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Jack Straw

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Posts posted by Jack Straw

    RGIII's preseason debut is against the Bills

    in The Stadium Wall Archives

    Posted

    Do we really expect to see the first team take many reps in the first preseason game? Isn't 1 quarter about right? I could be misremembering or he could handle this year differently, but seems like Chan likes to use preseason to audition the #2 and #3 players, even if the other team leaves their #1s in

    Hey, even our second team D-Line is not shabby. :w00t:

    Drafting A Round 7 Kicker Seemed Odd At First

    in The Stadium Wall Archives

    Posted

    I had a hard time figuring out why Buddy took a place kicker in the 7th round. Lindell had a shoulder injury at the end of last season, but that shirley must have healed by now. So why essentially waste a pick on a kicker who wasn't even from the SEC? We could have drafted another future starter like Jasper (OK, so he's a project, but so was Jason Peters, and Peters wasn't even drafted).

     

    In light of Junior Seau's death, it makes a lot more sense. Remember, Buddy worked in San Diego for a while and may have seen that unfortunate tragedy coming. Bounty Gate and the concussion-related lawsuits have dominated news coverage now that the draft is over, but the hidden NFL story is the extreme psychological trauma suffered over the years by place kickers, especially recently.

     

    Kickers have always been considered a little strange, but now that NFL rules favor the offense, the pressure to score on every possession is much greater. Opposing coaches are constantly trying to "ice" them by calling time-outs. Not only that, but field goals are worth so little to NFL teams that you can't even win an overtime game with one any more. Talk about job security anxiety!

     

    Put yourself in the kicker's feet for a minute just before the snap - - will a time-out be called? - - will the ball be snapped anyway but the lineman won't bother to block anybody and I'll get killed? - - will I kick it thinking it's just a practice kick only to discover that the whistle came too late and I blew my only chance to win the game?

     

    Huge stress! No wonder San Diego's kicker was reduced to semi-publicly pissing on the sidelines before trotting out on the field in a game last year. That's the kind of psychological trauma-induced behavior that you usually only see if you put too many rats in one cage.

     

    There's a reason why you don't hear much about Scott Northwoods or Pete Gogolack any more - - they just can't bare to be in the spotlight because they have a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - -just like our boys coming home from Afghanistan.

     

    We don't hear details about Ralph's health or Easley's heart condition because that HIPAA law now makes all types of medical info highly confidential. So I wonder if Buddy drafted the new kicker because he's worried that Lindell is on the verge of a performance-detracting psychological breakdown?

     

    I'm a fan of Lindell's and think he's a good kicker - - but in light of what's been happening to other kickers around the league, I can understand why Buddy wants a plan B. I sure hope Lindell's mentally OK. Anybody know how he's doing?

     

    NFL-kicker-trauma-issues

    Don't call me Shirley.

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