Kickers frustrate Sean Payton as much as the refs (AP)
Should the Saints keep Garrett Hartley or John Carney? Or both?
Four years into his tenure with New Orleans, coach Sean Payton cannot afford to make another mistake when he chooses his placekicker. It could mean the difference between qualifying for the playoffs and facing questions about his job security.
With Hartley’s four-game suspension for violating NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances becoming official yesterday, the knee-jerk reaction is to cut him and go back to an old, reliable leg. Heck, Carney’s release after the 2006 season was the start of New Orleans’ kicking woes anyway – he missed just twice all year as the Saints reached the NFC Championship Game for the only time in their history.
But the decision is not that simple.
Carney is 45, so his reliable leg is really, really old. Although he had a brilliant 2008 regular season, connecting on 35 of 38 field goals and earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl since 1994, he missed twice as the New York Giants lost at home to the Philadelphia Eagles in their first playoff game.
Kicking with about a 20 mile-per-hour wind behind him, he was wide right on a 46-yard attempt and wide left on a 47-yarder. The second one would have given the Giants a 14-13 lead in the third quarter. Instead, the Eagles raced down the field for the clinching touchdown and won 23-11.
Two years earlier, New Orleans was in a similar position in its NFC Championship Game trip to Chicago, but Payton did not trust Carney’s leg enough to give him a chance. With the Saints trailing 16-14 in the third quarter, Payton kept Carney on the sideline and sent in Billy Cundiff, who had attempted one field goal (and missed it) all year, for a 47-yard attempt in the January cold.
The ball came up short, and so did the Saints, who never scored again in a 39-14 loss.
Looking for longer kickoffs, the Saints released Carney and signed 2006 NFL touchbacks leader Olindo Mare in 2007. Mare was a miserable 10-for-17 on field goals before pulling his hamstring. Next up were Martin Gramatica (5-of-5 at the end of 2007 but only 6-for-10 with game-altering mistakes vs. Denver and Minnesota before being sidelined with a groin injury last year), Taylor Mehlhaff (3-for-4 before being cut) and Hartley, who was perfect on 13 tries in the last eight games of 2008 but has been shaky this preseason.
Carney supporters can point to Morten Andersen as proof that age means nothing. Andersen was 46 when he made 20 of 23 field goals for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006 and 47 a year later when he hit 25 of 28.
Detractors (aside from those who remember Carney missing the most famous extra point in franchise history: see YouTube video below) can point out a lost roster spot. The Saints would need to keep a kickoff specialist – Hartley or someone else – because Carney’s leg is not strong enough to handle that duty effectively.
If Payton believes Hartley can be the long-term answer for the Saints, he would be stupid to cut him. The guy drilled a 54-yard field goal in the first preseason game, a distance Carney has not achieved since 2000.
Then again, if Carney is perfect in the first four regular-season games, it might be suicidal to cut him. Hartley not only missed two chip shots in the first two games, but some of his makes barely snuck through the uprights.
The Giants kept Carney and Lawrence Tynes on their roster when Tynes – their long-term answer – returned from an injured left knee last year. If Payton is even a little uncertain about the kicking situation, he needs to do the same thing when Hartley comes off suspension in week 5.
Nothing saps the confidence of a team more than an unreliable kicker.
Payton found out the hard way in the last two playoff-less years.
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