering your defense like WJ3 and Landon Collins.

Those guys are the main culprits of why opponents are scoring 30+ on any given sunday.

[zCommander]

2 hours ago, Cooleyfan1993 said:

If they didn’t trust him to kick a 50 yard FG, then they wouldn’t have let him try the 50 yard FG on Sunday (which he made). 

 

I like you man but...How do you justify the one he missed but the Giants player was offside and he got another shot at it and moved up 5 yards too?

 

If that game was to get into the playoffs  and there was no offside, you be the first one in line to fire the kicker. 

[Wildbunny]

8 minutes ago, zskins said:

 

I like you man but...How do you justify the one he missed but the Giants player was offside and he got another shot at it and moved up 5 yards too?

 

If that game was to get into the playoffs  and there was no offside, you be the first one in line to fire the kicker. 

Yeah, but there wasn't any playoffs implications by then.

 

Now what kind of message do you think it sends to the players by firing a kicker, that do has his woes, and isn't perfect by any means, but who is also not the worst player on your team and you keep on starting guys that are real liabilities for everyone to see, especially in the secondary.

 

Some well respected posters around here like Kdawg or SIP have talk about accountability lately. And wondering if Ron had this in store for a few players.

 

If firing Hopkins is just the first part of a bigger insider move, then fine.

But if that's the only one. It won't help at all.

[Conn]

24 minutes ago, Rex Tomb said:

Haven't they had Blewitt on the team for a few weeks at this point? If so, they clearly saw something that said he was better than Hopkins.  Sucks for Hopkins though, he always seemed like such a good dude.  Hoping he catches on somewhere else.

Yeah he’s been on and off the PS during the season. Doesn’t really change anything I said, the best competition was available in the offseason. If this dude turns out to be a stud it’s lucky, not good process. 

[LetsBCooley]

This is a 5 min YouTube video of Chris Blewitt, dated 9/26, making kicks from 33 yards(extra point distance) up to 57 yards. He's kicking with that special kickers holder tee and wearing no equipment. I like the fact his kicks are hard and straight. Looks like he has a good strong leg and good control of his kicks. Not sure about his kick-offs. In an actual game situation it's different, so we'll see what happens against the Packers.

 

 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

1 hour ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

And now here we are, week 7, relying on a guy with no professional experience who hasn’t kicked in a game in 5 years. This is a failure of Rivera’s process even if miraculously the outcome is good.

Therein lies the question though, who was available to compete in the offseason?

 

Obviously, the dude we just got was.  But who else?  Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t put a lot of weight into what a coach or GM does or doesn’t do with a kicker.  
 

And this is coming from someone who has been sour on Hopkins since he caused us to lose in London several years ago.

 

Kicker just seems like a position to me that you will never know is decent or not until he actually kicks in games that matter.  So you just keep trotting dudes out until you hopefully get it figured out.  I don’t put much stock in competition at the park.  Nor do I put much stock in a coach or GM’s ability to find a solid kicker.  If there is any position that boils down to luck, it’s finding a kicker.

 

 

[tomwvr]

5 hours ago, 757SeanTaylor21 said:

Yall are really down on us firing the kicker when every time he misses a kick everybody proclaims for us to fire the kicker. 

I wish he had been cut 2 weeks ago.

this week it didn’t make sense.

[Silvernon]

5 hours ago, justice98 said:

I think he's easily the best of the kickers we cut, when we cut them. Most of the kicker's we've cut over the years that went on to have success weren't good when they were here.  People always bring up guys like Gano, leaving out that he was a 74% kicker when he was here.  Folks wanted him gone.

Gano was clearly talented. 

 

He has been the only kicker I regret them losing in the last 20 years. 

[zCommander]

3 hours ago, Wildbunny said:

Yeah, but there wasn't any playoffs implications by then.

 

Now what kind of message do you think it sends to the players by firing a kicker, that do has his woes, and isn't perfect by any means, but who is also not the worst player on your team and you keep on starting guys that are real liabilities for everyone to see, especially in the secondary.

 

Some well respected posters around here like Kdawg or SIP have talk about accountability lately. And wondering if Ron had this in store for a few players.

 

If firing Hopkins is just the first part of a bigger insider move, then fine.

But if that's the only one. It won't help at all.

 

So you like to see Hopkins miss a game winning FG when playoffs are on the line? That is some twisted logic. Sorry to say. Why not fix that before that happens. The dude can't accurately kick a 54 yarder. He had to go. There is no extra secret behind that like you think there is. Dan is not involved on this. If he was involved he would fire Del Rio first. 

