Kicking Discussion

[Arnold_Palmer]

4 hours ago, Booch said:

his punt Houdini move too was huge...before he panicked...this time....just was cool and collected....big progression there too

Not only that.. it was 49 yards, angled perfectly with very little return. It was a thing of beauty. 

[BomberfanMKS]

3 hours ago, Arnold_Palmer said:

Not only that.. it was 49 yards, angled perfectly with very little return. It was a thing of beauty. 

in that context I would have been happy with a crappy 30 yard punt to the middle.of the field.... to get a punt I'd be happy with on any normal.play was outstanding 

[BigBlueFanatic]

1 hour ago, BomberfanMKS said:

in that context I would have been happy with a crappy 30 yard punt to the middle.of the field.... to get a punt I'd be happy with on any normal.play was outstanding 

Things were stacking up against the Bombers early and, to the casual eyetest looked about to snowball out of control.  Legghio dodging the block and still flipping the field was the turning point of the game, imho.

[CodyT]

What was impressive for me was that he was trotted out for a 55 yarder, which is something we haven't seen much of from him. It was an important kick in stabilizing his position with Bomber fans, and thus will provide some patience with fans going forward 

[TrueBlue4ever]

1 hour ago, CodyT said:

What was impressive for me was that he was trotted out for a 55 yarder, which is something we haven't seen much of from him. It was an important kick in stabilizing his position with Bomber fans, and thus will provide some patience with fans going forward 

I’m sure he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about stabilizing his position with the fans, nor should he. The patience of the fans is only as good as his next kick. Another big miss and the fair weather fans will be all over him, and another big make and they will kiss his ass and call it ice cream. For him and the team, the only importance was that it won them the game. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by TrueBlue4ever

[bearpants]

16 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I’m sure he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about stabilizing his position with the fans, nor should he. The patience of the fans is only as good as his next kick. Another big miss and the fair weather fans will be all over him, and another big make and they will kiss his ass and call it ice cream. For him and the team, the only importance was that it won them the game. 

I think @CodyT's comment was more about how the fans feel about him... not how he feels about his "position" with the fans

[Brandon]

21 minutes ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

I’m sure he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about stabilizing his position with the fans, nor should he. The patience of the fans is only as good as his next kick. Another big miss and the fair weather fans will be all over him, and another big make and they will kiss his ass and call it ice cream. For him and the team, the only importance was that it won them the game. 

It's not only the fairweather fans,  that's why I made light of the situation on here because a lot of fans wanted him gone after losing the Montreal game and now are praising the guy.         

[blue_gold_84]

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/sports-editors-picks/2022/09/07/liegghios-heroics-no-surpirse-to-blue-and-gold-teammates

Quote

After two backbreaking misses to cost the Blue Bombers their Week 10 matchup against the Montreal Alouettes, Marc Liegghio stood in front of reporters and assured it would be a different story the next time he had a chance to win a game.

A lot of people may have lost faith in the second-year Canadian kicker on that night, but it turns out he was right. And his holder, Dakota Prukop, and long snapper, Mike Benson, want to remind everyone of that.

After all, Liegghio, who drilled a career-long 55-yard field goal in front of 33,000 fans in enemy territory at Sunday’s Labour Day Classic to give the Bombers a 20-18 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, isn’t exactly the type of person to stick out his chest and say ‘I told you so.’

“I’m not trying to preach here, but maybe that’s a little lesson for people that want to hop off bandwagons too quick and talk about things they don’t really know,” said Prukop, who’s also the team’s third-string quarterback.

“Being a kicker is an extremely hard, high-pressure job. Great kickers miss all the time. It’s just a part of the deal. But the fans really got a taste of resliency. He’s someone who knows his teammates have his back and when you’re in that environment, all you want to do is make the next one because you know they have your back and you want to pay that back.”

Prukop urges those who called for the Bombers to find a new kicker after the Montreal game to change their tune. He didn’t like that there were fans out there who wanted to give up on the 25-year-old after one tough game.

“They need to take a lesson learned there because that’s not how we treat each other on our team and we don’t expect our fans to treat our teammates like that either,” Prukop said.

