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3 Vet kickers brought in for try-outs

Spike said:
We signed Jesus!
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Too bad Diesel's not around, could've had a hunting buddy...

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I wish someone with some time on his / her hands would dive into an analysis of field goals made vs. missed at Heinz Field. My gut tells me that Heinz is no longer a "house of horrors" for kickers. They've improved the turf considerably over the years and this year the open end of the stadium won't even be completely open any more.

It was obviously a tough place to kick back in the early 2000s, but I think people are still clinging to old memories (like Kris Brown being unable to handle kicking at Heinz and of course the crazy "a punt stuck in the mud" game on MNF) when they act as if Heinz is a tougher place to kick than Cleveland, Buffalo, New England etc.

Let's face it: we pulled both Jeff Reed and Suisham off the scrap heap and they handled Heinz just fine. Are we insanely lucky? Or are fans just hanging onto a old, dead narrative?
 
SteelerAl said:
I wish someone with some time on his / her hands would dive into an analysis of field goals...
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Check chapters 33 & 34 here > http://subscribers.footballguys.com/2009/kickology2009.pdf

The field has no doubt improved, that was a big issue over the years when all the sand and dirt came up in the cold months.

As far as wind, the Burgh isn't even in the top 10, though I imagine the gusts at Heinz make life miserable for any kicker.


NFL TEAMS WITH OPEN-AIR STADIUMS RANKED BY AVERAGE WIND SPEEDS (windiest to least windy)

Buffalo/Orchard Park, New York 16.1
New England/Foxborough, Massachusetts 14.5
New York Giants/East Rutherford, New Jersey 10.1
New York Jets/East Rutherford, New Jersey 10.1
Kansas City, Missouri 10.6
San Francisco/Santa Clara, California 10.6
Cleveland, Ohio 10.5
Minneapolis, Minnesota 10.5
Chicago, Illinois 10.3
Green Bay, Wisconsin 10.0
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 9.5
Washington/Landover, Maryland 9.4
Miami Gardens, Florida 9.2
Cincinnati, Ohio 9.0
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 9.0
Oakland, California 8.8
Seattle, Washington 8.8
Baltimore, Maryland 8.7
Denver, Colorado 8.7
Tampa, Florida 8.3
Nashville, Tennessee 8.0
Jacksonville, Florida 7.8
Charlotte, North Carolina 7.4
San Diego, California 7.0

And this guy ran the numbers, again, looks like Pittsburgh isn't as bad as its reputation for kickers.

Which NFL stadiums are the best and worst to kick in?
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/which-nfl-stadiums-are-the-best-and-worst-to-kick-in/

For this analysis, I looked at each kick over the last three seasons, comparing the number of field goals made for a stadium to what its expected number would be if there was no effect. To do this I looked at kickers’ performances and compared their accuracy at a given stadium to their career average over the same three year period.

For example: in one game, Matt Bryant of the Atlanta Falcons made 4/6 kicks at home. His average over three seasons was 86.8%, so we would expect him to make 5.2 field goals, creating a difference of -1.206 for this kicker and this particular stadium for this particular game. This difference was summed for all the games of all the kickers in a stadium and then controlled for the total number of field goals attempted.

The worst field’s in the league were:

1.Oakland Raiders
2.Green Bay Packers
3.Houston Texans
4.Arizona Cardinals
5.Chicago Bears
6.Washington Redskins
7.Baltimore Ravens
8.Tampa Bay Buccaneers
 
SteelerAl said:
we pulled both Jeff Reed and Suisham off the scrap heap and they handled Heinz just fine. Are we insanely lucky? Or are fans just hanging onto a old, dead narrative?
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We had no choice but to sign someone - there's a game in a couple days

and lots of teams are carrying two kickers on their rosters - there will be plenty of cuts to choose from if this guy doesn't work out
 
Spike said:
We had no choice but to sign someone - there's a game in a couple days

and lots of teams are carrying two kickers on their rosters - there will be plenty of cuts to choose from if this guy doesn't work out
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I wasn't complaining. Actually I was but it was about fans / media calling Heinz the worst venue for kickers because it's just not true anymore. My point was that our last two kickers came from the scrap heap and they did just fine.
 
Superman said:
because teams are clamoring to sign Alex Henery?
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Teams did want any of the guys that were out there. My point is pick two, and let them battle it out for 2 weeks. Why not? Picking after one try out....a little risky. Cutting the 80th man in camp is not too hard ya know.

-Coach
 
mdk2 said:
So we have a 77% chance of making the extra point after a TD now.
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He's missed one extra point out 179 in his career. Don't know how it will translate with the new rule. There's less pressure on an extra point though.
 
They cut QB/receiver Gardner to create a spot for Hartley.

And to think he was killing it in that hit-the-trash-can-on-the-sideline-competition NFL Nerwork showed last week
 
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Coach said:
Well.....Hartley is a dome kicker.
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As SteelerAl mentioned earlier, Hartley is better on grass than turf. How much better?

Career 88.6% rate on FGs on grass, just 78.3% on turf.

And this...

The only kicker with a better career FG% on grass (min. 25 attempts) than Garrett Hartley is Baltimore's Justin Tucker (94.1%)
 
Tibs said:
As SteelerAl mentioned earlier, Hartley is better on grass than turf. How much better?

Career 88.6% rate on FGs on grass, just 78.3% on turf.

And this...

The only kicker with a better career FG% on grass (min. 25 attempts) than Garrett Hartley is Baltimore's Justin Tucker (94.1%)
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Probably a garbage stat that doesn't control for anything.

He played for a dome team so he's probably tried most of his FGs indoors. Also, he might have attempted more long FGs indoors because the coach took that into consideration in going for the FG.
 
Coach said:
Well.....Hartley is a dome kicker. His overall accuracy is as a pro is 81.7% on field goals. Below par today.

He's 27 out of 35 from 30-39 yards . Just 77% ) is a little weak. This is not a money kicker. As stated over half of his games were in domes. Welcome to Heinz field and the AFC North stadiums.

I would rather the Steelers cut tone of their 5th string guys and keep two kickers in camp with Alex Henery being the other. Why not let them battle it out for 2 weeks? Anyone disagree with this idea?
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Especially with 33 yard extra points (Which stats say were converted at 95% last year.
 
We had little choice. At least he is younger and after playing for the Brownies he might step it up since he is with an organization that realistically has a chance to make the playoffs.
 
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Hartley edged out kicker Jay Feely for the vacancy during a training-camp Gong Show tryout. Hartley and Feely made all kicks with the exception of one; they both missed from 53 yards out
 
Hartley is good but doesn't have a great leg. I hope they sign a young guy as competition.
 
I would take the average wind speeds and toss them out the window. I understand that is what is available on the web but it means little when it is measured at the airport and not the football field. The big issue with the steelers stadium was the gusty winds that came in the open end and the eddys that were caused by this. Adding more seats likely helped but there are still gusts of wind that will be blasting down the river, off the surrounding hills and into the stadium. It might get better but I doubt it will be gone.
 
Our team was 29th out of 32 teams for touchback percentage last year. The year before we were 31st...it won't take much for us to get better here.
 
CCJamison said:
Plus how many injuries are averted on touchbacks, Suisham's for one
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Correct, but they will probably still put the ball in play during the preseason to give the young guys on special teams a look.
 
This has got to give Air Tomlin a reason to go for 2 on every touchdown now, right?
 
If it helps our kickoff coverage I'm all for it.
 
Jeremy Fowler
@JFowlerESPN

Game-simulated action, Hartley 10-of-13 FGs, with two misses from 57 yards. Range was 35 to 57 #steelers
 
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