Gano Cut - Cundiff Signed/Cut - Kai Forbath Signed

[riggofan]

He has no up side.

He's better than Gano at kicking touchbacks. Back in 2010, Cundiff hit 89.7% of FG's wheras Gano hit only 68.6% (both attempted FG's in all 16 games). And last year Cundiff hit 75.7% to Gano's 75.6%. Who's to say Cundiff can't come out this year and repeat his 2010 season (he went to the Pro Bowl that year)? All in all I think this was actually an upgrade.

I believe that Shanny has determined that Gano doesn't have the mental, so he will always be inonsistent. Cundif had the mental and thus the potential to regain his 2010 season form.

Yeah maybe. I kinda think Shanny was thinking he couldn't afford to wait on Gano any longer. No doubt Gano has a lot of upside, but not sure Shanahan year 3 is in a position to continue with the growing pains.

Cundiff might not be spectacular, but I personally expect he'll be more consistent than Gano was last year.

[KazooSkinsFan]

Gano sucks. No idea about Cundiff.

[Red_One43]

Gano sucks. No idea about Cundiff.

1. Cundif is very accurate within the 40 and he has been the best over the last two years in touchbacks.

2. Where Gano clearly had him beat is the 50 yd FGs.
Last year, Gano - 4 of 6 with the 58 yarder
Cundif - 1 of 6

3. 2010:

Gano - 0 of 3
Cundif - 0 of 1

3. Last year, from the 40-49, they are close with a slight edge to Cundif

4. Last year, Cundif made 14 of 15 FGs in the 4th quarter. I assume that his one miss was one of those 50 yarders he missed.

From the preseason game against TB, in my opinion, Cundif, just looks more confident that Gano. Even when Cundif missed that 46 yarder, he kept his composure with even with all the booing.

This guy looked awesome for TB, but he doesn't kick deep on kick offs - Is that the prority these days? Sounds like it is for the Skins.

Kai Forbath, K: With Connor Barth receiving a new contract, there was little chance the UCLA rookie would make the squad. The rookie, however, will likely find a job, since he nailed all 5 exhibition FG attempts, including a 55 yarder.

[DarthMonk]

Touchbacks the Objective

Over the past two seasons, Redskins kicker Billy Cundiff has prevented opposing teams from returning kickoffs a league-leading 84 times by booting the ball through the end zone for a touchback.

On Saturday, Coach Mike Shanahan hinted that putting opposing teams at the 20-yard line will be the Redskins’ objective this season, rather than employing a directional kicking strategy and gambling that his stand out kick coverage unit can stop the returner short of the 20. (Last season, the Redskins’ kick coverage team limited opponents to 20.8 yards per return, the second best mark in the league.)

“Any time you can kick touchbacks, you let him kick touchbacks,” Shanahan said of Cundiff on Saturday. “The 20-yard line to start isn’t great field position, so if you can get that done, that would be a good goal.”

In Wednesday’s 30-3 preseason victory over Tampa Bay, Cundiff forced touchbacks on five of six kickoffs in his debut for the Redskins. Last season in Baltimore, Cundiff set an NFL record for most touchbacks in a season with 44.

“What you always do is look at your personnel,” Shanahan said, asked if the team has changed philosophies on kickoffs. “So, when you say philosophy, it all depends – offense, defense or special teams – what your guys can do best

Excellent. I'm on-board with that.

Thanks!

DarthMonk

[SkinsJock]

I could care less what a kicker did last year ...

OR

whatever becomes of Gano - actually I hope he improves, he needs to



we need players that will help this team this year

I'm happy we have Cundiff instead of Gano


in the end it's what you can do this year that's most important - NOT what you did last year

[KazooSkinsFan]

Gano sucks. No idea about Cundiff.

1. Cundif is very accurate within the 40 and he has been the best over the last two years in touchbacks.

2. Where Gano clearly had him beat is the 50 yd FGs.
Last year, Gano - 4 of 6 with the 58 yarder
Cundif - 1 of 6

3. 2010:

Gano - 0 of 3
Cundif - 0 of 1

3. Last year, from the 40-49, they are close with a slight edge to Cundif

4. Last year, Cundif made 14 of 15 FGs in the 4th quarter. I assume that his one miss was one of those 50 yarders he missed.

From the preseason game against TB, in my opinion, Cundif, just looks more confident that Gano. Even when Cundif missed that 46 yarder, he kept his composure with even with all the booing

Thanks for the analysis. Wow, that's what I like to hear. I realize Gano's "stats" were decent, but the guy had something wrong between his ears. You gotta make the field goals with the game on the line, and Gano couldn't.

[SkinsJock]

Gano sucks. No idea about Cundiff.

