Pats Preseason: Special Teams Edition

Saints Rest

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Aside from the specialists, the Pats at this point have a large number of guys who are primarily ST guys despite their so-called positions: Stalwarts Slater, Bethel, and Cody Davis all back from last year, plus Bolden and King from years past.
In addition, the following guys all played at least 40% of the ST snaps (ranked by percentage played):
  1. Wino
  2. Dugger
  3. Williams
  4. Johnson
  5. J Jones
  6. Gunner
So adding those 6 to the five listed above and you have a lot (probably an excess) of ST guys. And we are hearing about a number of rookies showing up on ST in camp (e.g. Phil Perry notes Rashod Berry seems to have a featured role on ST).
 

Jungleland

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Been a while since I’ve been as irrationally excited about a guy in training camp as I am about Wilkerson. Hope he looks as good in the preseason games as the past week of reports would imply.
 

Norm Siebern

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Surprised no one has chimed in after last night's game. Nordin looked impressive, all three FGs dead center split the uprights, the 50 yarder looked like it could have been good from another ten yards out. The missed PAT was obviously a negative, but his three made FGs were a beautiful thing.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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Nordin (Nor-DEEN) was deliberately measuring out his steps before field goals on Thursday (the goal is to hit the same mark every time), which he said is something he had never done prior to arriving in New England. "Every time we were in a meeting, I was in there with a tape measure, taking my steps, taking the tape measure, putting it down," he said. "I did that for hours and hours."
The fact that Nordin never measured out his steps is mindblowing. Maybe @IdiotKicker can weigh in, but isn't that in kicking 101?
 

BusRaker

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Bonus: The Pats sound man can blast The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) every time he lines up
 

nattysez

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Welp. Get well soon, Nick.

I wonder if they cut Nordin this week and try out another kicker or 2 in case Folk's injury is going to linger into the season.
 
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They don't need to cut Nordin (EDIT: for good, I mean). This will make him easier to get to the PS and they can continue to work with him while they get one more year of Folk.
 

Saints Rest

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If love to get idiotkicker’s expett opinion, but it seemed to me that he was pushing everything right. Even his first PAT was heading that way. Perhaps he’s nursing a bit of an injury (can kickers get dead legs like ST pitchers?) or maybe it’s a basic fundamental thing. Reminded me of a golfer blocking his drives out to the right.
 

BaseballJones

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They don't need to cut Nordin (EDIT: for good, I mean). This will make him easier to get to the PS and they can continue to work with him while they get one more year of Folk.
Agreed. If they have pretty reasonable assurance that Folk will be ready for week 1, just keep Nordin and let him work stuff out and then put him on the PS.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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If love to get idiotkicker’s expett opinion, but it seemed to me that he was pushing everything right. Even his first PAT was heading that way. Perhaps he’s nursing a bit of an injury (can kickers get dead legs like ST pitchers?) or maybe it’s a basic fundamental thing. Reminded me of a golfer blocking his drives out to the right.
I had a similar thought. I know as much about kicking mechanics as I do about pitching mechanics, but it seemed like he wasn't getting through the ball. And if he is nursing a minor injury, I can certainly get him trying to play through it, given the opportunity that he has been presented with.
 

axx

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Welp. Get well soon, Nick.

I wonder if they cut Nordin this week and try out another kicker or 2 in case Folk's injury is going to linger into the season.
They do only have one more preseason game too. Ideally Folk would get some reps against the Giants if he's going to be the OD kicker.
 

Soxy

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I watched Lazar’s wrap up after the game on YouTube and he mentioned that there’s chatter Folk is out because of a bad back, which was giving him issues at times last year as well. Not sure how much concern there is but not a great sign for a 37 year old likely on his last legs to begin with.
 

Ferm Sheller

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I wonder which kickers are on the bubble around the league. Maybe they can pluck someone from the group who get cut.
 

Over Guapo Grande

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Or maybe it was just a bad game, and let us not write the guy off yet? I am not saying that SoSH/.BBTL ever overreacts to anything, I just don't want to see it start happening.
 

SMU_Sox

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Or maybe it was just a bad game, and let us not write the guy off yet? I am not saying that SoSH/.BBTL ever overreacts to anything, I just don't want to see it start happening.
Maybe but he had consistency issues in college and in an interview commented that he hadn’t practiced having the same motion before the kick before. I’m having trouble describing it well but basically kickers tend to have a set pattern before they kick the ball and Nordin didn’t learn that until summer with the Pats. That’s important and could help explain why he looks out of whack at times. It’s also something I am not sure they can correct before the season starts. Nordin to me is an ideal PS guy. Give him a year to get his mechanics right and he has the leg to do what you need. Unfortunately with Folk hurt that means they probably need to find a kicker for the season.
 

SMU_Sox

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Separate post but their kickoff coverage last night was exceptional. Truly exceptional. Even JJW made a big play which is important because he is, IMO, on the roster bubble. Bethel also had a great rep against Reagor even though he has traditionally been thought of as a ST only guy.
 

GB5

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What happened to Aguayo? Didn’t they sign him at the end of last year? Did he flame out quickly here?
 

Granite Sox

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I watched every game Nordin kicked in at Michigan. This is who he is… dazzling talent, but never able to consistently execute. When he missed, more often than not he pushed things to the right just as he did last night.

With the expanded practice squad availability, it’s worth Rohrwassing him for a year with some specialized coaching to see if he can lock in.

I wouldn’t trust him Week 1.
 

Jimbodandy

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Separate post but their kickoff coverage last night was exceptional. Truly exceptional. Even JJW made a big play which is important because he is, IMO, on the roster bubble. Bethel also had a great rep against Reagor even though he has traditionally been thought of as a ST only guy.
Holy crap. Hadn't really imagined JJW as a possible cut.
 

IdiotKicker

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If love to get idiotkicker’s expett opinion, but it seemed to me that he was pushing everything right. Even his first PAT was heading that way. Perhaps he’s nursing a bit of an injury (can kickers get dead legs like ST pitchers?) or maybe it’s a basic fundamental thing. Reminded me of a golfer blocking his drives out to the right.
I didn’t get a chance to watch live. Watching today, it’s basically the same thing as a pitcher dragging his arm through the zone and saving everything go high and arm side. Hips were way ahead of his leg and he never had a chance. Which was his exact problem in the limited tape from college. Last week looked like a different kicker, this one looked like the same one. Lot on the line for the kid next week, will be interesting to see if he bounces back or struggles further.