The truth about Steve Hoffman

[BigDFan5]

Ineteresting stats... I guess I stand corrected. I thought Hoffman had done a little better than those percentages show.

Then again, Jimmy Johnson himself said last season that Parcells letting go of Hoffman was a big mistake. He mentioned how Hoffman had done a fine job with no-name kickers for Dallas for 15 years and letting him go cost us in the kicking game.

I mention that only to give a little thought into why so many of us Cowboys fans had faith in Hoffman. Add to that the fact that it seemed that the kicking last season was so bad compared to previous season under Hoffman.

If we can convert just one, our time was well spent!

 

[Bob Sacamano]

we tried to put Matt on the PS, he got hurt, but the Giants scooped him up

 

[TEK2000]

Is there a way to find out all the kickers we've had in camp and released? I'm sure we cut the wrong guy once or twice. Rian Lindell was cut in favor of Seder or Cundiffe. I think we also had Matt Bryant in camp and maybe some others.

QB and Kicker... the achilles heal of the Cowboys organization since the 90's.

 

[SmashFactorGolf]

What Hoffman gave was a 3 way balance between Salary Cap hit, Physical ability of kickers given to him and apparently Field Goal completion percentage which equates toward winning games...

Coaches such as J.Johnson, with his grid on what positions to pay and what positions not to pay thought Hoffman was a good "business" decision.

I think, in addition to the list of FG% of cowboy kickers from way back under Hoffman........you would have to compare it to what was the top 25% of all NFL kickers for the same period in order to really compare........

If Hoffmans kickers were consistently in the top percentile of all nfl kickers over a long period of time...............then you have a arguement

If they were not competitive in FG% over time, then you dont

Its like compareing performance of a Mutual Fund, cant just say it only made a 15% return...........if all competing funds were in 12 to 16% range---it did just fine. Better than paying the back end load (salary cap) to get out every 3 months.

 

[Alexander]

Hoffman isn't a god, but why do some posters love to trash him?

Because his name is used in vain many times to blast Coach Parcells. HE FIRED HOFFMAN.

Anytime we have a miss, it is not on Jose Cortez, Shaun Suisham, Billy Cundiff or Mike Vanderjagt. It is inevitably pinned on Coach Parcells.

So we had an extra position coach, a specialty coach, that no one else had. What does it hurt to have another expert in his craft on your side?

The decision was made that he wasn't an "expert in his craft". Why take exception with that? Do you know exactly what Hoffman did in his tenure in Dallas? Coaches need to multi-task, especially when they are sub-assistants. For all we know he held the hand of people like Richie Cunningham and Tim Seder, never fixed the problems in the meantime and was extraneous payroll. This is a results driven business. His results didn't make him worthy of keeping on board. And do not forget, Jerry Jones had been around Hoffman for as long as anyone. Wouldn't he also have a pretty good idea if he was worth keeping around?

People seem to make it appear it was completely a Parcells-driven process. There were other factors involved.

I don't get it. It doesn't cost us any money and it doesn't take up salary cap room. So what's the big deal?

A head coach gets to decide who is on his staff. If not, he has no future and we might as well leave the team to the follies of the GM.

I am sure he could have been convinced otherwise about Hoffman. But I am sure it was a group decision not to retain him. And judging by his results in Atlanta, the correct one.

 

[Alexander]

Coaches such as J.Johnson, with his grid on what positions to pay and what positions not to pay thought Hoffman was a good "business" decision.

I may be mistaken, but Hoffman had ties all the way back to the University of Miami.

 

[AbeBeta]

Hoffman isn't a god, but why do some posters love to trash him?

So we had an extra position coach, a specialty coach, that no one else had. What does it hurt to have another expert in his craft on your side?

I don't get it. It doesn't cost us any money and it doesn't take up salary cap room. So what's the big deal?

Why?

Because every time a kicker misses a FG, we get a stupid post that reads like this.

"Arrrgggg. Why did we let Hoffman go!! :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: "

That's why.

 

[BigDFan5]

Why?

Because every time a kicker misses a FG, we get a stupid post that reads like this.

"Arrrgggg. Why did we let Hoffman go!! :bang2: :bang2: :bang2: "

That's why.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Hoffman's kickers career FG%? 365-471 thats about 77%

That isn't bad considering the scrubs he had to work with. You can only expect so much when you sign guys who should be pumping gas for a living.

 

[BigDFan5]

That isn't bad considering the scrubs he had to work with. You can only expect so much when you sign guys who should be pumping gas for a living.

Thats fine, but you must consider that according to many posters here that was what Hoffman was good at was turning scrubs into good kickers.

Well the numbers dont bear that out, his kickers had 4 good years out of 14

 

[AbeBeta]

That isn't bad considering the scrubs he had to work with. You can only expect so much when you sign guys who should be pumping gas for a living.

The league average is around 80% each year.

The majority of teams in the league have undrafted kickers. So most teams are also using "scrubs".

Where exactly is the value here?

 

[jterrell]

That isn't bad considering the scrubs he had to work with. You can only expect so much when you sign guys who should be pumping gas for a living.