1. Cundif is very accurate within the 40 and he has been the best over the last two years in touchbacks.

2. Where Gano clearly had him beat is the 50 yd FGs.
Last year, Gano - 4 of 6 with the 58 yarder
Cundif - 1 of 6

3. 2010:

Gano - 0 of 3
Cundif - 0 of 1

3. Last year, from the 40-49, they are close with a slight edge to Cundif

4. Last year, Cundif made 14 of 15 FGs in the 4th quarter. I assume that his one miss was one of those 50 yarders he missed.

From the preseason game against TB, in my opinion, Cundif, just looks more confident that Gano. Even when Cundif missed that 46 yarder, he kept his composure with even with all the booing

Thanks for the analysis. Wow, that's what I like to hear.

I realize Gano's "stats" were decent, but the guy had something wrong between his ears.
You gotta make the field goals with the game on the line, and Gano couldn't.

BINGO - go to the front of the class and take your bag with you - you could be there a while

that sums that up nicely, don't ya think

gotta love it

[Red_One43]

How do you put a positive spin on this?

His 89.7-percent conversion rate in 2010 is book-ended by marks of 78.3 and 75.7. (Interestingly, the 32-year-old ranked one spot ahead of Graham Gano, the kicker he replaced, in field goal percentage last season.) Cundiff’s strength is kickoffs. Last season he sent an NFL record 44 kicks into the end zone for touchbacks. His weakness is long field goals. Since 2003, in fact, he’s made only two of his 13 attempts from 50-plus yards. If Cundiff connects on field goals at 80-85 percent, which would put him between 11-20, and consistently boots kickoffs through the end zone, then he will be an upgrade.

I am really trying to get on board with this kicker choice, but I didn't know that Cundif was career 76% kicker (Rackers 80%. Gano 73%)
Cundif makes 2 of 13 from 50 yds?! OK, I am going to try to spin this one.

1. During the preseason Gano never got to kick a field goal - one of the reasons is RGIII and Co. - we are scoring TDs now. Won't be attemping very many FGs.

2. Cundif will be forcing the opponents to start from the 20 on almost every drive. Our Defense will help greatly reduce the number of points that it gave up last year. It alos helps that he D is on the third year of the 3-4 with true 3-4 personnel.

3. The probablity of Cundif suddenly becoming a good 50 yard FG kicker is very low, but he made he made 26 of 30 from 20-49 yards plus there was that 14 out of 15 in the 4th quarter.

4. With no deep threat at FG kicker, Shanny will opt to send in Rocca, one of the best at penning teams inside their 20. Now we have a kicker combo that will keep opponents starting position averaging in the low 20's.

Pro Football Reference

NFL.com

[riggofan]

At some point this season, Cundiff is going to miss a kick and people will start complaining that Gano was cut. Let's just remember that Cundiff was rock solid against the Saints yesterday. Kickoffs were awesome. He was 4-4, and we needed every one of those to get the win.

[andyjens89]

And the touchbacks! Sproles was getting really frustrated!

[Deadskins]

I'm not sure that first FG was good. It looked like it went directly over the post. I'm not even sure the scab refs knew what to call on it.

[cleg]

I'm not sure that first FG was good. It looked like it went directly over the post. I'm not even sure the scab refs knew what to call on it.

I thought it was no good then the replay from under the goal post showed it was, indeed, good.

[Deadskins]

I'm not sure that first FG was good. It looked like it went directly over the post. I'm not even sure the scab refs knew what to call on it.

I thought it was no good then the replay from under the goal post showed it was, indeed, good.

I never saw a replay. In fact, we never even saw the "good" call. It wasn't until after the commercial break, when they came back with the kick-off, that those at the bar knew it was actually called good.

[KazooSkinsFan]

Gano was cut? I thought they brought Cundiff in to compete. If true, I have a bad feeling about this - like David Akers.

Other then looking really, really gay when he kicks off, wow, what a great first game Cundiff had.

And I know what you're saying about Akers, but there's something wrong in Gano's head kicking under pressure and I don't think we can never cut another kicker again because of Akers.

[Deadskins]

there's something wrong in Gano's head kicking under pressure

That's the only reason I wasn't totally against the move. I liked Gano's leg strength, his youth, and that he seemed to be getting better each season, but he still had that failure under pressure aura, which is what I think is the reason Shanny showed him the door.

[SkinsJock]

I was a Gano supporter last season but ...

For all the talk about Gano's leg - he did not consistently get the ball as deep as we saw yesterday from Cundiff


I'll stick with my prediction that Billy Cundiff will be the kicker here for more than just this season

[SkinsJock]

Billy Cundiff will be our kicker for more than 1 season

Why?

If we needed a guy that will only hit 3 out of 4 kick we could have just kept the guy with potential. Cundiff has been hitting 3 out of 4 (77% career success rate) for the past eight years.

