The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

I am not criticizing Dan Carpenter, but a good HC and G.M. are always trying to upgrade the team whenever possible and there are a ton of good kickers out of work. Avoiding a knee jerk reaction to the past couple of games, here is his stats.

http://prod.www.dolphins.clubs.nfl.com/team/roster/Dan-Carpenter/48f6cba3-feef-4c0d-a57c-86124c04e717

2009 = MONEY!
2010 = CRAP
2011 = AVERAGE

The one thing the stats don't tell you is "pressure kicks." How many of those misses were game changers? We have seen 2 already in 2012.

And yes, I expect a 51 yarder to be made more often than not. AZ. has thin air which makes the ball carry well and the Cards play inside a temp. controlled dome. 

No. He's having a bit of accuracy problems, but he'll be fine. These losses are not just on him, others have made mistakes too. He's till a very reliable kicker both on FG's and kickoffs.

Ok, I am not set either way, but there is nothing wrong with competition. I would like to see the kick offs higher and shorter instead of deep in the end zone. Surprised they don't do that. It would improve ST coverage for sure.

I don't think it's at that stage, yet.  But, he should know he'd better start making some long kicks soon.

Do you realize that only 3 of Carpenter's 20 kickoffs have been returned outside the 20 yard line? 9 have gone for touchbacks and 8 more have started the opponent inside their 20. It can't get much better than that. I wouldn't change a thing on his kickoffs.

Yes, I understand. I could be wrong, but in theory I think kicking it higher and shorter would be even better. Kick somewhere between the 6 and goal line. The coverage unit would be right there, similar to a punt. No? Just a theory. lol

They would have to eat a couple milllion in salary. Ain't gonna happen.

Not yet anyway. He would need to blow up bigtime for them to make a switch

I like it just the way it is, keep them nice and deep in the endzone and force the returner to make a decision, plus make sure they can't get up a head of steam. If you put it on the goal line, theoretically the returner can get behind it and catch it while moving forward and they have a full head of steam a little quicker. It's not as easy to do that from 2 feet from the back of the endzone.

Huh? Not sure you understand. The guy that catches it in the back of the EZ has a much better view and a chance to gain momentum than a guy who catches a higher, shorter kick (like a punt). What am I missing??

There's no way you kick it high enough for the kick coverage team to be waiting for the guy to catch it at the 6 yard line. The guy that catches the ball in the back of the endzone has to be standing still, he can't catch the ball on the run. The guy catching the ball at the goal line (or 6 yard line) can be running at full speed when he catches it, he'll get to the 10 (or the 16) in under a second whereas the guy catching it in the back of the endzone won't even be out of the endzone a second after catching it. Even if the ball is in the air a full second longer when it's caught at the 6 (which I HIGHLY doubt) he'd still be further forward with the ball than the guy who catches the ball in the back of the endzone a second earlier. You'd have to increase your hang time by at least 1.5 to 2 seconds to make it better to kick it to 6 rather than the back of the endzone and I don't believe you can do that off a tee. Punting a ball is a completely different kick than off a tee and yes in that case you can get that kind of hang time difference by kicking it higher and shorter, but not off a tee.

You are probably right. So much for that theory. I have been watching for it and no one has done it.