Quote: @BlackMagic7 said:
Why stop at Zimmer? There was no reason to move on from Forbath in the first place. He ultimately solved our problems after Walsh went off the rails; we didnt need to reach and put ourselves in this position in the first place...
We dont have to hold Spielman in the fire over it, but hindsight is a *****... just a dumb move. If we could land Bailey just do it. Burn the pick, let Carlson go... get better by admitting a mistake and correcting it while a better option is available...
You don't want to move on from the worst extra point kicker from last year? Okeedokee
It only took Carlson two pro games to reach Blair Walsh territory. He's done as a Viking kicker, as far as I'm concerned. The kid just doesn't have the mental make up to be a pro kicker.
Quote: @Purplewhizz said:
@ StickyBun said:
@ Wetlander said:
Jesus, Jimmy... You want this kid to try to make a pressure kick in the playoffs?
He doesn't need time. He's gone. If he boots that 35 yarder to win it, he probably saves his job for another week.
He completely butt-fucked it. He's unreliable. That's the worst thing you can be as a kicker.
He doesn't need a second chance.
LOL, yep he did. If they keep him, they are really playing it dangerously. If you can't trust him, cut his ass. He should have made the last kick.....that was a joke and only 35 yards.
What gets me is he missed all three pretty much the same way. Wouldn’t you think an adjustment might be in order?
And whose job would it be to identify the adjustment that's needed? Preifer.
Maybe they should learn to quit playing for the field goal all the FIN time? That said 3 misses in a row is unacceptable at the NFL level.
I agree that Zimmer is not the great at handling kickers. He's very blunt about what he expects from kickers and has very little tolerance for mistakes. That in itself can be understandable, but when you're dealing with a guy who's up in his head, then that may just serve to feed into their anxiety. We saw that with Walsh and we've seen an expedited version of that with Carlson. Carlson struggled during the preseason and Zimmer responded by going for 2 to send a message. Unfortunately, when the game was on the line he still let Carlson take the kick and hurt the team because of it.
I agree that Priefer should bear the most responsibility for this. The special teams unit was shaky in the preseason and have continued to struggle into the regular season. Carlson has imploded, we've had 1 punt blocked and another nearly block, and he made the call to go into a highly important season with two inexperienced kickers. It seems like Priefer gets a fair amount of autonomy, but hopefully the shine of him being a special teams genius is wearing off. The damage from today has already been done, but hopefully the Vikings respond before more damage is done.
Quote: @Scoog said:
@ Purplewhizz said:
@ StickyBun said:
@ Wetlander said:
Jesus, Jimmy... You want this kid to try to make a pressure kick in the playoffs?
He doesn't need time. He's gone. If he boots that 35 yarder to win it, he probably saves his job for another week.
He completely butt-fucked it. He's unreliable. That's the worst thing you can be as a kicker.
He doesn't need a second chance.
LOL, yep he did. If they keep him, they are really playing it dangerously. If you can't trust him, cut his ass. He should have made the last kick.....that was a joke and only 35 yards.
What gets me is he missed all three pretty much the same way. Wouldn’t you think an adjustment might be in order?
And whose job would it be to identify the adjustment that's needed? Preifer.
I would think the kicker himself. When I start fading my tee shots to the right, or begin hooking to the left, I make adjustmemts in my swing or my grip. I have a hard time believing a kicker wouldn’t know what to do to correct something he did multiple times.
The reason he can’t make the adjustment is because the cause is likely mental. Like a case of the yips.
Quote: @Purplewhizz said:
@ Scoog said:
@ Purplewhizz said:
@ StickyBun said:
@ Wetlander said:
Jesus, Jimmy... You want this kid to try to make a pressure kick in the playoffs?
He doesn't need time. He's gone. If he boots that 35 yarder to win it, he probably saves his job for another week.
He completely butt-fucked it. He's unreliable. That's the worst thing you can be as a kicker.
He doesn't need a second chance.
LOL, yep he did. If they keep him, they are really playing it dangerously. If you can't trust him, cut his ass. He should have made the last kick.....that was a joke and only 35 yards.
What gets me is he missed all three pretty much the same way. Wouldn’t you think an adjustment might be in order?
And whose job would it be to identify the adjustment that's needed? Preifer.
I would think the kicker himself. When I start fading my tee shots to the right, or begin hooking to the left, I make adjustmemts in my swing or my grip. I have a hard time believing a kicker wouldn’t know what to do to correct something he did multiple times.
The reason he can’t make the adjustment is because the cause is likely mental. Like a case of the yips.
Do you have a golfing coach at the tee with you? If so and he's not telling you what adjustments to make, what are you paying him for? Because I think what the Vikings are paying Preifer for is to help the players succeed.
Quote: @Tyr said:
I agree that Zimmer is not the great at handling kickers. He's very blunt about what he expects from kickers and has very little tolerance for mistakes. That in itself can be understandable, but when you're dealing with a guy who's up in his head, then that may just serve to feed into their anxiety. We saw that with Walsh and we've seen an expedited version of that with Carlson. Carlson struggled during the preseason and Zimmer responded by going for 2 to send a message. Unfortunately, when the game was on the line he still let Carlson take the kick and hurt the team because of it.
I agree that Priefer should bear the most responsibility for this. The special teams unit was shaky in the preseason and have continued to struggle into the regular season. Carlson has imploded, we've had 1 punt blocked and another nearly block, and he made the call to go into a highly important season with two inexperienced kickers. It seems like Priefer gets a fair amount of autonomy, but hopefully the shine of him being a special teams genius is wearing off. The damage from today has already been done, but hopefully the Vikings respond before more damage is done.
Excellent Point...
Priefer probably didnt have a comfortable ride home tonight..
At the 30-39 yard distance Dan Bailey has missed only 3 in his career. 60 of 63. I’d guess a few of those won games for his team. Bailey declined a little bit the past couple of years but he’s by far the right way to go immediately. He’s only 30 so he has the chance to be a long term solution if they can talk him into coming north.
Kickers are a different breed and, unfortunately, that does mean Carlson is likely done as a Viking. He possibly will rebound and be a very good NFL kicker, but he will never achieve it now with his current coaching staff - these misses will forever be in the back of the minds of Priefer and Zimmer.
I agree with Jimmy that coaching special teams and kickers, specifically, is a problem with the Vikings. I don't place the blame on Zimmer other than he should have replaced Priefer years ago. Priefer has been around for all the special teams fiascos in recent history including Chris Kluwe, Blair Walsh, Jeff Locke, Ryan Quigley, and now Forbath and Carlson. Perhaps coaching does have something to do with the downfall of specialists who did well before they were Preifered?
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