Jay Feely in town

[cdumler7]

So looks like the Broncos are just as frustrated with the kicking game as we all are. They are bringing in Jay Feely on Tuesday for a tryout.

 

[randymon]

I feel bad for the kid. He's had a lot of expectations thrown on him right from the get go and I think under different circumstances, he might have been more relaxed and performed better. Prob is, especially after Sun, it's not going to get easier. Games are too crucial down the stretch and you need a seasoned vet to handle not a unproven frazzled youngster . I say sign Freely regardless

 

[cdumler7]

I think if he had started out with the team in the off season and had some time to work on everything and build up his confidence he would have been good to go. Unfortunately with being in a win now mode we just can't have a kicker missing as bad as he is right now. Honestly that missed field goal was almost the difference in the game. I also think the St. Louis game where they wouldn't let him try anything over 45 yards in a dome stadium was very telling of just how the team felt about him. Hopefully we can hang on to him and give him a full off season with the team but I think somebody will swoop in and take a chance on him before we get that chance.

 

[MrDoc420]

We needed to do it....

McManus has shown to be completely unreliable, and I for one wanted to see a vet brought in.

 

[{+}Mother-Marge{+}]

I wonder why Arizona got rid of feely,....he was productive there [last year/year before?].

 

[DownSetHutch]

I feel kind of bad for McManus too. He really got thrown into the fire, and part of me wants to see him get more of a chance than he has gotten so far. But a bigger part of me would feel a lot better with a veteran like Jay Feely kicking for us. It would be pretty hard to take getting knocked out of the playoffs because of an unreliable kicker.

 

[HOF-ELWAY-7]

Connor Barth is in town as well. I don't think they would bring in two kickers unless they really were going to make a change.

 

[MrDoc420]

I feel kind of bad for McManus too. He really got thrown into the fire, and part of me wants to see him get more of a chance than he has gotten so far. But a bigger part of me would feel a lot better with a veteran like Jay Feely kicking for us. It would be pretty hard to take getting knocked out of the playoffs because of an unreliable kicker.

That'd be just about the worst possible scenario I could think of. Let go of a super clutch kicker, only to have his replacement come in and have a costly miss in the playoffs that could cost us a game. I know it's purely hypothetical at this point, but I bet there isn't any one of us that hasn't contemplated that

 

[cdumler7]

At this point not sure how reliable Prater is though. His confidence seems shaken by the 4-game suspension as he has only made 75% of his kicks for the year so McManus is right behind him. Maybe it would have been better say the Broncos kept him as that is a show of confidence kind of thing but who knows.


My biggest question with bringing in these kickers though is actually on kick offs. The one great thing about McManus is the guy has a leg on him. He right now gets 75% of his kickoffs to be touchbacks. I'm not sure we have that great of a coverage unit partly because we hardly get to see them. Feely last year had 38% of his go for touchbacks. I know that would increase being in Denver but we would still be sacrificing some in the power leg game with bringing in Feely. Now to me that is not enough to not sign him as I want a reliable guy back there but I could just as easily see a situation in the playoffs where somebody takes a kickoff for a huge gain setting up some easy points.

 

[randymon]

At this point not sure how reliable Prater is though. His confidence seems shaken by the 4-game suspension as he has only made 75% of his kicks for the year so McManus is right behind him. Maybe it would have been better say the Broncos kept him as that is a show of confidence kind of thing but who knows.


My biggest question with bringing in these kickers though is actually on kick offs. The one great thing about McManus is the guy has a leg on him. He right now gets 75% of his kickoffs to be touchbacks. I'm not sure we have that great of a coverage unit partly because we hardly get to see them. Feely last year had 38% of his go for touchbacks. I know that would increase being in Denver but we would still be sacrificing some in the power leg game with bringing in Feely. Now to me that is not enough to not sign him as I want a reliable guy back there but I could just as easily see a situation in the playoffs where somebody takes a kickoff for a huge gain setting up some easy points.

Not sure a roster spot would justify this, but would be nice to keep McManus for kickoffs and Feely or? for FGs. In a perfect world I know

 

[cdumler7]

Haha yeah Randymon I would love to see us do that but roster spots are at a premium right now. This is where I wish the NFL would increase the roster to all 53 players being active. It makes no sense because they are being paid regardless of whether they play or not. If they did that then I could see the Broncos making such a decision but right now it is either McManus or another guy not both.


On another note the one area of our Special Teams that actually was Special in the right way was that of our kick returner! Finally we decided not to stick Caldwell back there and watch him just walk out of the end zone looking for his hole to then get tackled at the 10 setting our offense up in horrible field position. Omar Bolden gave the group a nice spark and finally our offense had some room to operate. I'm hoping they stick with that the rest of the year.