Graham Gano (7) watches Steve Hauschka kick a field goal with Sam Koch holding. (Baltimore Sun photo Kenneth K. Lam / August 17, 2009) |
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Matt Stover has a marvelous past, two NFL kicking records and unerring accuracy from less than 40 yards.
Steve Hauschka has a promising future, a powerful leg and the ability to combine two jobs into one.
Those appear to be the Ravens' two kicking options as they fast approach coach John Harbaugh's second season, one filled with high expectations.
Choosing Hauschka would be a break with the familiar, sentimental path that Baltimore fans have traveled the past 13 seasons. How many games have Stover and the Ravens' defense won together over those years? More than memory can pull back.
Assuming Hauschka is named the team's kicker after Thursday's final preseason game - and, furthermore, that he can keep the job - Stover will move on, either to another team or to his next career.
Change in the NFL is inevitable, if sometimes painful.
Even in absentia, Stover had a presence at the Ravens' camp this summer, his shadow hovering over the kicking competition between Hauschka and undrafted rookie Graham Gano. Even this week, when Harbaugh acknowledged Hauschka has a leg up on Gano, one of the top college kickers last season at Florida State, he did not rule out the possibility of having Stover return.
"He's always been a factor," Harbaugh said. "Until someone else signs him - as long as he wants to kick - he's a factor around the league."
That's respect gleaned from 18 seasons kicking in the NFL. But the Ravens are operating with a different equation now, and they are caught in the transition from the steady, older Stover, 41, to the boyish Hauschka, 24, who is trying to earn his way in the league.
Harbaugh and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg want to save the roster spot that Hauschka occupied last season as a kickoff specialist and long-field-goal kicker. It might even be the overriding factor.
"In my big view of the roster, having [a second] kicker on the roster, whoever that is, is not utilizing the roster properly," Rosburg said Tuesday. "I coach more than just the kickers; I coach the whole special teams, and to be able to have a linebacker or safety that can go down and cover those kicks is very important.
"I have great respect for Matt Stover, and I think he can still kick. Having said that, in my view, it's valuable to have one player doing all those skills."
This year, that extra spot might go to one of the Ravens' intriguing prospects, among them defensive tackle Kelly Talavou, cornerback Derrick Martin or running backs Jalen Parmele or Matt Lawrence.
Stover ranks among the league's greatest kickers. He has 462 field goals in 18 NFL seasons. His 83.7 percent success rate ranks third in NFL history. He holds league records with 389 consecutive extra points and 38 consecutive games with a field goal.
But from a career-high .933 in 2006, his percentage dropped each of the past two years. What's more, he rarely attempted kicks of 50 yards or longer (only three in the past four years, and he made just one).
More numbers: In the past two seasons, including playoffs, Stover was just 14-for-24 from beyond 40 yards. Obviously, his leg strength has diminished. And that means using a precious roster spot on a kickoff specialist.
Rosburg said evaluations of players and coaches are "comprehensive and ongoing" every year. This year the evaluations led the Ravens to seek a successor to Stover.
"What the club does on a yearly basis is evaluate how those pieces fit together the best for us during the particular season," Rosburg said. "Because winning is the issue, and winning this year is the issue. That's no different than it was a year ago. Matt Stover was our kicker last year because he gave us the best chance to win."
Hauschka played in eight games last season as Stover's understudy. Of his 43 kickoffs, eight reached the end zone and four were touchbacks. Stover had five touchbacks in 42 kickoffs. Hauschka attempted two 50-plus-yard field goals, hitting the longer one from 54 yards.
This preseason, Hauschka has converted four of five field-goal tries. Interestingly, the miss might have helped him cement his claim to the job. After missing wide right on a chip-shot 27-yarder in Carolina against the Panthers on Saturday, he came back with a perfect kick from 38 yards.
"It wasn't just a miss, it was a short miss," Rosburg said. "It was significant in my mind that he came back in the second half and made the next field-goal opportunity. That was a good sign."
Hauschka learned to appreciate Stover's mental toughness last season after the incumbent missed three of his first seven kicks. Hauschka practices on his own state of mind, with mental imagery, to develop the same kind of toughness.
"It's probably good preparation for the season, just to be able to respond to the missed kick and move on with my job," Hauschka said. "My job is to forget about [the miss], move on and make my next kicks."
Rosburg and Harbaugh have enjoyed success with kickers in their previous jobs. In Philadelphia, Harbaugh helped turn David Akers from a journeyman kicker into a three-time Pro Bowl player for the Eagles. Rosburg joined the Cleveland Browns in 2001 and helped Phil Dawson become one of the league's most consistent kickers (he ranks fourth on the all-time accuracy list, just behind Stover).
With that background and a strong summer from Hauschka, the Ravens appear content to make the change. But as Rosburg said, evaluations are comprehensive and ongoing.
Steve Hauschka has a promising future, a powerful leg and the ability to combine two jobs into one.