“… The way we talked about those missed kicks is that we never should’ve even been in that situation. Yeah, everyone wants to tie it down to the last play or whatever, but let’s go back and look at what happened in the third quarter or the fourth quarter that put us in that situation.”

Although the long make in Regina may have caught some people by surprise, Liegghio’s field-goal unit fully expected the ball to sail through the uprights. They saw how Liegghio carried himself after his botched kicks against the Als and knew he was capable of moving on.

Benson, a Winnipegger in his ninth CFL season, has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to kickers in this league.

“It’s not the first time for me where a kicker has missed a field goal and everyone is overly critical on it. I think the big thing for him is his ability to go to the work-week upcoming and be able to improve on his mistakes and not dwell on them. He has an ability to allow himself to grow as a kicker and as an athlete in this league and not sit on things especially when people around him are being critical,” said Benson.

“He handles it like a 10-year vet and that’s something that’s pretty admirable about Marc and his work ethic. He doesn’t let all that outside noise bother him, even if he is young. Honestly, it feels like he’s been around for eight years. He just gets back to work and doesn’t let the outside noise affect him.”

Liegghio is three-for-three on field goals and has converted all six of his extra-point attempts since the Montreal debacle. He’s now 22-for-26 on the year for an 84.6 conversion per centage. Calgary’s Rene Paredes leads the league at 89.5 per cent.

“He just learns from his mistakes and that’s what he’s been doing,” Benson said.

“That’s what he’s been showing and that’s why he’s been one of the best this year.”

But the game-winner wasn’t the only crucial play Liegghio made on Sunday. With the Bombers trailing 17-7 in the second quarter, it looked like Riders linebacker A.J. Allen was about to block a punt before Liegghio juked out of the way and calmly booted the ball 49 yards down the field.

“I wasn’t surprised. He’s a really good athlete,” said Prukop.

“He’s always working out and to do an athletic thing like that really saved our butts on special teams.”

[TrueBlue4ever]

Prukop telling fans to FIFO. 

[camper_2]

46 minutes ago, Brandon said:

It's not only the fairweather fans,  that's why I made light of the situation on here because a lot of fans wanted him gone after losing the Montreal game and now are praising the guy.         

Brandon, there are some on the Bombers forums who really need to lighten up. You call them "fairweather fans", I go as far as calling some "over the top fans".

I come on these forums, read what has been posted and no longer add my thoughts, its not worth it. This past spring prior to training camp, I got into a debate about our kicking game with a couple posters on our forums.

This one individual wants, perfection.. My understanding in that discussion was, Leggs should never miss...Give me a break, what or which kicker hasn't failed, I said to myself and never replied back... There is no reasoning with an individual like that... best to leave it alone.

Look at the other forum right now, 14 damn pages of "Rate your confidence in Leggs"...  Enough said..... and I agree with you, everything is great this week, what happens on the next miss or fail.....

[Bubba Zanetti]

1 hour ago, camper_2 said:

Brandon, there are some on the Bombers forums who really need to lighten up. You call them "fairweather fans", I go as far as calling some "over the top fans".

I come on these forums, read what has been posted and no longer add my thoughts, its not worth it. This past spring prior to training camp, I got into a debate about our kicking game with a couple posters on our forums.

This one individual wants, perfection.. My understanding in that discussion was, Leggs should never miss...Give me a break, what or which kicker hasn't failed, I said to myself and never replied back... There is no reasoning with an individual like that... best to leave it alone.

Look at the other forum right now, 14 damn pages of "Rate your confidence in Leggs"...  Enough said..... and I agree with you, everything is great this week, what happens on the next miss or fail.....

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, camper_2 said:

Brandon, there are some on the Bombers forums who really need to lighten up. You call them "fairweather fans", I go as far as calling some "over the top fans".

I come on these forums, read what has been posted and no longer add my thoughts, its not worth it. This past spring prior to training camp, I got into a debate about our kicking game with a couple posters on our forums.

This one individual wants, perfection.. My understanding in that discussion was, Leggs should never miss...Give me a break, what or which kicker hasn't failed, I said to myself and never replied back... There is no reasoning with an individual like that... best to leave it alone.

Look at the other forum right now, 14 damn pages of "Rate your confidence in Leggs"...  Enough said..... and I agree with you, everything is great this week, what happens on the next miss or fail.....

