Im a kicker on the sideline strapped and ready to go, and my team, whom drafted me with a 2nd round pick, dont have the confidence in me to kick a 49 yard field goal...... Im not saying 49 yards is a chipshot, but you have to have confidence in your kicker to at least 56 if not more, and imagine knowing that your team says, "Fuck you, go back on the sideline you noodle leg" If was his in his shoes, I would go off on mangini and the coaching staff, and i would demand my contract be shortened and when he goes to another team, shred the jets in field goals (sounds real scary right??)
He's a noodle leg. It comes with the territory. One of the few things I hold against the new regime is that they did not fix the kicker position in the offseason. Nugent is not even an NFL kicker let alone a good one.
Ok, Nugent has never really had a shot this season. This season, they have not even allowed him to try a longer field goal. I cant say that he is a bust, a crappy kicker etc. when we haven't even seen him with a shot. Ok, he had a bad game against the titans but i think he has been good since then.
I feel bad for this kid, they NEVER give him a shot. Pennington cost us the game, Mangini cost us a chance at winning this game by not trying a 50 yard FG attempt in good conditions (no wind)
This has to be a blow to Nugent's ego today. The CS has absolutely no faith in him unless its a chipshot. How much of this Nugent bought on himself is debateable however, how do you instill confidence in a kid when you don't show him any trust?
i agree...the kid was a great kicker and played in some huge games in college, he deserves a shot to kick some deeper field goals
have you guys given any thought to the possibility that the coaches watch him in practice, thus dont want to have him try 50 yarders? Do you guys really think you know nugent as well as the staff does? something to think about
Also, you guys remember the first few games of the season when he got his "shot"? I'm not sure he has the mental toughness to kick at this level.
I dont think its his mental toughness..I really dont. My thinking is this. I think he, the coaching staff, the players and all of the scouts that scouted this kid are shocked. I think it all started last year with kickoffs. How can a kid...that kicked monster field goals with Ohio State...in tough weather...go to the pros and right from the start not be able to kick the ball deeper than the 5 yard line (most of the time its near the 10). I think that got into his head right off the bat. I dont think its mental toughness as far as being clutch. Either something happened to his leg strength before he started using the special NFL balls...or his kickoffs have killed his confidence to kick 50+ field goals in the pros..which has killed almost all of his game. And let there be no doubt about it...the Jets have a big problem here..a problem that wont simply be addressed next year by bringing in a kickoff specialist.
To be honest, I really don't think that it has anything to do with their confidence with Nugent, atleast not on this case. Mangini is obviously a very strong believer in field position. We're often punting when we're in the opposition's thirties, because I think he's overaggressive. He more than likely believes that he can get the ball back at a better start place, and sacrifice the three points, in order to get seven on the next drive. I also think that he is way too caught up in trying to play into his mentality and this knew overaggressiveness. All he preaches is "finishing" things. And while we need to learn to finish drives, a field goal is finishing the drive. I mean I'm sure that it has something to do with what Mangini has seen in practice, but the guy needs to realize that just because it's fourth down, doesn't mean you can't risk 25 yards in field position for 3 points, that would've put us back into this game. I don't think Nugent is an NFL kicker by any standard, and its sad because its tough to figure out why Nugent can't do what he did at Ohio State, in the pros.
If he gave back signing bonus, the Jets would LOVE to shorten his contract... to 0. The only thing keeping him on the team right now is his signing bonus and the cap hit. Honestly, that's the truth.
That is not the truth. His cap hit is minor compared to most players. It would be under a million if cut after this year. I'm pretty sure he'd welcome the chance to get out of a place that has used him 11 times this year. I hope they cut him too..so he can go to Atlanta...
Hey maybe if the whole NFL thing doesn't work out for Mike he could become a movie critic. Remember those reviews he used to write in his blog about how totally awesome Wedding Crashers was? I mean that was riveting stuff. Something to think about.
Something is seriously wrong with what's happened to Mike Nugent in the NFL. He made 7 of 8 from 50+ yards in 2003 and 2004 at Ohio State. He was 11 of 14 from 40 to 49. I think any Jet fan would agree that asking Nugent to kick a 50 yarder right now would be like asking Gary Coleman to dunk a basketball. Not gonna happen. The question is: what exactly happened to Nugent over the last two years to remove so much leg strength from his kicking game? He obviously has a very weak leg, because even his kickoffs are very subpar. I just can't figure out how playing the ONLY position in the NFL that requires no adjustments at all from the college game his performance has become so weak.
Huh?? No kicker in history would be expected to hit from 56, anything there is a bonus. Nugent isn't trying the long kicks because we don't expect him to make them, sure, but even if he was hitting them at 50% I'd still have made the calls the way they fell yesterday - the first chance was when the game was far too tight to risk it, the second when it was over unless we scored a touchdown, basically.
Looks like a confidence thing to me. This was talked about in another thread . Why his distance has dropped off, and it was mentioned that the balls in the collegiate game are kicking balls and softer , whereas the NFL balls are new and unused , thus making them harder. I would think that this affects technique as well. If the CS have no faith in him they need to be up front with him because the kid is a winner and a team captain. I honestley hope it works out for him.
