Houschka released

[cravnravn]

NICE

[83eh01]

I feel bad for the guy, but he lacks too much confidence right now.

[GrubberRaven]

Can they still get Gano?

 

I do NOT want Nugent or Condiff.

[Guest BallTMore]

Can they still get Gano?

 

I do NOT want Nugent or Condiff.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

Edit: Well apparently Gano cannot be signed until after Thanksgiving (End of UFL season), so Nugent is probably our new kicker.

Edited November 17, 2009 by BallTMore

[GrubberRaven]

 

Edit: Well apparently Gano cannot be signed until after Thanksgiving (End of UFL season), so Nugent is probably our new kicker.

 

 

damnit

[vmax]

Ozzie and Harbaugh failed.

The money and the roster spot was not worth losing games. Pay a million to secure your $110 million roster and playoff hopes.

 

Ravens should be 6-3. One game is huge in the NFL.

[OutsideRzAcE]

Personally I think it was the right decision to let Stover go because he was losing the ability to kick longer field goals. In hindsight they should have had a better plan for a replacement - either work Haushucka in last year by giving him more opportunities to kick or sign a proven kicker.

[thundercleetz]

Ozzie and Harbaugh failed.

The money and the roster spot was not worth losing games. Pay a million to secure your $110 million roster and playoff hopes.

 

Ravens should be 6-3. One game is huge in the NFL.

 

We do not know that for sure. As well as Stover is doing with the Colts, his long is a 40-yard field goal. The problem with Houschka is that he seems to have trouble kicking from the left hashmark (all of his misses have been on the left hashmark). He always hooks the ball left from the left hashmark, which is really odd. I wonder if this is something that was persistent in practice and/or training camp?

 

Nevertheless, Nugent looks to be the front runner according to most of the Ravens beat writers on Twitter. Like Houschka, Nugent has tremendous talent and a very powerful leg (he was a second round pick as a kicker). Unlike Houschka, Nugent has had success in the league (he had a very good 2006 season with the Jets and is excellent on kickoffs). He kicked at a big program in OSU, so he should be used to high pressure situations. Maybe Jerry Rosburg can get him back on track.

[thundercleetz]

It looks like Hauschka realizes his struggles kicking from the left hashmark:

 

Ravens Insider: Hauschka "disappointed" in performance

 

For the season, Hauschka converted nine of 13 field goals (69.2 percent) and 27 of 28 extra-point attempts. But his last three misses occurred from the left hash mark and hooked left of the left upright.

 

Hauschka said he was still uncertain whether the misses were linked to his mechanics.

 

"It’s hard to say," he said. "All of the misses came from the left hash and they went a foot or two left of the left upright. So it’s not like they were all terrible kicks. It’s something I’ll get straightened out and I’ll be better for it in the long run. I’m not really concerned with it. I know I’m a good kicker and I know I can make those kicks. I’m just going to use it as a learning experience to get better."

 

What I do not understand, as dc has stated before, is if you are kicking from the left hashmark, wouldn't one want to push the ball right? So if the kick was going to sail wide, it would be to the right. Trying to hook the left goalpost from the left hashmark seems like a small target to hit.

[RavensNest8483]

It looks like Hauschka realizes his struggles kicking from the left hashmark:

 

 

 

What I do not understand, as dc has stated before, is if you are kicking from the left hashmark, wouldn't one want to push the ball right? So if the kick was going to sail wide, it would be to the right. Trying to hook the left goalpost from the left hashmark seems like a small target to hit.

 

I would be confident in either Nugent or Cundiff.... Cundiff was kicking fine for the Browns earlier this yr. Nugent is young and is coming back off a leg injury last yr, I think Nugent could lock down the position if he can regain his form. Another guy to throw out there is the rookie kicker from Georgia, he was a final cut with the seahawks, but I think drilled every fg in preseason. I think his name was Caatu or something like that.

[dc.]

Right OTR... I almost think it could be a coaching issue.

 

I don't know enough/anything about kicking mechanics... but he missed all four kicks left, including three from the left hash. Straight kicks, but straight doesn't cut it from 1 foot outside the post.

 

So after 1 or 2 misses of that nature, wouldn't you think someone would tell him/work with him on finding a new way to align his kicks when in that position?

 

Maybe you are risking ruining his right hash kicks... but you can't just accept that all his left hash kicks will miss.

[RavenMad]

Perhaps they did try to work on it with him dc. Maybe that was the problem. He wasn't improving on those kicks so they decided to go in a different direction.

 

I'm only speculating but without insider knowledge of the situation we can never be sure how the decision came about.