Well said and please come back! This site needs more variety in folks posting their own thoughts and opinions!     

 

[GCn20]

6 hours ago, CodyT said:

What was impressive for me was that he was trotted out for a 55 yarder, which is something we haven't seen much of from him. It was an important kick in stabilizing his position with Bomber fans, and thus will provide some patience with fans going forward 

To me the most important thing about that 55 yard game winner was that he was able to overcome the yips he had in Montreal. Very important that a kicker can shake off a bad night. Last year he got mired in his early struggles and couldn't get out of his own head after. This year he is showing the mental fortitude necessary for being a pro kicker.

[CodyT]

1 hour ago, GCn20 said:

To me the most important thing about that 55 yard game winner was that he was able to overcome the yips he had in Montreal. Very important that a kicker can shake off a bad night. Last year he got mired in his early struggles and couldn't get out of his own head after. This year he is showing the mental fortitude necessary for being a pro kicker.

Well this is what I meant exactly. The fans will be at ease seeing him making a kick like that. Of course he doesn't give a **** what we think. But it does calm a lot of anxiety for fans, myself included going into the playoffs.

 

I also think it's inaccurate that a large chunk of people wanted to cut or release him. 

[Noeller]

there were a lot of people - all crazy, reactionary types - that thought Winnipeg needed a new kicker after that Montreal game. Ludicrous, all of it. 

[JCon]

2 minutes ago, Noeller said:

there were a lot of people - all crazy, reactionary types - that thought Winnipeg needed a new kicker after that Montreal game. Ludicrous, all of it. 

But, did anyone (ANYONE?) say to cut Leggs? I don't remember that and I'm not digging back through. 

It just seemed that people wanted another, experienced, kicker to come in and take over FGs and extra points, which is what we did last year. 

The thought that there was some sort of consensus on this is confusing too. 

 

[Noeller]

1 minute ago, JCon said:

But, did anyone (ANYONE?) say to cut Leggs? I don't remember that and I'm not digging back through. 

It just seemed that people wanted another, experienced, kicker to come in and take over FGs and extra points, which is what we did last year. 

The thought that there was some sort of consensus on this is confusing too. 

 

I'm also including Twitter reactions.... not just MBB. 

[Fatty Liver]

45 minutes ago, Noeller said:

I'm also including Twitter reactions.... not just MBB. 

The idiots wanting to "cut the kicker" don't realize he's been great punting and on kickoffs even when he's struggled with FG's and extra points.  So even if they found it necessary to bring in another FG kicker to help out, they'd never cut Leggs.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Fatty Liver

[17to85]

3 hours ago, JCon said:

But, did anyone (ANYONE?) say to cut Leggs? I don't remember that and I'm not digging back through. 

It just seemed that people wanted another, experienced, kicker to come in and take over FGs and extra points, which is what we did last year. 

The thought that there was some sort of consensus on this is confusing too. 

 

The very first post basically. 

[camper_2]

7 hours ago, Bubba Zanetti said:

Yep, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig should've been a kicker for our football team.... wonder if our fan base or forums would have rated our confidence in his kicking abilities or provide commentary as in Legg's case...

[JCon]

14 hours ago, camper_2 said:

Yep, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig should've been a kicker for our football team.... wonder if our fan base or forums would have rated our confidence in his kicking abilities or provide commentary as in Legg's case...

No way the commish allows anyone to sign Mr Perfect. A QB who can throw the deep ball to himself? No way! A kicker that never misses? Nope! Too much imbalance. 

It would be a live action Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. 

[blue_gold_84]

26 minutes ago, JCon said:

No way the commish allows anyone to sign Mr Perfect. A QB who can throw the deep ball to himself? No way! A kicker that never misses? Nope! Too much imbalance. 

It would be a live action Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl. 

[bearpants]

paging @Mr. Perfect for comment...

[Bubba Zanetti]

20 hours ago, camper_2 said:

Yep, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig should've been a kicker for our football team.... wonder if our fan base or forums would have rated our confidence in his kicking abilities or provide commentary as in Legg's case...

I dont know about kicking, but man could he throw and catch!

[Mr. Perfect]

4 hours ago, bearpants said:

paging @Mr. Perfect for comment...

IT'S GOOD!