Having been a Ticat follower for several years and having viewed the multitude of criticisms (especially in this forum) about the Ticat kicking game, a few days back I relayed some information from a chap about a punter for the New England Patriots whose no-cost offer to work out for the Ticats had been turned down by the Ticat front office - ["Hamilton, We've Got a Problem"]- it is just another illustration of why the team has had kicking problems - and I ventured to say that it was less the players' fault than the fault of the front office, so the fans shouldn't be so hard on the players - and also suggested that it was time to take a serious look at import kickers and punters
Either the front office blokes read this forum or their attitude is rubbing off on Ticat fans - in true Ticat front office fashion, the posted responses did their best to "shoot the messenger" (including dismissal of the information about NE punter as being made up) and ignore the subject being discussed
But, truth is (regardless of how many times the Ticats shoot the messenger or try to ignore it)
Stamp kicker DeAngelis about two days later said the same thing in print (his workout offer also turned down by Ticats)
Ticats finally (after two years) put import kicker on the field in a game and revelation - instead of not going for 40 yard field goal like the week before, suddenly got a 44 yard game winner and a HUGE WIN!
Now fix the other half of the kicking game - the Ticat punter is once again near bottom of league in net result (7th out of 8 teams, instead of 8th out of 9 like last year), and giving up this average difference every game can be a killer in close games (it has already been a big negative factor in two of the team's three loses)- if Ticats admit this and bring in good import punter, they will suddenly have an advantage (or at least be equal) in punting game and stand better chance of winning each week
Called my friend, he read post and said all info on New England punter was legit and accurate - he also said he did not know how to spell kicker's name, but it was something like cop or copft or kopft - surely the Ticat front office knows about him - and if they don't (well, that failure speaks for itself)
It is said that he who does not learn from the past puts the future in danger - Ticats are halfway there - they need to move forward with rebuilding of kicking game by replacing punter - and quit trying to shoot the messenger or worry about who's bringing up these numbers (the math speaks for itself and shows an obvious problem) - fix it and move on to win more games! Good luck!