[bowhunter]

7 hours ago, Disco Mike said:

Blewitt?  Gano?  What is with these kicker names?   ROFL

Don't forget Chip "Wide and" Lohmiller

[glongest]

So we have a team that is 2 and 4, could easily be 0 and 6 and a defense that absolutely sucks.  And all we got is lets cut the kicker.  Really?  That's it.  Really feels like lets do something that the fans might support to divert their attention from the fact that we really suck as a football team.  Yeah sort of like retiring Sean Taylors jersey last week to divert attention from the emails Bruce Allen was sending out of the cheerleaders.  This organization is rotten to the core and Ron is just picking up where others left off.

[NickyJ]

Of all the hills to die on, I didn't expect so many to pick the hill of a kicker who can barely make a 50 yarder.

[Wildbunny]

4 hours ago, zskins said:

 

So you like to see Hopkins miss a game winning FG when playoffs are on the line? That is some twisted logic. Sorry to say. Why not fix that before that happens. The dude can't accurately kick a 54 yarder. He had to go. There is no extra secret behind that like you think there is. Dan is not involved on this. If he was involved he would fire Del Rio first. 

A 54 yarder is by no means a gimme and has never been an easy shot.

100% of NFL kickers will never be as accurate as you think they are on a 54 yarder.

[petey hodge]

every time Hopkins lined up to kick, I was like....

 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

9 hours ago, glongest said:

So we have a team that is 2 and 4, could easily be 0 and 6 and a defense that absolutely sucks.  And all we got is lets cut the kicker.  Really?  That's it.  Really feels like lets do something that the fans might support to divert their attention from the fact that we really suck as a football team.  Yeah sort of like retiring Sean Taylors jersey last week to divert attention from the emails Bruce Allen was sending out of the cheerleaders.  This organization is rotten to the core and Ron is just picking up where others left off.

The majority of your post is accurate for sure, but I don't gather that cutting Hopkins was meant to distract fans from the fact that this team stinks.

[Cooleyfan1993]

10 hours ago, glongest said:

So we have a team that is 2 and 4, could easily be 0 and 6 and a defense that absolutely sucks.  And all we got is lets cut the kicker.  Really?  That's it.  Really feels like lets do something that the fans might support to divert their attention from the fact that we really suck as a football team.  Yeah sort of like retiring Sean Taylors jersey last week to divert attention from the emails Bruce Allen was sending out of the cheerleaders.  This organization is rotten to the core and Ron is just picking up where others left off.

Umm, cutting the kicker isn’t at all comparable to the Sean Taylor jersey retirement. That’s a bit of a reach right there 

[zCommander]

7 hours ago, Wildbunny said:

A 54 yarder is by no means a gimme and has never been an easy shot.

100% of NFL kickers will never be as accurate as you think they are on a 54 yarder.

 

But it would be nice to have a kicker where you don't have to close your eyes and pray that he makes it...even for a 44 yarder.

[Darrell Green Fan]

I was not beating the drum to cut Hopkins as so many others have, I too was thinking of all the kickers we have cut who went on to have success.  But he has certainly had enough time here.  @Cooleyfan1993's continual defense of this kicker is puzzling to say the least. You can't promote his 10/12 on extra points when 28 kickers have better figures.  That's just a stupid argument.

 

So yes it is time, and no if Blewitt sucks we can't say cutting Dustin Hopkins was a mistake. The mistake was not bringing in better competition earlier as so many wanted.   He make over $2 million?  That's kind of crazy for a below average kicker who most definitely cost the team wins more than most kickers over the years.  

Edited October 21, 2021 by Darrell Green Fan

[Cooleyfan1993]

I don’t give a **** if anyone thinks my defense of Hopkins was “puzzling”. If a kicker is 12/14 on field goals, that’s not awful at all. People saying “well, the missed 43 yard FG last week hurt the team” as if an extra 3 points was going to make any difference. The chiefs were still going to score, we weren’t going to beat them even with that 43 yard field goal 

[Wildbunny]

1 hour ago, zskins said:

 

But it would be nice to have a kicker where you don't have to close your eyes and pray that he makes it...even for a 44 yarder.

Yeah sure that would be great to have guys that never miss a FG.

 

Except that doesn't happen, except maybe on Madden...

[757SeanTaylor21]

1 hour ago, Wildbunny said:

Yeah sure that would be great to have guys that never miss a FG.

 

Except that doesn't happen, except maybe on Madden...

I mean Graham Gano has made like 35 kicks in a row. Tucker?? Gonna go down as best kicker ever I'm sure. And there's plenty of others