08-06-2017, 10:55 PM
(08-06-2017, 06:26 PM)BonnieBengal Wrote: Agreed. We need to stick with Elliott. The team would not have drafted a kicker if they were happy with Bullock.
Disagree. We do not need to stick with Elliott if they're giving both him and bullock a fair competition in training camp/preseason (which is why I believe they drafted him in the first place). If bullock is the better kicker we absolutely have to roll with him. We cannot afford another season with a s*** kicker shanking everything in sight. See below
(08-06-2017, 09:49 PM)BoBengal Wrote: I had to do some digging but it looks like Bullock did great in Pittsburgh, but had another (injured) guy under contract. Bullock played (1) game with the the guys in Black-and-Yellow last season and was given the game ball by Mike Tomlin for his performance:
"...Bullock kicks Steelers to Win."
"...Bullock gets game ball."
http://pit.247sports.com/Bolt/LOOK-Randy-Bullock-sends-classy-message-to-Steelers-49756901
Stats from the game:
100% Field Goals (3/3 from 34, 38, 44 yards in a stadium that is notoriously tough on kickers)
100% PATs (1/1)
3 Touchbacks
It also looks like Bullock is currently the 32nd most accurate place kicker in NFL HISTORY (i.e. all-time according to ProFootballReference). A quick google search shows that Bullock has made Game Winners in BIG games and against BIG teams like the 49ers, Patriots, etc. in recent years.
This is a no-brainer: As Bengals fans, we all want the (still young with ~5 years experience) NFL-proven guy as our kicker instead of the kiddo from small school Memphis that appears to be getting a head-case of the shanks kicking in front of a few fans at a scrimmage and practices. Elliot is going to have to REALLY step up his game for the coaches to even think twice about this one. The staff rolled the dice on a kicker, but it looks like we may have had our guy on the roster already... one that did well as a Bengal and helped us after the Mike-Nugent-debacle last season. [As mentioned in the post above, if we all agree not to hold the only missed kick against Bullock because of the miscommunication -- the guy was 100% on PATs and 100% on field goals for us, and has a cannon of a leg).]
Thanks for the info. Making me feel a lot better about bullock and a little worse about Elliott. The way I look at it is if he's missing kicks in practice and in a meaningless scrimmage, what will he do in the waning moments in the fourth quarter, down by 2 against Pittsburgh? In that scenario, I'd much rather have bullock than a rookie shankapotamus.
And yes, of course it's early and Elliott hasn't even played in a preseason game yet. But if things continue the way they are now we would be beyond stupid to keep Elliott over bullock.
