Best Coaching For Kicker: No Coaching
October 25th, 2018
Plan to help kicker.
Bucs coach Dirk Koetter has a well thought out plan to help his struggling kicker.
Chandler Catanzaro, a big free agent signing, is having a rough go of it in Tampa Bay. The fifth-year NFL kicker is hitting on 80 percent of his field goal attempts (he’s missed both his kicks in the 40-49-yard range) and has missed three extra points.
Sunday against Cleveland, Catanzaro missed both an extra point and a potential game-winning field goal at the end of regulation. He made up for it by hitting the longest field goal in NFL overtime history, a 59-yard boot.
Yesterday, Koetter was asked if he was going to put more or less pressure on Catanzaro in practice to get him turned around. No, Koetter said, his plan is to leave him the hell alone.
“Chandler [Catanzaro’s] a pro,” Koetter said. “That’s one thing I think is different about pro players. I think if a guy’s a proven player in this league, they are their own worst critic. They don’t need me or anybody else chipping away at them.
“You could tell by how emotional Chandler was after the game what that meant to him. It’s business as usual … . These guys are back to work and it’s a new week. We’re on to working on Cincinnati.”
Joe sure hopes Koetter is right. Koetter has had a lot of practice working with troubled kickers since he came to Tampa Bay in 2015 as offensive coordinator. The man has been absolutely cursed by kickers and likely missed the playoffs in 2016 because of lousy kicking.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:06 am
blow. it. up.
change anything. new holder, new cleats, find something that might click in these kickers fragile mind as having ‘fixed it’ so that they can approach things confidently again. Placebo effect is better than leaving it alone.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:07 am
It’s been working so well for Koetter to this point… Why change?
October 25th, 2018 at 11:08 am
and by the way, our holder is the one thing we haven’t tried changing. maybe he has bad energy? i dont know, but if the kickers would feel better with a cheerleader like fitz out there, lets try that.
but our holder has to have the worst stats of any holder ever.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:08 am
how’s that been working for you dirk ?
October 25th, 2018 at 11:21 am
Translation: The kicker knows more than us so what do you expect us to do.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:27 am
score a td in regulation and you don’t leave it up to the kicker.
October 25th, 2018 at 11:42 am
“…and likely missed the playoffs in 2016 because of lousy kicking.”
How freaking sad is that?
October 25th, 2018 at 11:58 am
Honestly I duno what to do. It seems if we bring in a K they will just suck regardless of their prior history lol.
That game winner was the longest game winning FG I can even recall in the last few years? Maybe just roll with it and hope the missed PATs were somewhat a fluke? I honestly duno lol
October 25th, 2018 at 11:59 am
I’m typing horribly this morning. Got last minute tix to see the Lighting beat the Avs last night and feeling it now lol.
October 25th, 2018 at 12:00 pm
I’m convinced that sometimes Bucs’ media (and fans) can’t see the obvious. Last season Patrick Murray replaced the abysmal Nick Folk (yet another of Jason Licht’s brainstorms).
Patrick Murray played in 12 games. Take a good look at what he did:
o XPA – 22 … XPM – 21 … XP% – 95.5%
o FGA – 23 … FGM – 19 … FG% – 82.6%
Not the best in the league, but not close to being the worst either … only missed 1 XP and 4 FGs all season. But now look at the distances he kicked from:
o FGA (20-29 yds) – 5 … FGM (20-29 yds) – 5.
o FGA (30-39 yds) – 8 … FGM (30-39 yds) – 8.
o FGA (40-49 yds) – 5 … FGM (40-49 yds) – 4.
o FGA (50 yds +) – 5 … FGM (50 yds +) – 2.
So Patrick Murray hit on 17 of 18 FGs INSIDE of 50 yds (94.4%). Missed 3 FGs OUTSIDE of 50 yds … and Jason Licht through him to the curb in favor of yet another inconsistent kicker (Catanzaro’s hitting 80% of his FGs and 85% of his XPs). And Licht paid Catanzaro what? Maybe 3 times as much as Murray was making? For worse performance. AT LEAST Licht didn’t give up a 2nd round pick for the privilege of signing him though. Major step forward.
