How Bout Some Love to the Rookie kicker?!

[BlazeCarolina]

8 minutes ago, ChibCU said:

Eddy now kicking 50+ with the new broken-in balls it seems. Or some enhancement outside of that. Here, we had to punt on 55 yard FG attempts. 

I feel it was worse than that.  I have taken a lot of flack on Reddit over Eddy Stans lol.

[Basbear]

Just now, BlazeCarolina said:

I feel it was worse than that.  I have taken a lot of flack on Reddit over Eddy Stans lol.

Eddie wanted $$$$$$$$, Fitz is cheap and under control for 3 years. 

[BlazeCarolina]

27 minutes ago, Basbear said:

Eddie wanted $$$$$$$$, Fitz is cheap and under control for 3 years. 

I had a lot of issues with Eddy.  A lot of fans have amnesia or selective memory, though.

I think he kicked a game winner for San Fran one game and they were going wild on Reddit talking about how stupid we were for letting him walk and having no recollection of how our play calling changed with him around on anything past a 40 yarder.

Frustrating being a Panthers fan sometimes.  I prefer Fitz, even if he isn't perfect.  Not sure why Eddy developed a leg once he left, but we couldn't trust him here, so it is irrelevant.  

[NAS]

That 55 yarder at the end of first half was so critical 

[Basbear]

1 minute ago, BlazeCarolina said:

I had a lot of issues with Eddy.  A lot of fans have amnesia or selective memory, though.

I think he kicked a game winner for San Fran one game and they were going wild on Reddit talking about how stupid we were for letting him walk and having no recollection of how our play calling changed with him around on anything past a 40 yarder.

Frustrating being a Panthers fan sometimes.  I prefer Fitz, even if he isn't perfect.  Not sure why Eddy developed a leg once he left, but we couldn't trust him here, so it is irrelevant.  

I was a huge Eddie supporter. Guess what after the top 4 or so Kickers, the 6-30 group is the same bag. I prefer the save cap space and not have some 14th ranked kicker making top 5 salary. Rightfully so, Eddie wanted $$$$$ and commit. Facts are there are too many NFL kickers out there, around 44 guys would be good enough if given the chance. So it's doesn't make sense to pay up when only 32 get to kick on game days. 

Fitz has the new KO stuff, it doesn't make a field position difference. starting from the 20 is totally different than 40-35. If you are on the 40, couple of 1st downs and their kicker FG range. 

Panthers made the right choice for once, Fitz is legit and cheap!

[frankw]

I'm definitely glad we went with developing our own young kicker instead of trying to sign another teams discarded guy again.

[Dave Gettleman's Shorts]

30 minutes ago, NAS said:

That 55 yarder at the end of first half was so critical 

clutch

if Fitz misses, cowboys had time for a Brandon Aubrey FG and we end up losing the game

[BlazeCarolina]

1 hour ago, Basbear said:

I was a huge Eddie supporter. Guess what after the top 4 or so Kickers, the 6-30 group is the same bag. I prefer the save cap space and not have some 14th ranked kicker making top 5 salary. Rightfully so, Eddie wanted $$$$$ and commit. Facts are there are too many NFL kickers out there, around 44 guys would be good enough if given the chance. So it's doesn't make sense to pay up when only 32 get to kick on game days. 

Fitz has the new KO stuff, it doesn't make a field position difference. starting from the 20 is totally different than 40-35. If you are on the 40, couple of 1st downs and their kicker FG range. 

Panthers made the right choice for once, Fitz is legit and cheap!

Rightfully so?  We had no confidence in Eddy and he wanted to be the top paid kicker.

I am glad he seems to be doing better in San Fran, but he was never making those type of kicks here.  I didn't look into the changes for the ball, but it seems crazy he is making it 50+ now.  He was NOT that guy here.

Glad we moved on, and seemed to find a real one in Fitz.  Been bickering with folks about this a while, so I am a big Fitz supporter.  I am loyal to performance though, so if he starts consistently missing or gets a big head, I will turn on him quick lol.

[Chaos]

4 hours ago, CarolinaRideorDie said:

The one position that we seem to always get right is kicker. We drafted Butker but let him walk, we had Gano, Pineiro was ok for a while, now we have Fitzgerald. John Kasay would be proud, even though I'm still mad at him for his Super Bowl kickoff that let the Patriots start at the 40. 

