REAL reason Vanderjagt was released

[aikemirv]

I don't see it, but what's the point of trading one dud for another, especially considering we have to pay the first dud anyway?

Besides, at least Vandy has recent history to draw from and to suggest he can play. Grammatica hasn't even had a steady job since 2004, and in his last 2 years with a steady job he completed 61.5% of his kicks successfully in 2003 and 57.9% in 2004. Hardly a worthy resume' .................

If he was making kicks and looking good in practice/tryouts that is enough for me to make the change. Not only that but you can bet that BP had conversations with Belichick about Gramatica too.

 

[Stautner]

Maybe he's been healing or something.

He's going to be terrible. I doubt this was a move made to upgrade the talent at the position. Because it didn't.

Then why the hell would we have made the move - we still have to pay Vandy and we added another salary ....... and with a guy known to be a head case like Vandy. Perhaps his last few years struggling to even find a job have at least caused his head to level out.

 

[superpunk]

Then why the hell would we have made the move - we still have to pay Vandy and we added another salary ....... and with a guy known to be a head case like Vandy. Perhaps his last few years struggling to even find a job have at least caused his head to level out.

Because the locker room hated Vandy? That's a possibility, and the only one that makes any sense. Maybe little Bill put in a good word for Martin. And that was enough to shove the headcase out the door.

 

[dogunwo]

If anything, if it's 4th and less than 3, and we're inside the 40, we're going for it.

I have been surprised at how often our "conservative" coach has gone for it on 4th down.

 

[Stautner]

Because the locker room hated Vandy? That's a possibility, and the only one that makes any sense. Maybe little Bill put in a good word for Martin. And that was enough to shove the headcase out the door.

I would have to agree that this is about the only explaination that makes much sense.

I have to believe that Bill thinks Grammatica can be an upgrade, but it's doubtful that he holds any illusions about him being a significant upgrade.

 

[wileedog]

I don't see it, but what's the point of trading one dud for another, especially considering we have to pay the first dud anyway?

Besides, at least Vandy has recent history to draw from and to suggest he can play. Grammatica hasn't even had a steady job since 2004, and in his last 2 years with a steady job he completed 61.5% of his kicks successfully in 2003 and 57.9% in 2004. Hardly a worthy resume' .................

Several reports have said that Grammatica has been kicking much better this year than in the last several, and that some of his problems were injury related.

Until we see him actually line up and kick one we don't know. I think its fair to say that none of us know at this point if Vandy was continuing to shank everything in practice, or if Grammatica was worked out and how that went. We do know however that Bill didn't do this just for the heck of it when he is throwing out $2.8M of Jerry's money.

 

[Hostile]

Whew. I did not realize his struggles with accuracy inside 40 yards wasn't discussed yesterday.

It seems so obvious now in hindsight.

 

[Stautner]

Several reports have said that Grammatica has been kicking much better this year than in the last several, and that some of his problems were injury related.

Until we see him actually line up and kick one we don't know. I think its fair to say that none of us know at this point if Vandy was continuing to shank everything in practice, or if Grammatica was worked out and how that went. We do know however that Bill didn't do this just for the heck of it when he is throwing out $2.8M of Jerry's money.

I certainly can't deny that Bill had more perspective than we do - he does see what's going on in practice, and I'm sure you are right in saying that he did some checking on Grammatica as well as giving him a tryout.

On the surface the move doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but I suppose all we can do is trust that Bill has looked at this closely enough to have made a rational decision. Let's hope so anyway.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

the last season gramatica played he had 15 kickoffs and zero for touchbacks

This is a balatant falsification.

2003 67 Kickoffs 5 TBs
2004 67 KOs 7 TBs

LINK TO NON-BS INFO


And he had a serious groin injury to boot his KO average has always hovered around 62 yards and if you looked up league averages you would quickly realize that is pretty good.

