12-4 or 9-7? The Blair Walsh Project effect

[Anointed One]

Hauschka was overly expensive and it wasn’t like he didn’t miss 2 chip shot game on the line kicks last year. It’s easy to say that Seattle shoulda re-signed him because he had such a good season, but at the time there was just as much chance he goes the way of Vanderjagt as have the season he had.

I see why the FO didn't resign him... At the time, most of Hawk fans understood... It's very easy to second guess the FO now that we've seen the final results...

Hauschka signed a 4 year, 12.4 million dollar contract... That was a lot of money for a kicker that was missing XP's like they were going out of style his last two seasons w/ the Hawks... He was coming off his worst season as he missed a season NFL high, 6 XP's that year... I remember Hawk fans complaining about Hauschka for that reason and not blaming the FO for letting him walk...

 

[PolarVortex]

I'm not convinced you have to spend big money to get a reliable kicker, and Walsh was right around the league's median for kickers, so plenty of other teams out there spent a lot less than the Hawks. Plus, if there was anyone here who wanted Hausch back after last season, I don't remember who they were.

But we are clearly looking for a replacement for Walsh. No clue who is going to be available though...

Walsh was the wrong choice. If that was the best they could do then they should have found a way to make Hauschka work. Attempting to excuse the HC and GM from this inexcusable mistake is ludicrous. They fucked up, plain and simple. Stop trying to paint it with pretty colors.

 

[Anointed One]

I'm not convinced you have to spend big money to get a reliable kicker, and Walsh was right around the league's median for kickers, so plenty of other teams out there spent a lot less than the Hawks. Plus, if there was anyone here who wanted Hausch back after last season, I don't remember who they were.

But we are clearly looking for a replacement for Walsh. No clue who is going to be available though...

Here is a list of FA kickers next season...

 

[Anointed One]

You were definitely one of the few then. Hausch missed 6 XPs last year plus the gimme chip shot in OT vs Arizona. If Walsh cost us the playoffs this year, then Hausch cost us HFA last year.

Those few fans also wanted to extend Baldwin, Kam, Bennett, Wagner, too... You can't pay everyone... The FO made an educated decision based off of cap space and it didn't pan out...

 

[PolarVortex]

What's your nickname for Blair Walsh?

You had some great nicknames back on CBS. "Fraud Mode" and "The Plague" for Tarvaris Jackson. I'll be honest, I started calling him 'The Plague' amongst my friends and it caught on. Definitely stole that one from you.

Well, I called him The Blair Walsh Project (after the Blair Witch Project) but that isn't my original. I stole it from somewhere. But I'm kind of fond of Blair Finkle (Ray's twin brother).

 

[MrS]

I see why the FO didn't resign him... At the time, most of Hawk fans understood... It's very easy to second guess the FO now that we've seen the final results...

Hauschka signed a 4 year, 12.4 million dollar contract... That was a lot of money for a kicker that was missing XP's like they were going out of style his last two seasons w/ the Hawks... He was coming off his worst season as he missed a season NFL high, 6 XP's that year... I remember Hawk fans complaining about Hauschka for that reason and not blaming the FO for letting him walk...

seriously? SERIOUSLY? everyone and their dead grandma knew blair walsh was the absolutely WRONG choice. it was an epic blunder that was EASILY avoided. EASILY.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Just ask any Patriots fan how important a good kicker is... I think they've won 3 Super-Bowls from last second kicks ... And don't even get me started on the snow-bowl kick! Adam Vinatieri kicked a season saving kick in a @#$^ing blizzard.... lol

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

They lost three games this year because of missed field goals:
vs Washington. Lost 17-14. Walsh missed three FG attempts
vs Atlanta. Lost 34-31. Walsh missed game tieing FG with two seconds left on the clock.
vs Arizona. Missed game winning FG with 30 seconds left

Some facts about Blair Walsh and Steven Hauschka:
Walsh hit 21-29 FGs this year.
Steven Hauschka, they guy they cut because they didn't want to pay him or thought he was aging (whatever), hit 29-33 for Buffalo.
Walsh made $800,000 this year.
Hauschka made $1,600,000.