Has your PTSD memory protection allowed you to forget the Joey Slye experiment, because I haven't forgotten lol

[BEASTfromdaEAST]

Not only what OP has said but I think Panthers have one of the best Opponent field start position.

Really capitalizing on the new kick off rules and driving these kick offs at the returner making split second decisions/mistakes. Not as easy as people would think to do consistently and he seems to have mastered it EARLY. 

As much as most of us wish kicking would be eliminated from the game, it's not and you NEED a reliable kicker this guy is HIM.

Edited 20 hours ago by BEASTfromdaEAST

[Basbear]

19 hours ago, BlazeCarolina said:

Rightfully so?  We had no confidence in Eddy and he wanted to be the top paid kicker.

I am glad he seems to be doing better in San Fran, but he was never making those type of kicks here.  I didn't look into the changes for the ball, but it seems crazy he is making it 50+ now.  He was NOT that guy here.

Glad we moved on, and seemed to find a real one in Fitz.  Been bickering with folks about this a while, so I am a big Fitz supporter.  I am loyal to performance though, so if he starts consistently missing or gets a big head, I will turn on him quick lol.

Yea it was a prior issue with eddie and panther 50+ yarders. Both sides were right, for a time Eddie was the most accurate kicker in NFL history. But the distance issue and he was a Chris Tabor guy. I was a pro-Eddie defender and guess what.... I still didnt want to pay nothing much above min.....just a bad kicker market for kickers. 

I don't know alot about kickers, but I know this as a fact. Kickers are confidence based, the moment they loss it, you need to hold try-outs. Very similar to golfers, they need to believe and be able to recover from a bad swing. CSW said in a piece he'd trust Fitz with his life!!!! Others sounded off support too. Fitz has already showed me enough and the kickoff shenanigans have been a big bonus. He has given the Panthers field position, that's huge value form a kicker, saving points from being scored while being a scorer. 

[Donald LaFell]

18 hours ago, Chaos said:

Has your PTSD memory protection allowed you to forget the Joey Slye experiment, because I haven't forgotten lol

Slye kicked a game winner for the Commanders this year. Pretty cool. 

[outlaw4]

More of an aside but the changes in the k-balls procedures, the footballs used in situations like field goals, changed for this season. Almost certain that's why guys like Eddy are suddenly being able to kick from 50+ now. 

19 minutes ago, Basbear said:

Yea it was a prior issue with eddie and panther 50+ yarders. Both sides were right, for a time Eddie was the most accurate kicker in NFL history. But the distance issue and he was a Chris Tabor guy. I was a pro-Eddie defender and guess what.... I still didnt want to pay nothing much above min.....just a bad kicker market for kickers. 

I don't know alot about kickers, but I know this as a fact. Kickers are confidence based, the moment they loss it, you need to hold try-outs. Very similar to golfers, they need to believe and be able to recover from a bad swing. CSW said in a piece he'd trust Fitz with his life!!!! Others sounded off support too. Fitz has already showed me enough and the kickoff shenanigans have been a big bonus. He has given the Panthers field position, that's huge value form a kicker, saving points from being scored while being a scorer. 

Gano used to be good for us. Then he got the yips and so we let him loose. Probably will happen to Fitz one day. I think Butker is hitting that phase himself. That seems to be the cycle with kickers nowadays. 

[Basbear]

20 minutes ago, outlaw4 said:

More of an aside but the changes in the k-balls procedures, the footballs used in situations like field goals, changed for this season. Almost certain that's why guys like Eddy are suddenly being able to kick from 50+ now. 

Gano used to be good for us. Then he got the yips and so we let him loose. Probably will happen to Fitz one day. I think Butker is hitting that phase himself. That seems to be the cycle with kickers nowadays. 

 

All good solids points. I think after the RB and LB, is kicker the next spot among "Legacy" panther spot?? Kasay, gano, butkler, Eddie(best all-time %), Slye, Lloyd the touch back god, Mare, lols..... 

Fitz...*right now* feels a combo of all the best panther ones. With the new rules, Fitz is either first or second in starting field position form KOs. He's a weapon and ten yards do matter.