The problem with that argument is two-fold.

1. the kickers we had almost without fail had a good season or two then went to pot. All under Hoffman's watchful eye. We didnt magically make guys great, we brought in a ton of spares and kept the hottest guy. In a year oir two when his form faltered we didn't fix it, we cut him and went through tryouts again.

2. Parcells stated he expected to hit about 85% of kicks considering the league average is around 80% and we play in a great kicking environment. Hoffman's guys were not doing that.

If every kicker we brought in left and made millions elsewhere this might make more sense but the truth is Jimmy Johnson placed little value in kickers and thus just had Hoffman do what he could with a league minimum salary.

Jerry simply carried on that line of thinking.

Parcells didn't want a bunch of old cronies around here. Thats why he axed Hoffman and Avezzano. And you know what? GREAT for him!

Jimmy was a heck of a coach but he had a lot of guys around him who were limited in many ways.

Avezzano and Hoffman are probably two of the most overrated coaches in the history of the friggin league.

Both were there for the 5 win seasons and their positions were sucking by and large right along with everyone else.

 

[Alexander]

The problem with that argument is two-fold.

1. the kickers we had almost without fail had a good season or two then went to pot. All under Hoffman's watchful eye. We didnt magically make guys great, we brought in a ton of spares and kept the hottest guy. In a year oir two when his form faltered we didn't fix it, we cut him and went through tryouts again.

2. Parcells stated he expected to hit about 85% of kicks considering the league average is around 80% and we play in a great kicking environment. Hoffman's guys were not doing that.

If every kicker we brought in left and made millions elsewhere this might make more sense but the truth is Jimmy Johnson placed little value in kickers and thus just had Hoffman do what he could with a league minimum salary.

Jerry simply carried on that line of thinking.

Parcells didn't want a bunch of old cronies around here. Thats why he axed Hoffman and Avezzano. And you know what? GREAT for him!

Jimmy was a heck of a coach but he had a lot of guys around him who were limited in many ways.

Avezzano and Hoffman are probably two of the most overrated coaches in the history of the friggin league.

Both were there for the 5 win seasons and their positions were sucking by and large right along with everyone else.

Bravo.

Well done.

 

[Seven]

I always thought he was gay. This confirms it.

My first thought. I don't know why.

 

[HighTechDave]

Hoffman done well in the beggining but acting like we fired him while he was on top of his game is false. Hoffman was here from 1989-2004


Here is our kickers (not including what he inherited in 1989)

1990 Ken Willis 18-25 72.0%

1991 Ken Willis 27-39 69.2 %

1992 Lin Elliot 24-35 68.6% (Superbowl year)

1993 Signed 13 year vet Eddie Murray 28-33 84.8%

1994 Chris Boniol 22-29 75.9%

1995 Chris Boniol 27-28 96.4%

1996 Chris Boniol 32-36 88.9%

1997 Richie Cunningham 34-37 91.9%

1998 Richie Cunningham 29-35 82.9 %

1999 Cunningham (12 games) 15-25 60.0% Then we brought back Murray

2000 Tim Seder 25-33 75.8%

2001 Tim Seder (8 Games) 11-17 64.7%
John Hilbert (8 Games) 11-16 68.8%

2002 Billy Cundiff 12-19 63.2%

2003 Billy Cundiff 23-29 79.3%

2004 Billy Cundiff 20-26 76.9%



So there you have it, in 14 years of being our kicking coach we had 5 seasons of good kicking and one of those was us signing a 13 year vet when Hoffmans prospect failed


Hoffman's kickers career FG%? 365-471 thats about 77%

dude, you are a dip scheit.

look back at your list, at look at the Morons he had to train to kick to even get to that percentage.

that is why we need him and other position coaches that get it. this is especially true in the NFL today

 

[CrazyCowboy]

Wow....it was fun reading those names ....and actually remembering all of them!

 

[superpunk]

dude, you are a dip scheit.

This apparently being german for interesting poster.

 

[JPM]

This apparently being german for interesting poster.

I can't find that word in my German to English dictionary.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

The problem with that argument is two-fold.

1. the kickers we had almost without fail had a good season or two then went to pot. All under Hoffman's watchful eye. We didnt magically make guys great, we brought in a ton of spares and kept the hottest guy. In a year oir two when his form faltered we didn't fix it, we cut him and went through tryouts again.

2. Parcells stated he expected to hit about 85% of kicks considering the league average is around 80% and we play in a great kicking environment. Hoffman's guys were not doing that.

If every kicker we brought in left and made millions elsewhere this might make more sense but the truth is Jimmy Johnson placed little value in kickers and thus just had Hoffman do what he could with a league minimum salary.

Jerry simply carried on that line of thinking.

Parcells didn't want a bunch of old cronies around here. Thats why he axed Hoffman and Avezzano. And you know what? GREAT for him!

Jimmy was a heck of a coach but he had a lot of guys around him who were limited in many ways.

Avezzano and Hoffman are probably two of the most overrated coaches in the history of the friggin league.

Both were there for the 5 win seasons and their positions were sucking by and large right along with everyone else.

If I wasn't married. :