So, a team owned by Paul Allen, one of the 50 richest men in the entire world, missed out on three probable wins this year because they wouldn't pay Hauschka the $800,000 difference that Buffalo offered him.

I'll be fair. Hauschka probably wouldn't have pulled out all three of those games. But I think we can all agree that he would have sealed two of those games. That would have made us 11-5.

Ever since they started laying the defense and Wilson the big bucks, the talent balance on this team has gotten steadily worse. Obviously we can't part with Wilson. So the only way to recover from the talent imbalance is to cut some of the high priced defenders. I still believe in Wagner, Thomas, Sherman (maybe, depending on how well he comes back from injury) and Clark. Guys that we should consider letting go: Bennett, Chancellor, Avril and maybe Richardson. Aside from the defense, I'd also cut Graham.

Pete made a mistake, I think we all knew that... I think last year Haush missing some chip shots made them think he was expendable .. That AZ game stood out, the one we ended in a tie, Haush missed an extra point game winner... But I agree with you, Walsh was KNOWN for missing game winners when we brought him here, I think Pete believes people deserve a second chance, he though he could reach him mentally and get him over the hump, the project failed... He's just not a good kicker... There is no reason we can't bring in a good kicker next year, lot's of vets out there, lot's of potential college kickers out there...

 

[JMR]

Walsh was the wrong choice. If that was the best they could do then they should have found a way to make Hauschka work. Attempting to excuse the HC and GM from this inexcusable mistake is ludicrous. They fucked up, plain and simple. Stop trying to paint it with pretty colors.

I don't think I'm excusing anyone or doing any painting. I agree it was a mistake. But it's not like everyone here was clamoring for Hausch to be back either. That's not the way it went down.

 

[Anointed One]

seriously? SERIOUSLY? everyone and their dead grandma knew blair walsh was the absolutely WRONG choice. it was an epic blunder that was EASILY avoided. EASILY.

Did I say anything about BW in the post you responded to? No... Who would've been your easy choice? Just curious...

 

[seattlefan75]

I understand criticizing blair walsh but you also have to give him credit where its needed the 12-9 win over San Fran Walsh was 2-2 from FG the 16-10 win over LA Walsh was 3-3 from FG and the narrow 41-38 win over Houston Walsh was 2-2.

All those games we needed every point we could get this season was a team failure

 

[JMR]

I understand criticizing blair walsh but you also have to give him credit where its needed the 12-9 win over San Fran Walsh was 2-2 from FG the 16-10 win over LA Walsh was 3-3 from FG and the narrow 41-38 win over Houston Walsh was 2-2.

All those games we needed every point we could get this season was a team failure

Yeah, fair point. Another angle: the team simply didn't play well enough in a couple other games (Redskins and Falcons) to avoid having it come down to a FG. The Redskins had like 4 of 5 OL starters out when they played us, and their best WR....just no way that game should have been that close, let alone a loss. Walsh missed some easy kicks and had a couple bad games for sure, but he's not the only reason we lost 7 games and had the worst home record of the RW era.

 

[redseat]

Just ask any Patriots fan how important a good kicker is... I think they've won 3 Super-Bowls from last second kicks ... And don't even get me started on the snow-bowl kick! Adam Vinatieri kicked a season saving kick in a @#$^ing blizzard.... lol

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Raiders fans are still pissed about that one!

 

[seattlefan75]

Yeah, fair point. Another angle: the team simply didn't play well enough in a couple other games (Redskins and Falcons) to avoid having it come down to a FG. The Redskins had like 4 of 5 OL starters out when they played us, and their best WR....just no way that game should have been that close, let alone a loss. Walsh missed some easy kicks and had a couple bad games for sure, but he's not the only reason we lost 7 games and had the worst home record of the RW era.

