polamalubeast
05-29-2019, 10:13 AM
2018 was the no good, terrible, very bad year for Chris Boswell. Our Daniel Valente profiled just how poor it was, both in terms of production and value. You know it, I know it, he knows it. Not even I, actively petitioning Danny Smith adopt me as the son-he-never-wanted, can spin how ugly a year it was for Boz before getting shut down with his groin injury.
Is there any hope moving forward?
Good news. There just might be.
Kickers are like the TV weatherman. Unpredictable results. Sometimes it’s supposed to be sunny and you walk out into the pouring rain. Kickers can split the uprights from 53 yards out on one kick, shank another on the next. Pittsburgh found out the position’s volatility last season.
But in knowing that, there’s always the chance to rebound. Bad seasons don’t always continue forever, do they? That’s what I wanted to investigate. Even though history isn’t the world’s best predictor (again, we’re talking about an unpredictable position), how have kickers who sucked one year done the next? Do they figure it out? Or do they remain bad before the NFL spits them out?
For this study, I’m looking at all kickers from 2001 to 2017 with similar hold-your-nose seasons as the one Boz had last year. Requirements? Minimum 15 field goal attempts, sub 70% percentage, just as Boswell endured. There’s been 21 such seasons prior to 2018.
This table represents the ones who attempted at least 15 kicks the next year, too, since odds are Boswell will be the Steelers’ guy in 2019. It’ll show their field goal percentage from that year and what they did the following season.
read more
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/05/study-can-chris-boswell-bounce-back/
Is there any hope moving forward?
Good news. There just might be.
Kickers are like the TV weatherman. Unpredictable results. Sometimes it’s supposed to be sunny and you walk out into the pouring rain. Kickers can split the uprights from 53 yards out on one kick, shank another on the next. Pittsburgh found out the position’s volatility last season.
But in knowing that, there’s always the chance to rebound. Bad seasons don’t always continue forever, do they? That’s what I wanted to investigate. Even though history isn’t the world’s best predictor (again, we’re talking about an unpredictable position), how have kickers who sucked one year done the next? Do they figure it out? Or do they remain bad before the NFL spits them out?
For this study, I’m looking at all kickers from 2001 to 2017 with similar hold-your-nose seasons as the one Boz had last year. Requirements? Minimum 15 field goal attempts, sub 70% percentage, just as Boswell endured. There’s been 21 such seasons prior to 2018.
This table represents the ones who attempted at least 15 kicks the next year, too, since odds are Boswell will be the Steelers’ guy in 2019. It’ll show their field goal percentage from that year and what they did the following season.
read more
https://steelersdepot.com/2019/05/study-can-chris-boswell-bounce-back/