Neal Rackers

Although he has been consistant, there is a reason he was cut! I dont think he is much of an upgrade over Suisham, and we had the kicker in camp that should be kicking this year. I think the decision to cut Hrappman will come back to bite them!

 

I would rather have Cundiff than Rackers.

 

Cundiff was signed by the Redskins. Rule him out.

Rackers is okay.

Olindo Mare was released by the Panthers as well.

 

What the heck happened to Rackers, I can't seem to wrap my head around it, he was the best kicker in the league for 2 years with the Cardinals, and its been all down hill from there?

I totally agree with this:

"Cundriff may be a better all around kicker then Suisham but not by much and he chokes in big spots, we don't need a choker as our kicker. I have no problem replacing Suisham, but make sure the guy you bring in is a real upgrade."

 

Since when is Suisham so clutch? He had a great first year with us, 13 of 14 or something like that. But he wasn't there when we needed him in the Super Bowl. A better kicker is a better kicker.

 

Boy numbah 58 you do not like the Steeler FO, always wanting to sign somebody from
another team? Whats up with that? Don't you trust the Steelers talent evaluators? LOL

 

I trust them - except when it comes to kickers. LOL!

 

Lets keep in mind he was warming up for the kick when his Coach rushed him onto the field with the play clock running down and a time out in his pocket. That miss is as much on Coach Hairball as it is on Billy. Ew I can't believe I defended a Raven (well ex raven).

The Ravens suck....I feel much better

 

I think it's hilarious that people are saying someone's "missed a few" in their career as an argument for Rackers over anyone. Living in Cincinnati, if you say the name Neil Rackers on the street peoples' blood starts to boil.

I believe he was somewhere around 65% as a Bungle, missing 20 yarders on a regular basis and also missed a few extra points. Obviously that was a long time ago but just saying.

 

Don't forget about Scoreboardgate. Okay, I just made that up. I always wanted to make up a "-gate." It still counts as a choke job, but he really was screwed over by the Patriots' staff. Here's a post of mine from when it happened:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I guess there's no proof that it was on purpose or a conspiracy, but it's true that the Patriots personnel operating the scoreboard made an error, intentional or not, that made Cundiff rush when he didn't need to. Yes, they run hurry up drills, but this was not supposed to be hurry up. They had all the time in the world, and a timeout. This was supposed to be normal timing.

What happened was, the down counter on the scoreboard was off by one. On 2nd down, it said 1st . On 3rd, it said 2nd, etc. And apparently the scoreboard down counter is what Cundiff uses to know when to go on the field. He's not watching the game directly because he's warming up at the kicker's practice net. Also, as a kicker, he has a very fastidious mental routine he goes through, down by down.

So on 3rd down he thought it was only 2nd. Then 4th down comes, and he's not prepared because he thinks it's 3rd, because that's what the scoreboard says and that's what he can see. I assume someone yelled at him to get his ass on the field, and so that's why he didn't even arrive until everyone else on the FG team was set and ready. Never mind his routine.

All that said, yeah, he shoulda made it, and he also shoulda called timeout if he'd rather get his routine right. He probably isn't confident enough to call a timeout. I know none of our players are, even when that's what we need to do to win a game and Ben wants to spike it. Harbaugh also shoulda called timeout, but he was probably looking after his own ass by not wanting to "ice" his own kicker, and preferred to rush him and hope Cundiff made it anyway. An epic mistake. Icing is a mostly mythical science that kickers can beat, if it even affects them at all. It gives them enough time to repeat their routines that they had already gone through. Ask how many of them want to be surprise-rushed.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Yes, I would like us to upgrade our kicker.

But by "upgrade" I mean upgrade, not slight changes in age and minor changes in percentages.

 

I am in favor of upgrading the position but I would have liked to see us give the job to Hrapmann. He seemed to kick well. I just don't have a lot of confidence in Suisham. And maybe Suisham will make everything he kicks. My bigger frustration with Suisham is that rarely, or so it seems, do his kickoffs ever get that deep into the end zone.