 

[jman]

Vanderjagt had to go, any Cowboy fan or any football fan could have seen that. The MAIN reason i believe he was let go was simply because he was struggling with field goals under 40 yards. He was simply not reliable, and here's why Gramatica was a solid signing. Martin's kickoffs are superior to Vandy's, PLUS we are the #2 scoring offense in the entire NFL, only second to San Diego. Parcells KNOWS our team can move the ball on any team in the league, so he's taking the chance that Gramatica won't have to attempt many long field goals. I'm pretty sure we are in the top five statistically when it comes to Redzone touchdown %. Bill is putting the faith in our offense to move the ball and when we do get stopped in the redzone occassionally, it will be a chip shot or a managable field goal. Plus we may actually get a touchback every nine attempts! Go boys

And this is opposed to what "FAKE" reason that we were lead to believe was the cause Vanderwank was cut?

 

[YosemiteSam]

I can't argue with this. Still, what the hell makes us think Grammatica will be any better?

Gramatica had an injury that caused him to be replaced in Tampa. The Colts had Vandershank who was great at FGs but couldn't kickoff so the Colts signed Gramatica to kickoff. Of course they figured out how expensive that really is and he was released. They let go of Vandershank because he couldn't kickoff and signed Adam Vinatieri because he could do both. Adam Vinatieri got hurt and they resigned Gramatica to kick until Vinatieri recovered. He has done so and Dungy released him.

Dungy beleives Gramatica has healed from his injury he got in 2003. The question is; is he truely healed and if so can he still kick with around 80% accuracy?

My bet is, he can kick better than Vanderjagt as it was only time until Vanderjagt missed an extra point. (he has almost missed several) He had already missed 1 from between 30-39 yards and even 1 from between 20-29 yards. He is also only kicking 25% from 40-49 yards.

Anything has to be better than Mike VanLotteryKick.

 

[sjordan6]

I just got thru listening to BP pc and he basically said that this was not a knee jerk decision and he made this based on about five weeks of evaluations. We all know that BP's mantra is no matter what you have done in the pass, "he has to see you do it now". Well in the pre-season BP said he never saw anything and that was why he got suishuim. Then vanderjact was not kicking well in practice and on film. He was actually impressed with his kickoffs but the field goals was a major concern.

Vanderjact may say that he was still 13 of 18 and the blocked kick was not his fault. Well he's right but 11 of his 13 made FGs were from 20 to 39 yards ( and he has missed two from that range). The offense actually carried him and he made a 50 yarder once. So when you think about it, he was 1 of 4 from 40-49 yards and that wont cut it!

Parcells also mention that he was barely making extra points and the last FG of about 20 yards was inches away from the cross bar.

No I think it was a combination of pre-season habits, pre-season misses, practice misses, game misses, and the excuses and cocky attitude that did him in.

Vanderjact felt he was a prima donna who walked on water and wanted everyone to bow to his greatness. Babe mentioned how the team really didnt like him and nor did the coach. At least T.O. blended in.

good riddance to the all time most accurate kicker. He's a jerk and parcells and the fans deserve better.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

I just got thru listening to BP pc and he basically said that this was not a knee jerk decision and he made this based on about five weeks of evaluations. We all know that BP's mantra is no matter what you have done in the pass, "he has to see you do it now". Well in the pre-season BP said he never saw anything and that was why he got suishuim. Then vanderjact was not kicking well in practice and on film. He was actually impressed with his kickoffs but the field goals was a major concern.

Vanderjact may say that he was still 13 of 18 and the blocked kick was not his fault. Well he's right but 11 of his 13 made FGs were from 20 to 39 yards. The offense actually carried him and he made a 50 yarder once. So when you think about it, he was 1 of 6 from 40-49 yards and that wont cut it!

Parcells also mention that he was barely making extra points and the last FG of about 20 yards was inches away from the cross bar.

No I think it was a combination of pre-season habits, pre-season misses, practice misses, game misses, and the excuses and cocky attitude that did him in.

