Around the NFL
Seattle’s season is slipping away, and Jim Mora is unfairly trying to blame it on Olindo Mare.
Mare missed two field goals on Sunday, which played a key role in the team’s loss to the Bears.
"If you're a kicker in the National Football League, you should make those kicks," Mora said. "Not acceptable. Not acceptable. Absolutely not acceptable."
But is fair to expect Mare to be an accurate kicker? Or should at least some of the blame fall on the shoulders of the guys who decided to give the job in the first place.
Mare was accurate last year – 24 of 27 – but in the previous five years, he was the least-accurate kicker in the entire league (among players with at least 100 attempts), hitting only 74 percent. That’s why the Dolphins and Saints cut him. And Mare hit only 1 of 3 field goals in the preseason.
Mora decided to overlook those shortcomings because Mare comes with the added value of being one of the top 5 kickoff guys in the league. But maybe the Seahawks should have instead kept Brandon Coutu, who doesn’t provide the same pop on kickoffs but has gone 11 of 12 on field goals in the last two preseasons.
The Seahawks might soon bring in Coutu (or sign another kicker). Matt Stover is available. But signing either of those guys would likely force the team to use two roster spots on the position. Neither Coutu nor Stover is good enough on kickoffs. And an extra roster spot doesn’t appear to be a luxury that the banged-up Seahawks have right now.
And if the Seahawks sign Coutu and lose a game because of short kickoffs, I don’t want hear Mora complain about it.
—Ian Allan
- Comments [1]
Readers' Comments
Add a Comment
Already a registered user? Please sign in to add comments.
To add comments, you must become a registered user of our site. To register, please click here.
Posted by ANDY RICHARDSON | Sep. 28 at 02:53 AM
Plus there's the fact that he kicked 4 field goals yesterday. Maybe Mora should place some blame on his offense settling for six field goal attempts.