October 25th, 2018 at 12:17 pm
@DR
Yeah it’s kind of confusing. That said there is no way Murray can make a 59 yard kick to win a game. Then again – he probably would have made the 40 yarder lol.
Licht picking Aguayo in R2 is all we need to know about his cluelessness with how to approach the K position.
Dude’s done decent in the draft for the most part; 5X as well as Dominic; but it’s frustrating when the entire fan base is basically in unison about something being a bad move; and we’re all proven right.
Hell if we drafted based on just JBF voting polls; we probably would be doing just as well if not better. And that’s not settling.
October 25th, 2018 at 1:12 pm
Wonder how much the holder has to do with Chandler’s kicking woes?
October 25th, 2018 at 1:18 pm
Waiting for more long field goals splitting the uprights, a weapon. Sure he’ll miss a few, but potentially win some games.
October 25th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
How is this guy the coach?
He’s pathetic.
October 25th, 2018 at 2:04 pm
@DR,
Catanzaro in 2017 kicking for the Jets:
Inside 40 > 11/11
40-49 > 12/17
50 + 2/2 long 57
PAT’s > 29/2940+
Murray missed 4 FG’s from 40+/ Missed 1 PAT
Catanzaro missed 5 FG’s from 40+/ Missed 0 PAT
Murray long FG made / 50 yards
Catanzaro long FG made / 57 yards
Looks like virtually the same kicker except Catanzaro has a stronger leg. I’m sure Murray missing those two 50 yarders against Carolina and Atlanta late didn’t help his cause.
October 25th, 2018 at 2:36 pm
Hope you’ve been practicing 2 point conversions, coach… cuz despite what Cantazaro did last year, he seems to miss an XP or FG every single game this year.
October 25th, 2018 at 2:53 pm
@Dapostman … “Looks like virtually the same kicker except Catanzaro has a stronger leg. I’m sure Murray missing those two 50 yarders against Carolina and Atlanta late didn’t help his cause.” Actually inside the 50, Murray was better. Outside the 50, he was pretty bad. BUT … Murray’s still available, so we’re comparing our current kicker with someone who’s out of football right now. Of course, we were comparing Murray (age 27) when he was here with Roberto (age 24), who’s ALSO out of football right now. Should I mention that Nick Folk (age 33) is ALSO out of football right now? Oh yes, and so are Connor Barth (age 32) and Kyle Brindza (age 25).
The common thread you ask? THEY ALL WERE KICKERS FOR TAMPA BAY SINCE 2015. Yes, all those kickers have graced Raymond James Stadium since 2015, that magic year when Jason Licht was brought to Tampa Bay courtesy of … LOVIE SMITH. Aah yes, Lovie’s legacy lives on. Lucky us.
October 25th, 2018 at 3:21 pm
@Dapostman and @Defense Rules: Catanzaro does have a stronger leg and the biggest difference between Murray and him are that Catanzaro is consistent in his kick off’s. How many of those have you seen returned this season? Exactly the reason they chose Catanzaro!
October 25th, 2018 at 4:45 pm
2 place kickers. Murray for short FGs and Catanzaro for 50+. That would make the Bucs better immediately
October 25th, 2018 at 11:44 pm
Winston should have went rogue on Koetter at the end of regulation of the Browns game like he did vs the Saints last year where Koetter wanted a 6 yard slant to set up Nick Folk to MISS the game winning FG and Winston instead got the game winning TD to Godwin (of course this cost the Bucs 2 slots in the draft and the choice of either Chubb or Quenton Nelson…..). Koetter does not get that the probability of Tampa winning a game in the final 2 minutes is higher when the QB goes for the jugular instead of the O going turtle and trusting a below average kicker to try and win the game….
BTW Dirk, I do not know if hands off is the right approach for dealing with the kicking game as it sure did not work out well with leaving the defense alone……
Wow, did Mike Smith go over to Houston to coach up or game plan the Fins D????? They are stinking it up!
October 26th, 2018 at 6:13 pm
I said back when agguayo fell apart her that I thought it was coaching that ruined him. A kicker is unlike any other position on the field. You worry about kicking the ball and that is it. Teaching a kicjer how to kick when that’s all he has been doing for half his life is re inventing the wheel.
LET him do.his job and go coach the rest of the team..STARTING WITH THE DEFENSE!!!