He has no up side. Sure he might kick better than 77% but the olds are against it. I would have rather kept the 80% guy (Rackers) or the younger 77% guy that was improving instead of regressing.
Beside Cundiff is a former Cowturd and I don't like Cowturds. Heck I don't even want any on my fantasy team, let alone my real team.

[skinsfan#33]

Billy Cundiff will be our kicker for more than 1 season

Why?

If we needed a guy that will only hit 3 out of 4 kick we could have just kept the guy with potential. Cundiff has been hitting 3 out of 4 (77% career success rate) for the past eight years.

He has no up side. Sure he might kick better than 77% but the olds are against it. I would have rather kept the 80% guy (Rackers) or the younger 77% guy that was improving instead of regressing.
Beside Cundiff is a former Cowturd and I don't like Cowturds. Heck I don't even want any on my fantasy team, let alone my real team.

What did yesterday prove? Nothing! It only proves that we have a 1 for 3 or several 3 for 4 days coming. Cundiff is what he is; a 76% kicker!

So doing anyhting else would be an outlier. Go back and look at his career, he SUCKS!

I thought he missed the first kick and thought he was going to miss every kick after that. And once he got to 3 for 3 I thought it was a certainty that he would miss the the 4th to make it 3 out of 4, or EXACTLY what he is, a kicker that misses one out of every 4 kicks.

On kick offs. Same as Gano. With one exception. MS told Danny Smith to knock off that coffin corner kick crap! DS has been told that MS doesn't want ANY returns. Now Cundiff will be able to do that on most kicks, but with that direction Gano could have done it on EVERY kick off.

I'm not a Gano fan, I just know he is better than Cundiff!

[riggofan]

What did yesterday prove? Nothing! It only proves that we have a 1 for 3 or several 3 for 4 days coming. Cundiff is what he is; a 76% kicker!

Not sure it works like that man. Gano was a 100% kicker in 2009.

[skinsfan#33]

What did yesterday prove? Nothing! It only proves that we have a 1 for 3 or several 3 for 4 days coming. Cundiff is what he is; a 76% kicker!

Not sure it works like that man. Gano was a 100% kicker in 2009.

That is why I'm not talking about one year, I'm talking about what Cundiff is over his 8 or 9 year career.

Gano was trending up and Cundiff was trending down (back to his Norm).

[tribeofjudah]

there's something wrong in Gano's head kicking under pressure

That's the only reason I wasn't totally against the move. I liked Gano's leg strength, his youth, and that he seemed to be getting better each season, but he still had that failure under pressure aura, which is what I think is the reason Shanny showed him the door.

Cundiff's leg proves to be stronger......no? He was booming it with many resulting in touchbacks.

Gano was not doing that.

[Deadskins]

there's something wrong in Gano's head kicking under pressure

That's the only reason I wasn't totally against the move. I liked Gano's leg strength, his youth, and that he seemed to be getting better each season, but he still had that failure under pressure aura, which is what I think is the reason Shanny showed him the door.

Cundiff's leg proves to be stronger......no? He was booming it with many resulting in touchbacks.

Gano was not doing that.

I'm pretty sure he was being asked not to. Shanny decided to just go for touchbacks this year. I think Gano could have kicked them through the endzone too, if he had wanted.

[Chris Luva Luva]

I get nervous every time he lines up. I basked in the humiliation of my Raven loving fam and friends last season. It was an amazing thing, not one word needed to be said. I mean, the drop in the endzone... Snatching victory away from them at the last moment, the rushed FG... The shock of the announcers... The angst. The hurt. The anger.

Cundiff will kick a meaningful FG against them when we meet. It will be glorious. LOLOL

[riggofan]

What did yesterday prove? Nothing! It only proves that we have a 1 for 3 or several 3 for 4 days coming. Cundiff is what he is; a 76% kicker!

Not sure it works like that man. Gano was a 100% kicker in 2009.

That is why I'm not talking about one year, I'm talking about what Cundiff is over his 8 or 9 year career.

Gano was trending up and Cundiff was trending down (back to his Norm).

Its just a ludicrous statement over a meaningless number. You're taking the average of his FGM over his entire career and claiming that number tells us something meaningful, which it doesn't.

Gano was "trending up"? He missed 11 kicks in 2010 and then missed 10 kicks + an extra point in 2011. That's a 68% kicker improving to 75%.

Cundiff missed 5 kicks in 2009. 3 kicks in 2010 and 9 kicks in 2011. He hasn't missed 10 kicks in a season in his entire 10 year career.

Everybody who watched Gano the past two years knows he was horrible. You can hardly blame Shanahan for not wanting to ride it out with Gano in year three. If Cundiff continues to send the ball out of the endzone on kickoffs and misses less than 10 kicks this year, then Shanny upgraded the kicker position.

[Deadskins]

then missed 10 kicks + an extra point in 2011.

Yeah, and Sav Rocca missed that punt that went for a Saints TD yesterday.