 

I have to give props to Ozzie and Harbs. I like how they came out and admitted they had made a mistake. I think everyone knew Stover was on his last leg so to speak but they tried to go in a new direction and it didn't work out. I think I read somewhere that they really wanted Gano to win the job in preseason but Steve out performed him and basically won the job by default. That didn't work out too bad for the QB situation last season but unfortunately it hasn't worked this time round.

 

Give Nugent or Cundiff a shot until the end of the season and then have another look in the draft. We should hopefully be getting some nice compensatory picks for the next draft so burn one on a kicker in the 5th to 7th round to get the guy they want, pick up an undrafted free agent and let them compete with whomever is signed in the next couple of days (if they make it to the end of the season)

[papasmurfbell]

I hope this blows up in their face. This season is over. They should have let him work through the problem at this point. I hope this kid turns out to be 95% over the rest of his career. The FO made an ignorant call.

[thundercleetz]

I hope this blows up in their face. This season is over. They should have let him work through the problem at this point. I hope this kid turns out to be 95% over the rest of his career. The FO made an ignorant call.

 

Go ahead and think this season is over. Bottom line is that we have two critical games against the Steelers that will decide the wildcard. Don't watch anymore of our games, no one will care. I don't see how releasing Houschka is ignorant, we need to win games no matter what.

[papasmurfbell]

OK then you should join the in Owing Mills.

[thundercleetz]

OK then you should join the in Owing Mills.

 

I am really not sure what you are getting at. You want us to bomb the rest of our games at the expense of a kicker? You seem to be the one with your head in the sand. Why are you even a fan if all you do is bash the team and suggest the season is over after nine games?

[papasmurfbell]

I was thinking 9-7 before the season started. The Fo did nothing to plug holes. This kid is not the reason the d blows. He is not the reason Flacco has no confidence in the WR's. People seam to think that his removal will fix it all. I have a pretty strong fealing the new guy will be worse.

[thundercleetz]

I was thinking 9-7 before the season started. The Fo did nothing to plug holes. This kid is not the reason the d blows. He is not the reason Flacco has no confidence in the WR's. People seam to think that his removal will fix it all. I have a pretty strong fealing the new guy will be worse.

 

No one is suggesting this at all. You say the FO did nothing to plug holes, well, you have to include kicker in that statement. Hauschka could not get the job done. Under you own logic, should we leave Carr, Washington, and Foxworth alone? All the front office is trying to do is fill a hole. It is just that at this point in the season there is not much we can do at the DB position, whereas kicker we believe there is a better player on the market.

 

Getting a new kicker will not fix everything, but it puts us in a better position to win. This season is far from over, and even though we have problems as you correctly state, our four loses are to elite teams and we took all four games down to the wire. You have to believe we have a shot in every game we play, which makes us still very alive in the playoff race.

[papasmurfbell]

If the season is lost then get the kicker evaluated for the rest of the yr. If he is allowed to work through this then you may very well have a real find. I just went through the stats for many of the better kickers in the league. None of them have kicked better than 82% in their first yr. Many of them took 3-5 yrs before they raised their avg above 85%.

 

To me this looks of spoiled fans expecting 98% kicking when most kickers never do that. Had Matt not been able to cherry pick his kicks then his avg would have been far lower.

[borntodiebalmerfan]

After the game Monday I started thinking about how manning was going to chew us up next week. Then I saw the comment that someone thinks the season is over with a 5-4 record. If you live in Detroit or Clevland yea the seasons over but the Ravens have an offense for the first time since I dont know how long so anything can happen. If the Ravens beat Indy then that will be one game I expected to lose at the start of the season and we could end up right where we should be when we face that team with the crap colored hankees.

[papasmurfbell]

OK will you bet your house on that game like the caller said he would for the Cincy game a couple of weeks ago?

 

OK This is how I see it.

 

Nov 22 IND @ BAL Big L. Their offense will bend the D over. Also Freeny and Mathis are gonna drop Joe a lot.

 

Nov 29 PIT @ BAL L Our only hope is Troy P is still hurt and we can go score for score.

 

Dec 07 BAL @ GB Maybe L. If Rogers is in he will blister the DB's. He has a horrible line so they might get him killed by then.

 

Dec 13 DET @ BAL Big W. They are bad but so was Cleveland.

 

Dec 20 CHI @ BAL W I am not impressed by the Bears. They have trouble on both sides of the ball but if Cutler gets going it will be a long game

 

Dec 27 BAL @ PIT L Same Problems as before.

 

Jan 03 BAL @ OAK W They better be able to punish this team. They suck.

 

So this will leave us at 8-8. I just don't see that doing the trick.

