The Kicking Game

[scafuri27]

One player that has flown under the radar this year is Shaun Suisham. It has been a long time since we had a realiable kciker to lean on. By the time we had John Hall he was servicable at best.
S.S. stats going into tonight

5th FG made-22
16/19 fgm 30-49 yds
85% total fg made

Since 1997 only 2 Redskins kickers have made over 16 FG's in one season:
Brett Conway 21/33 2001 only 63%
Brett Conway 22/32 2004 69%
John Hall 25/33 2003 76%

At this pace Suisham should easily kick over 80% and make close to 30 fg's.
Hes no Mark Mosely, but definaltely has done a great job taking over a position weve struggled with.

[BrudLee]

While that position isn't one with a lot of long-term security, "Shazam" has put himself in a good position for this year. I'd love longer kickoffs, but Shaun has earned the faith of this staff, justifiably.

[MTK]

He's been pretty solid. Seems like a keeper.

[hagams]

I got him on the fantasy roster. He seems good enough to keep around.

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

I'd love longer kickoffs, but Shaun has earned the faith of this staff, justifiably.

Yeah, I like Suisham a lot, especially after the rough stretch we've had at the position. Those kickoffs that land at the 15 yard line do kill me though. He does seem pretty good at directional kickoffs, though, and even when his kicks are short they often seem to land by the numbers rather than in the middle of the field. I'm assuming that is planned.

I'm curious to see how they deal with Hester this week. It seemed like they were trying some things with McGee last week, really trying to pin him between the numbers and the sideline. All the kicks seemed to land on about the 10-15 though. I think I'd just pop it up to the up man and try to force them to just call a fair catch.

[dmek25]

very satisfied with our kicker. like you have said, it seems like forever since we had a kicker we could depend on. anyone think Conway makes the kick against Tampa if Johnson doesn't fumble the snap?

[70Chip]

Suisham went through a mini funk mid-season with the hooks, but he seems to have straightened himself out. Quietly, he's had the second best year by a Redskins kicker that I can remember.

As to Hester, my view is why take a chance? If you kick to him, he has the potential to score as many points as the Bears offense does on their own. You hate to give up field position, but I would rather take my chances with our defense against Grossman et al than I would kicking to Hester. He has 10 TD returns in 28 games. Brian Mitchell had 13 in over a 100 games and he was considered a great return man.

[over the mountain]

i have to disagree with you all here. his kickoffs are far too short and hes not reliable on field goals past the 45. anything over 50 yards forgetaboutit.

[BDBohnzie]

It's kind of hard to judge him on 50+ when he's 1-3 in his career. Plus there aren't too many kickers out there that are very consistent on anything over 50.

Kickoffs on the other hand are ridiculous...however one begins to wonder if it's on purpose. When he first got here, he was booming them inside the 5, and from time to time, you will see a deeper kickoff. But now he's consistently around the 10-15 yard line. Is he kicking it higher and shorter to allow his coverage team time to get down field? A good question for Danny Smith...

[SC Skins Fan]

Originally Posted by dmek25

very satisfied with our kicker. like you have said, it seems like forever since we had a kicker we could depend on. anyone think Conway makes the kick against Tampa if Johnson doesn't fumble the snap?

Someone might get on me for taking it way back to 1999, but since you bring it up... Am i the only one who still has nightmares of Kip Vickers getting beat all day long in that game? My position was always that if Andy Heck was healthy he would have been able to slow down the pass rush enough that the Skins could have won. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Vickers give up a sack just before that field goal attempt that made it much longer than it would have been otherwise?

I got a chance to work with Heck a bit when I was at UVa and mentioned that to him once. He agreed (of course), though he also said that he thought that if they beat Tampa then they would have taken out St. Louis and gone to the dance. Not sure about that one.

Sorry for the digression. That one sticks with me for some reason. Maybe I need to get some counseling or something

[MTK]

Some more numbers on Suisham:

He's hitting on 84.6%, the league average is 82.1%.

From 30-39 this year he's 7 of 8.

From 40-49 this year he's 9 of 11.

He's been pretty damn solid. The numbers don't lie.

[freddyg12]

I'm happy w/shazam, makes the kicks he's expected to w/in 40 yards & is pretty decent beyond that, that's about all we can ask for.

[Riggo44]

Originally Posted by SC Skins Fan

Someone might get on me for taking it way back to 1999, but since you bring it up... Am i the only one who still has nightmares of Kip Vickers getting beat all day long in that game? My position was always that if Andy Heck was healthy he would have been able to slow down the pass rush enough that the Skins could have won. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Vickers give up a sack just before that field goal attempt that made it much longer than it would have been otherwise?

I got a chance to work with Heck a bit when I was at UVa and mentioned that to him once. He agreed (of course), though he also said that he thought that if they beat Tampa then they would have taken out St. Louis and gone to the dance. Not sure about that one.

Sorry for the digression. That one sticks with me for some reason. Maybe I need to get some counseling or something

I think we would have beaten St. Louis if we hade made that kick. We had already kicked there butts that year during the season and if I remember correctly St .Louis barley beat the Buc's.
That Buc's playoff game still hurt's me when I think about it.

[over the mountain]

thanks for the stats, i guess im giving shazaam alil bit of an unfair shake . . just dont have too much confidence in him but he is a servicable kicker which we havent had in awhile.

ps - i saw dexter manley and his big ol' superbowl ring at lunch today!! said whats up, nice guy, real nice suit with red socks! the man can dress

[squrrelco3]

lol....What do I think of Shazaam?...just read my signature...

I still stand by it...