Kicker

[Californiaskin]

I think dave Rayner gets the nod over suishim....Rayner is currently sixth in the league in Kickoff average where suishy is 21st...........Suisham proved with last years season that he is nothing more than erratic and he tends to choke.......shoot I think we win the other night if suisham had made that kick.....out with the old says I

[tribeofjudah]

I think dave Rayner gets the nod over suishim....Rayner is currently sixth in the league in Kickoff average where suishy is 21st...........Suisham proved with last years season that he is nothing more than erratic and he tends to choke.......shoot I think we win the other night if suisham had made that kick.....out with the old says I

A better question is: Would Rayner have made that field goal....?

[ATX_Skins]

I haven't seen much of Rayner, but Suisham is veeery average at field goals. Plus goes to Rayner if he can boot it for a touchback. I wouldn't be opposed to it.

[frankcal20]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

[Californiaskin]

I think dave Rayner gets the nod over suishim....Rayner is currently sixth in the league in Kickoff average where suishy is 21st...........Suisham proved with last years season that he is nothing more than erratic and he tends to choke.......shoot I think we win the other night if suisham had made that kick.....out with the old says I

A better question is: Would Rayner have made that field goal....?

Im thinking he would have had an equaal chance and his k/os are better.

Swishum just not solid enough...bottom line weakest kicker in the NFC east and with games decided by so few points and our offenses tendancy to score touchdowns I think we need to upgrade......give rayner the chance

[ATX_Skins]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

This is true, and I agree with everything you said. My beef with suisham is he kicks the ball to the 15 at times. I dont think there is a camp out there aside from maybe pee wee that calls for that. My other issue with Suisham is he is not dependable. Yes good kickers are hard to find but mediocre kickers are all over the place, and thats what we have, a mediocre kicker.

[Californiaskin]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

This is true, and I agree with everything you said. My beef with suisham is he kicks the ball to the 15 at times. I dont think there is a camp out there aside from maybe pee wee that calls for that. My other issue with Suisham is he is not dependable. Yes good kickers are hard to find but mediocre kickers are all over the place, and thats what we have, a mediocre kicker.

yep mediocre....give rayner a shot........then if he sucks there are tons of suishum's available all year

[frankcal20]

I agree that he's not a top tier kicker but I don't think that Raynor is either. I think that if neither of the guys are doing what they should, get someone else. Carney should be on the streets come the 5th game b/c the Saints kicker will be off suspension and there are other guys out there too. But that's my opinion.

[frankcal20]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

This is true, and I agree with everything you said. My beef with suisham is he kicks the ball to the 15 at times. I dont think there is a camp out there aside from maybe pee wee that calls for that. My other issue with Suisham is he is not dependable. Yes good kickers are hard to find but mediocre kickers are all over the place, and thats what we have, a mediocre kicker.

yep mediocre....give rayner a shot........then if he sucks there are tons of suishum's available all year

So you think that it's better to go with someone who can't beat out the "average" kicker you have in camp? I think that is crazy. You know what you have in Suishum. If there is someone out there clearly better, then great but if there is not, why change it up b/c most of the time, the grass is not greener on the other side - and this team knows that all too well.

[Californiaskin]

cool with me frankcal as i think we need to upgrade.....however, given the fact that right now we have suishim and Raynor, and the fact that we have to get rid of 1 along with 24 other players, that we should get rid of the player that has already proven he cant get the job done and give Raynor the job......just my opinion not having been to any kicking camps

[Californiaskin]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

This is true, and I agree with everything you said. My beef with suisham is he kicks the ball to the 15 at times. I dont think there is a camp out there aside from maybe pee wee that calls for that. My other issue with Suisham is he is not dependable. Yes good kickers are hard to find but mediocre kickers are all over the place, and thats what we have, a mediocre kicker.

yep mediocre....give rayner a shot........then if he sucks there are tons of suishum's available all year

So you think that it's better to go with someone who can't beat out the "average" kicker you have in camp? I think that is crazy. You know what you have in Suishum. If there is someone out there clearly better, then great but if there is not, why change it up b/c most of the time, the grass is not greener on the other side - and this team knows that all too well.