[thundercleetz]

OK will you bet your house on that game like the caller said he would for the Cincy game a couple of weeks ago?

 

OK This is how I see it.

 

Nov 22 IND @ BAL Big L. Their offense will bend the D over. Also Freeny and Mathis are gonna drop Joe a lot.

 

Nov 29 PIT @ BAL L Our only hope is Troy P is still hurt and we can go score for score.

 

Dec 07 BAL @ GB Maybe L. If Rogers is in he will blister the DB's. He has a horrible line so they might get him killed by then.

 

Dec 13 DET @ BAL Big W. They are bad but so was Cleveland.

 

Dec 20 CHI @ BAL W I am not impressed by the Bears. They have trouble on both sides of the ball but if Cutler gets going it will be a long game

 

Dec 27 BAL @ PIT L Same Problems as before.

 

Jan 03 BAL @ OAK W They better be able to punish this team. They suck.

 

So this will leave us at 8-8. I just don't see that doing the trick.

 

Pittsburgh looked just as bad as us against Cincy in both games. Pittsburgh has looked the same as us in games against all of our common opponents. I am thinking we should split with them. I think we should beat Green Bay, and lose to Indy. Leaving us at 10-6. However, I see your view as well. The point is that this season is not lost and we have a solid chance at the playoffs. No I would not put money on us getting to the playoffs, I am just saying this season is far from over and we needed to get better at kicker. Did we get better at kicker? No one knows yet, but Ozzie and co. know what they are doing a lot more than any of us.

 

What does concern me however is that we gave Cundiff and Nugent a tryout last week and came to the conclusion that Hauschka was still the better kicker. Aaron Wilson said the Ravens believed that Hauschka's problems are mental. Sometimes kickers can work through mental problems sometimes they cannot, just like QBs. That is what it comes down to. If Hauschka is able to overcome his mental problems, we could regret this move. But we cannot wait for Hauschka, we need someone who can handle pressure. Hopefully Cundiff is better than Hauschka at doing so.

[borntodiebalmerfan]

Two things about betting on sports, I don't bet on something that is decided by a ball because no one can determine which way it is going to bounce. The other point about gambling on sports is that it is like politics it makes strange bed fellows like someone that says they are a Ravens fan and yet they will put Ben Ruffage Spewer on their fantasy football team and to me that just seems wrong. Yea, the Ravens may not make it to the playoffs this year so the next best thing is that they go down with a fight and take some teams down with them like the steelers for example. Yes the defense is the worst it has been since Ray got here however, a wounded animal can be very dangerous when encountered and to me, that is where the Ravens are right now.

[OutsideRzAcE]

Pittsburgh looked just as bad as us against Cincy in both games. Pittsburgh has looked the same as us in games against all of our common opponents. I am thinking we should split with them. I think we should beat Green Bay, and lose to Indy. Leaving us at 10-6. However, I see your view as well. The point is that this season is not lost and we have a solid chance at the playoffs. No I would not put money on us getting to the playoffs, I am just saying this season is far from over and we needed to get better at kicker. Did we get better at kicker? No one knows yet, but Ozzie and co. know what they are doing a lot more than any of us.

 

What does concern me however is that we gave Cundiff and Nugent a tryout last week and came to the conclusion that Hauschka was still the better kicker. Aaron Wilson said the Ravens believed that Hauschka's problems are mental. Sometimes kickers can work through mental problems sometimes they cannot, just like QBs. That is what it comes down to. If Hauschka is able to overcome his mental problems, we could regret this move. But we cannot wait for Hauschka, we need someone who can handle pressure. Hopefully Cundiff is better than Hauschka at doing so.

 

 

The Steelers played the Bengals better than we did. They have the ability to stop Cinci's offense (didn't give up an offensive TD) and they lost solely because they gave up the kick off return. I think we get swept by the Steelers - Roethlisberger will throw all over our secondary. The only way we can beat them is if Webb gives us a return for a TD and great field position on other run backs. Special Teams is their biggest weakness right now.

 

As for Haushucka, I believe the Ravens will keep an eye on him and possibly bring him back next year if Cundiff doesn't perform well. I just think they realized their playoff hopes hinged on winning 2 out of the next 3 games and they didn't want to go into those games with a kicker who's batting .500 and 0-2 in big kicks. Granted, Haushucka may not be available next year but that's a chance you take.

[cravnravn]

Two things about betting on sports, I don't bet on something that is decided by a ball because no one can determine which way it is going to bounce.

 

So you'd rather play the stock market where the outcome of your investment depends on one word mentioned from the Federal Reserve Chairman??