Originally Posted by
CadaverDawg
Look, y'all can bring up those stats if you want, and I get it, the stats were good for a few. But how many times were we forced to abort a potential big FG bc we had no confidence our kicker could make it or even get it to the end zone due to no leg strength? Yall didn't expand on Devon Bell's % when he was brought in to kick anything deeper than 40 yards that one year, and he couldn't even keep it in the stadium. We had to bring in an inconsistent power leg, bc our main K couldn't kick a 40+ yarder...let that sink in. In the SEC.
Stats can be misleading. We've had some decent kickers that can make a decent percentage OF THE KICKS THEYRE ALLOWED TO TRY....but it has been quite a while since we trotted a guy out there that we felt super confident he was going to make everything under 40 yards. And in this league, and the teams we're needing every advantage against to pull an upset....we need to be pretty automatic inside 40, and have a guy with the leg strength to at least attempt a 50+ yarder with a chance to get the ball to the goal post.
I know that isn't sunshiny enough for some....If y'all want to use stats to hide the fact that y'all closed your eyes every time a kicker came out in a big spot the last several years, that's your choice.
And again, when year 7-8 features a K that can't make an extra point....does it actually matter what years 1-6 featured? It's an issue either way. Not sure why we need to sugar coat it. The best coaches in the country demand excellence & fix key issues....Mullen should have this issue fixed by now, and the fact that he doesn't seem more focused, serious, or concerned about it should be concerning to us as fans imo. You think Saban would have that response to a kicker question if his guy had missed a chip shot to lose to USA last year? Mullen is a good coach, and I just want to see him demand excellence so we can take that next step....our kicking game could be the difference in 7 & 9 wins this year....or hell even 8 & 10 or 9 & 11. Yall may be cool with that, but it pisses me off bc it's one guy so it should be relatively an easy fix. Trade our K out with any other SEC kicker last year, and we likely win 8 games....that's a problem.