I think Raynors already beaten out swishy just on kickoff avg alone

[MDSKINSFAN]

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

I also noticed Rayner's low kickoffs. While they are deeper than Suisham's they all seem to be line drive kicks allowing more return room. At this point I really don't care which one is our kicker because the fact is that both of them aren't that good.

Also while Rayner is 6th in kickoffs he is also 3rd for avg. yds the kick is returned with an average return of 32.1 yds. So while he kicks it deeper, he doesn't give our special teams enough time to get down the field. The average kick return against Suisham last year was 20.1 yds so I will take Suisham on the kickoffs. It's going to go down to who kicks field goals best and I don't know who that will be. I give the nod to Suisham right now because of the stats I just provided. Like someone posted earlier the grass isn't always greener on the other side so lets not just cut Suisham just because he isn't good and we are sick of him; we only should cut him if Rayner is clearly better, which we can't tell right now. Let's just score more TD's and we don't have to worry about kicking field goals too much.

[frankcal20]

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

I also noticed Rayner's low kickoffs. While they are deeper than Suisham's they all seem to be line drive kicks allowing more return room. At this point I really don't care which one is our kicker because the fact is that both of them aren't that good.

Also while Rayner is 6th in kickoffs he is also 3rd for avg. yds the kick is returned with an average return of 32.1 yds. So while he kicks it deeper, he doesn't give our special teams enough time to get down the field. The average kick return against Suisham last year was 20.1 yds so I will take Suisham on the kickoffs. It's going to go down to who kicks field goals best and I don't know who that will be. I give the nod to Suisham right now because of the stats I just provided. Like someone posted earlier the grass isn't always greener on the other side so lets not just cut Suisham just because he isn't good and we are sick of him; we only should cut him if Rayner is clearly better, which we can't tell right now. Let's just score more TD's and we don't have to worry about kicking field goals too much.

Best statement made today. It makes 100% sense backed up by facts and reason. Love it.

[VetSkinsFan]

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

I also noticed Rayner's low kickoffs. While they are deeper than Suisham's they all seem to be line drive kicks allowing more return room. At this point I really don't care which one is our kicker because the fact is that both of them aren't that good.

Also while Rayner is 6th in kickoffs he is also 3rd for avg. yds the kick is returned with an average return of 32.1 yds. So while he kicks it deeper, he doesn't give our special teams enough time to get down the field. The average kick return against Suisham last year was 20.1 yds so I will take Suisham on the kickoffs. It's going to go down to who kicks field goals best and I don't know who that will be. I give the nod to Suisham right now because of the stats I just provided. Like someone posted earlier the grass isn't always greener on the other side so lets not just cut Suisham just because he isn't good and we are sick of him; we only should cut him if Rayner is clearly better, which we can't tell right now. Let's just score more TD's and we don't have to worry about kicking field goals too much.

Best statement made today. It makes 100% sense backed up by facts and reason. Love it.

Could have also had to do with special teams coach/players of his last team as well.

[gholmesbm]

While I'm not sure Suisham is the kicker we would want ideally, I don't think I've seen Rayner do much of anything better.

1. Not sure we've seen much in preseason games on field goals. I think Suisham would also have made Rayner's field goal and Rayner would probably also have missed Suisham's. Suisham was not good last year, but had a good season in 2007. He had an excuse with the punter/holder issues last year, although he has to shoulder part of the blame. Rayner has never been consistently good and has just bounced around.

2. I haven't seen a big difference in kickoffs in preseason. Rayner's have been longer, but also generally lower. Neither has kicked it out of EZ.

Put these together, and I don't see much difference in the two. Therefore, I think it will come down to which guy the coaches have more confidence in, in their gut, unless they see something to differentiate on the practice field or the last preseason game. Probably I would give the edge to the incumbent, Suisham, in this case since he has already been "the guy" before. I think Rayner has to beat him out, not the other way round. Not sure he's done that.

[wooly34]

I don't know why people fail to understand this. And I'm not pointing anyone out on here. Coaches do not always want a kicker to kick it in the end zone. They call plays for the kicker like - kick right, kick center and kick left. Now, I never had control on distances well enough to pinpoint the yard line. But I do know they say 5 left or 10 left or whatever. I'm sure each coach has a different term for it but that is why you see a lot of kickers kick to the 5. They are able to get loft on the ball and hope that their coverage unit can stop them short of the 20 - which we did quite a number of times last year.