Those appear to be the Ravens' two kicking options as they fast approach coach John Harbaugh's second season, one filled with high expectations.
Choosing Hauschka would be a break with the familiar, sentimental path that Baltimore fans have traveled the past 13 seasons. How many games have Stover and the Ravens' defense won together over those years? More than memory can pull back.
Assuming Hauschka is named the team's kicker after Thursday's final preseason game - and, furthermore, that he can keep the job - Stover will move on, either to another team or to his next career.
Change in the NFL is inevitable, if sometimes painful.
Even in absentia, Stover had a presence at the Ravens' camp this summer, his shadow hovering over the kicking competition between Hauschka and undrafted rookie Graham Gano. Even this week, when Harbaugh acknowledged Hauschka has a leg up on Gano, one of the top college kickers last season at Florida State, he did not rule out the possibility of having Stover return.
"He's always been a factor," Harbaugh said. "Until someone else signs him - as long as he wants to kick - he's a factor around the league."
That's respect gleaned from 18 seasons kicking in the NFL. But the Ravens are operating with a different equation now, and they are caught in the transition from the steady, older Stover, 41, to the boyish Hauschka, 24, who is trying to earn his way in the league.
Harbaugh and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg want to save the roster spot that Hauschka occupied last season as a kickoff specialist and long-field-goal kicker. It might even be the overriding factor.
"In my big view of the roster, having [a second] kicker on the roster, whoever that is, is not utilizing the roster properly," Rosburg said Tuesday. "I coach more than just the kickers; I coach the whole special teams, and to be able to have a linebacker or safety that can go down and cover those kicks is very important.
"I have great respect for Matt Stover, and I think he can still kick. Having said that, in my view, it's valuable to have one player doing all those skills."
This year, that extra spot might go to one of the Ravens' intriguing prospects, among them defensive tackle Kelly Talavou, cornerback Derrick Martin or running backs Jalen Parmele or Matt Lawrence.
Stover ranks among the league's greatest kickers. He has 462 field goals in 18 NFL seasons. His 83.7 percent success rate ranks third in NFL history. He holds league records with 389 consecutive extra points and 38 consecutive games with a field goal.
But from a career-high .933 in 2006, his percentage dropped each of the past two years. What's more, he rarely attempted kicks of 50 yards or longer (only three in the past four years, and he made just one).
More numbers: In the past two seasons, including playoffs, Stover was just 14-for-24 from beyond 40 yards. Obviously, his leg strength has diminished. And that means using a precious roster spot on a kickoff specialist.
Rosburg said evaluations of players and coaches are "comprehensive and ongoing" every year. This year the evaluations led the Ravens to seek a successor to Stover.
"What the club does on a yearly basis is evaluate how those pieces fit together the best for us during the particular season," Rosburg said. "Because winning is the issue, and winning this year is the issue. That's no different than it was a year ago. Matt Stover was our kicker last year because he gave us the best chance to win."
Hauschka played in eight games last season as Stover's understudy. Of his 43 kickoffs, eight reached the end zone and four were touchbacks. Stover had five touchbacks in 42 kickoffs. Hauschka attempted two 50-plus-yard field goals, hitting the longer one from 54 yards.
This preseason, Hauschka has converted four of five field-goal tries. Interestingly, the miss might have helped him cement his claim to the job. After missing wide right on a chip-shot 27-yarder in Carolina against the Panthers on Saturday, he came back with a perfect kick from 38 yards.
"It wasn't just a miss, it was a short miss," Rosburg said. "It was significant in my mind that he came back in the second half and made the next field-goal opportunity. That was a good sign."
Hauschka learned to appreciate Stover's mental toughness last season after the incumbent missed three of his first seven kicks. Hauschka practices on his own state of mind, with mental imagery, to develop the same kind of toughness.
"It's probably good preparation for the season, just to be able to respond to the missed kick and move on with my job," Hauschka said. "My job is to forget about [the miss], move on and make my next kicks."
Rosburg and Harbaugh have enjoyed success with kickers in their previous jobs. In Philadelphia, Harbaugh helped turn David Akers from a journeyman kicker into a three-time Pro Bowl player for the Eagles. Rosburg joined the Cleveland Browns in 2001 and helped Phil Dawson become one of the league's most consistent kickers (he ranks fourth on the all-time accuracy list, just behind Stover).
With that background and a strong summer from Hauschka, the Ravens appear content to make the change. But as Rosburg said, evaluations are comprehensive and ongoing.
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People are freaking out over Stover's range for nothing .Most teams don't try long field goals to begin with because of field position for the other team if they miss. I'd rather have the money inside the 40 and that's Stover.Of course you'd rather keep a young special teams player or whatever but you have to score to win. Missing chip shots can demoralize a team.People running down the field on special teams are a dime a dozen,reliable field goal kickers aren't.
Kingjoey (09/03/2009, 4:31 AM )