Vanderjact felt he was a prima donna who walked on water and wanted everyone to bow to his greatness. Babe mentioned how the team really didnt like him and nor did the coach. At least T.O. blended in.

good riddance to the all time most accurate kicker. He's a jerk and parcells and the fans deserve better.

Also Bill admitted that he was operating the offense differently because he couldnt rely on Vandy

 

[CooterBrown]

Also Bill admitted that he was operating the offense differently because he couldnt rely on Vandy

I didn't hear him say that, but that is the concern I voiced earlier in this thread. I translate "differently" to mean "less conservative", and I hate conservative red zone offense.

 

[Kaika]

When you just miss the goal post on Point afters ,

It's TIME TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bbgun]

We have to treat this as if he'd torn his ACL. Ok, his knee is sound, but his brain is marshmallow. He can't kick anymore. We had to find a replacement.

 

[Doomsday]

Gramatica had an injury that caused him to be replaced in Tampa. The Colts had Vandershank who was great at FGs but couldn't kickoff so the Colts signed Gramatica to kickoff. Of course they figured out how expensive that really is and he was released. They let go of Vandershank because he couldn't kickoff and signed Adam Vinatieri because he could do both. Adam Vinatieri got hurt and they resigned Gramatica to kick until Vinatieri recovered. He has done so and Dungy released him.

Dungy beleives Gramatica has healed from his injury he got in 2003. The question is; is he truely healed and if so can he still kick with around 80% accuracy?

My bet is, he can kick better than Vanderjagt as it was only time until Vanderjagt missed an extra point. (he has almost missed several) He had already missed 1 from between 30-39 yards and even 1 from between 20-29 yards. He is also only kicking 25% from 40-49 yards.

Anything has to be better than Mike VanLotteryKick.

If you take away Gramatica's injury plagued season he is 111 out of 135 FG attempted for 82.2%, very respectable in my opinion. Not sure how many of his attempts in 2003 were from 40-49 yards but he is only about 60% lifetime from beyond 40 yards.

Ive actually been a Vanderjagt supporter but he seems baffled as to why all his kicks are going right. On Thanksgiving he nailed the next to last extra point right down the middle and seemed upbeat about it, the on his final XP attempt he pushed it way right just barely making it you could tell he was visibly shaken by it. Hes just in a bad spot mentally and I dont think hes going to recover from it anytime soon. BP had no choice to make a move. If Gramatica is back to his pre-injury form he should be reliable.

 

[YosemiteSam]

If you take away Gramatica's injury plagued season he is 111 out of 135 FG attempted for 82.2%, very respectable in my opinion. Not sure how many of his attempts in 2003 were from 40-49 yards but he is only about 60% lifetime from beyond 40 yards.

Ive actually been a Vanderjagt supporter but he seems baffled as to why all his kicks are going right. On Thanksgiving he nailed the next to last extra point right down the middle and seemed upbeat about it, the on his final XP attempt he pushed it way right just barely making it you could tell he was visibly shaken by it. Hes just in a bad spot mentally and I dont think hes going to recover from it anytime soon. BP had no choice to make a move. If Gramatica is back to his pre-injury form he should be reliable.

He is 59.5% from 40-49 yards for his career. He was 24-34 (70.5%) from 40-49 yards from 1999-2002. (before the injury) He went 3-8 (2003) and 1-5 (2004) after the injury. He has only kicked one field goal since 2004 and it was made from 20-29 yards out.

 

[Doomsday101]

I look at the Gramatica's signing the same as I did when we got Vandy and that is what you did in the past I could careless about what you do now is what counts. This is a new chance for Gramatica and I would figure he looked good enough in his workout with Dallas for the organization to pull the plug on Vandy. I know Gramatica will have a difficult task to start out his chance in Dallas having to play in the swirling winds of the Meadowlands this weekend

 

[DIAF]

I'm not real excited about Martin, I have to admit. If he's so good, then why was he available? I fear he'll be about as good as Vanderjagt was in his time here. At this point in the season, you really wont find a reliable gem in FA. My hope is that we wont need too many crucial FGs from here on out.