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

Ultimately, you want the ball to go to the goal line every time because the returner now makes a decision out or in depending on the ball and the plane. Usually, if the kick is to the goal line the returner will come out providing the coverage time enough to adequately cover the kick. I agree if the ball is kicked line drive into the end zone this is not good. I say bring Jess Atkinson back he's probably rehabbed enough

[Californiaskin]

I could care less who the kicker but I did notice that Rayner's kicks were very low even when he kicked them to the 5. Just my opinion but an opinion on someone who has been a kicker before and been to several kicking camps growing up.

I also noticed Rayner's low kickoffs. While they are deeper than Suisham's they all seem to be line drive kicks allowing more return room. At this point I really don't care which one is our kicker because the fact is that both of them aren't that good.

Also while Rayner is 6th in kickoffs he is also 3rd for avg. yds the kick is returned with an average return of 32.1 yds. So while he kicks it deeper, he doesn't give our special teams enough time to get down the field. The average kick return against Suisham last year was 20.1 yds so I will take Suisham on the kickoffs. It's going to go down to who kicks field goals best and I don't know who that will be. I give the nod to Suisham right now because of the stats I just provided. Like someone posted earlier the grass isn't always greener on the other side so lets not just cut Suisham just because he isn't good and we are sick of him; we only should cut him if Rayner is clearly better, which we can't tell right now. Let's just score more TD's and we don't have to worry about kicking field goals too much.

This is a good point and worth considering.........all seem to feel that we need to upgrade our kicker spot.........
maybe we need a free agent.....or wait til everybody gets to the roster limit next week and pick up a kicker

I guess I already know suisham is inconsistant and that makes me feel that Raynor should get the nod

[SkinsJock]

I'll agree that Rayner has to be better than Suisham - but I also think that we need Suisham to be a lot better at his job than last year - I'll agree that we have not seen much difference - so! does that mean we are just going to hope that Suisham is better? - I certainly hope the coaches are really confident about the kicker because last year we were not a good FG scoring team

[Deadskins]

Well, at least one of the two kickers currently on the roster will be cut in the next week. So we'll find out soon enough what the coaches think.

[brad7686]

If the ravens cut Gano, I would try to pick him up. He's got a huge foot and has the ability to develop with more experience.

[Countertrey]

I don't care who our kicker is... just so long as he is marginally proficient, is highly suspect on any FG beyond 28 yards, and gives us a starting defensive field position on KO's that averages around the opponent's 40 yard line, I'm good.

[markshark84]

I am very surprised by the responses no this board ---- especially for a team who has lost so many close games due to bad kicking in recent history.

The fact of the matter is that Suisham is just not good enough. He lacks power on kickoffs and additionally he lacks the ability (even remotely) to consistently make field goals from the 35-50 yard range. I lost my confidence in SS during the second half of last year. SS was 60% from beyond 40 yards. Which placed him in the bottom of the league. BUT more importantly, his overall 72.2% average placed him LAST in the NFL. Why he is still on the team baffles me.

SS has done nothing to prove that we shouldn't take a chance with someone else at this time. We already know what we have with SS. If the FO wants to win, we need to have a kicker that isn't ranked last in the NFL.

[Gibbs4Life]

i vote Suisham, Raymer hasn't wow'd me

[SkinsJock]

... The fact of the matter is that Suisham is just not good enough. He lacks power on kickoffs and additionally he lacks the ability (even remotely) to consistently make field goals from the 35-50 yard range .......

NO! "The fact of the matter is" that the kicker that they brought in has not exactly demonstrated that he is a much better kicker - that is not good

I am not totally against Suisham as a kicker _ I just think that we should have ensured that we have a better kicker on this team. I will not be surprised if they go with Rayner or Suisham - I just think that someone else should have been considered as well - having a really dependable kicker is huge and having that guy be able to kick the ball, high and deep on kick-offs is also a big advantage

[SkinsJock]

The Redskins should look at Morne Steyn, who is a kicker that plays for the South African Springboks rugby team - that guy can kick 50 yard FGs all day long