I couldnt agree more I was going to write an article about this very thing your telling me that the hawks couldnt be a redskins team that had their entire offense line injured and didnt even play and Kirk Cousins still threw a bomb downfield to set them up to score the go ahead TD? The list goes on how the heck do you lose to a cardinals team against a back up QB and HB?? They lost johnson AND peterson so they played on a backs ups back up and lost. There should be no reason these score were close half the losses this season came against teams that didnt make the playoffs (granted Aaron Rodgers was hurt which is why GB didnt make it) I dont want to hear anything about a kicker

 

[JMR]

I couldnt agree more I was going to write an article about this very thing your telling me that the hawks couldnt be a redskins team that had their entire offense line injured and didnt even play and Kirk Cousins still threw a bomb downfield to set them up to score the go ahead TD? The list goes on how the heck do you lose to a cardinals team against a back up QB and HB?? They lost johnson AND peterson so they played on a backs ups back up and lost. There should be no reason these score were close half the losses this season came against teams that didnt make the playoffs (granted Aaron Rodgers was hurt which is why GB didnt make it) I dont want to hear anything about a kicker

Exactly. Walsh is an easy punching bag because he came in with a bit of a shaky resume and then didn't perform well, but he's not the sole reason we lost and certainly has nothing to do with the OL or running game. This team NEEDED a win yesterday to have hope for the playoffs, facing a lesser team at home and fell behind 20-7 before getting it going in the 2nd half. Story of the last couple years really -- painfully slow starts that too often ended up with the team falling short. It's still a very talented team but has some serious issues to address. The kicker is not the most pressing.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Graham Gano, Adam Vinatieri, Matt Bryant, Sebastian Janikowski, Ryan Succop, Kai Forbath,


A few free agent kickers, kickers don't have to be young, hell a good kicker can probably go until they're 50 honestly...

 

[MrS]

Did I say anything about BW in the post you responded to? No... Who would've been your easy choice? Just curious...

are you for fucking real? ANYONE but the guy that missed a 19 yard field goal in a playoff game against ourselves. its not even a choice.

 

[Anointed One]

are you for fucking real? ANYONE but the guy that missed a 19 yard field goal in a playoff game against ourselves. its not even a choice.

... answer the question if it's that easy because you were fine moving on from Hauschka...

 

[richig07]

They lost three games this year because of missed field goals:
vs Washington. Lost 17-14. Walsh missed three FG attempts
vs Atlanta. Lost 34-31. Walsh missed game tieing FG with two seconds left on the clock.
vs Arizona. Missed game winning FG with 30 seconds left

Some facts about Blair Walsh and Steven Hauschka:
Walsh hit 21-29 FGs this year.
Steven Hauschka, they guy they cut because they didn't want to pay him or thought he was aging (whatever), hit 29-33 for Buffalo.
Walsh made $800,000 this year.
Hauschka made $1,600,000.

So, a team owned by Paul Allen, one of the 50 richest men in the entire world, missed out on three probable wins this year because they wouldn't pay Hauschka the $800,000 difference that Buffalo offered him.

I'll be fair. Hauschka probably wouldn't have pulled out all three of those games. But I think we can all agree that he would have sealed two of those games. That would have made us 11-5.

Ever since they started laying the defense and Wilson the big bucks, the talent balance on this team has gotten steadily worse. Obviously we can't part with Wilson. So the only way to recover from the talent imbalance is to cut some of the high priced defenders. I still believe in Wagner, Thomas, Sherman (maybe, depending on how well he comes back from injury) and Clark. Guys that we should consider letting go: Bennett, Chancellor, Avril and maybe Richardson. Aside from the defense, I'd also cut Graham.

Walsh hurt you guys this year, but it's a moot point. The Seahawks season ended with the injuries you suffered. Not because of a kicker. Walsh just sped up the inevitable.

They were not a playoff team over the last month of the season. There was bigger problems than the kicker. Arizona, ATL and WSH at home shouldn't even come down to depending on your place-kicker. When the Seahawks are at full-strength, they handle those games rather easily.

Also, Walsh gets shit for ATL miss... but that was a long kick to make outdoors in 40 degrees and a breeze. Or whatever it was.

You all will be back next year, no doubt in my mind.

 

[Anointed One]

Graham Gano, Adam Vinatieri, Matt Bryant, Sebastian Janikowski, Ryan Succop, Kai Forbath,


A few free agent kickers, kickers don't have to be young, hell a good kicker can probably go until they're 50 honestly...

I honestly like the idea of Janikowski...