• NFL
    •  October 25, 2016

    After Seahawks-Cardinals bizarre Sunday Night-mare, how much are kickers really worth?

    October 25, 2016
    Michelle Guelff
    Subscriber
    Michelle Guelff
    Subscriber

    The Sunday Night Football match-up with Seahawks and Cardinals had fans cringing as both teams failed to score a touchdown ending in a 6-6 tie, lowest-scoring tie in NFL history. But to add salt to the wound, during overtime, neither team’s kicker was capable of making a twenty-something field goal…something they practice literally every day since high school.

    Honestly, these guys get paid an enormous amount of money to kick a ball a few times in one game a week. There is no reason to miss a simple 24-yard field goal, especially when it is a game winning kick. And while some people might make excuses, Cardinals coach, Bruce Arians does the exact opposite.

    Make it. He’s a professional. This ain’t high school. You get paid to make it.

    Bruce Arians on Chandler Catanzaro’s overtime miss

    To say the least, Arians is not happy, and for good reason. Not only does his kicker choke under pressure, but the officials did a good job of making the game even more of a joke. Cardinal fans argue that several calls were missed during the game, most important one being when Seahawks lineman, Bobby Wagner, leaped over the center to block what would have been a game winning field goal.

     

    Seahawks coach, Pete Carroll seemed to have less harsh feelings towards his kicker’s 28 yard missed field goal.

    [Hauschka] made his kicks to give us a chance and unfortunately he didn’t make the last one. He’s been making kicks for years around here…but he’s gonna hit a lot of winners as we go down the road here. I love him and he’s our guy!

    Pete Carroll on Steven Hauschka’s missed field goal

    He doesn’t even seem mad!

    Now to be fair, all the points in this game were scored by the kickers, so they are an important part. However, all this highlights to me is strong defense, disappointing offense, and atrocious special teams. Since both kickers were able to make field goals from farther away, maybe it was a simple psych-out from the last ones being too close and potentially too easy.

    Unfortunately, they are being paid to make those kicks, so they should be over those nerves by now. I’ll have to side with Bruce Arians on this one, no excuses.

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