What are we going to do about our K this year?

[SteelCrazy]

I hope the Steelers are not seriously considering Slice'em again this year. I read an article about Gary Anderson's son joining the Colts rookie camp. If he is half as good as his dad then he is light years ahead of Suisham. I dont see the Colts getting rid of Vinny, so maybe we can get this kid into camp to at least compete with Suisham. Grant Ressel (K) MIZZ... is the only kid we brought in so far? The Steelers should just let James Harrison be our kicker.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

I hope the Steelers are not seriously considering Slice'em again this year. I read an article about Gary Anderson's son joining the Colts rookie camp. If he is half as good as his dad then he is light years ahead of Suisham. I dont see the Colts getting rid of Vinny, so maybe we can get this kid into camp to at least compete with Suisham. Grant Ressel (K) MIZZ... is the only kid we brought in so far? The Steelers should just let James Harrison be our kicker.

Except he's been working on his long snaps this off season ...

[SidSmythe]

I hope the Steelers are not seriously considering Slice'em again this year. I read an article about Gary Anderson's son joining the Colts rookie camp. If he is half as good as his dad then he is light years ahead of Suisham. I dont see the Colts getting rid of Vinny, so maybe we can get this kid into camp to at least compete with Suisham. Grant Ressel (K) MIZZ... is the only kid we brought in so far? The Steelers should just let James Harrison be our kicker.

Funny you said that b/c when I clicked the link on this thread I already knew what I was going to reply.
And that was going to be "We might as well put in James Harrison to kick...even if his kicking was as good as his long snapping skills we'd be better off"

[winwithd]

I just saw tonight that Ryan Longwell was released by the Vikings. Do you think he'd be an upgrade over Slice'm.

[Chadman]

Trai essex.

[LordVile]

"REED Practices Kicking!!" classic article title from a few years back..

[phillyesq]

I just saw tonight that Ryan Longwell was released by the Vikings. Do you think he'd be an upgrade over Slice'm.

Longwell had slightly better numbers than Suisham last year, but if you look at his splits, he only made 60% of his outdoor field goals.

[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/4080/splits;_ylt=Ak0MWnGkHpXMeYy_Z4Z9Hpv.uLYF[/url]

Suisham was at least equally poor inside and outside:

[url]http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/7527/splits;_ylt=Ak0MWnGkHpXMeYy_Z4Z9Hpv.uLYF[/url]

Josh Brown was also recently released by the Rams, but I really fear seeing a dome kicker come to Pittsburgh.

[grotonsteel]

Sushi could not hit a FG beyond 40 yards last season.

I hope Offense score more TDs in red-Zone this season with improved O-line than depending on Sushi.

[RuthlessBurgher]

The Steelers should just let James Harrison be our @$$ kicker.

Fixed that for you.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Josh Brown was also recently released by the Rams, but I really fear seeing a dome kicker come to Pittsburgh.

The Jets signed Josh Brown to compete with Nick Folk.

The Redskins signed Neil Rackers to compete with Graham Gano.

We could be watching the waiver wire as teams release kickers during training camp (if Suisham struggles during preseason).

I loved the Georgia punter Drew Butler UDFA pickup (I think he beats out Kapinos for that job), but would have liked to have seen a comparable kicker signed as well to provide real competition for the below average Suisham (I don't think the kid we signed from Mizzou is that). At this point, I'd rather re-sign a humbled Jeff Reed than stick with the unreliable Suisham.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

As badly as Sushi stinks - and he does - we must keep in mind that he kicks off of the worst surface in the NFL. Just plugging in any random kicker is not necessarily the answer.

[Shawn]

I hold my breath everytime Sushi kicks.

[Oviedo]

The Jets signed Josh Brown to compete with Nick Folk.

The Redskins signed Neil Rackers to compete with Graham Gano.

We could be watching the waiver wire as teams release kickers during training camp (if Suisham struggles during preseason).

I loved the Georgia punter Drew Butler UDFA pickup (I think he beats out Kapinos for that job), but would have liked to have seen a comparable kicker signed as well to provide real competition for the below average Suisham (I don't think the kid we signed from Mizzou is that). At this point, I'd rather re-sign a humbled Jeff Reed than stick with the unreliable Suisham.

IMO Jeff Reed burned his bridges here. All he had to do was take a good contract offer and keep his mouth shut. He'll have to get drunk and pee in the streets somewhere else.

[phillyesq]

The Jets signed Josh Brown to compete with Nick Folk.

The Redskins signed Neil Rackers to compete with Graham Gano.

We could be watching the waiver wire as teams release kickers during training camp (if Suisham struggles during preseason).

I loved the Georgia punter Drew Butler UDFA pickup (I think he beats out Kapinos for that job), but would have liked to have seen a comparable kicker signed as well to provide real competition for the below average Suisham (I don't think the kid we signed from Mizzou is that). At this point, I'd rather re-sign a humbled Jeff Reed than stick with the unreliable Suisham.

Didn't realize that Brown signed elsewhere.

In any event, I agree that watching the waiver wire isn't necessarily a bad idea. Heinz field is tough, but Suisham scares me anywhere.

[RuthlessBurgher]

I just saw tonight that Ryan Longwell was released by the Vikings. Do you think he'd be an upgrade over Slice'm.

I'd take Longwell. Even though he had a down year by his standards last year (22-28, 78.6%, with a long of 53) that was still better than what we got out of Suisham (23-31, 74.2%, with a long of 51). Consider that he was over 90% the previous 2 seasons (17-18, 94.4%, with a long of 48 in 2010 and 26-28, 92.9%, with a long of 52 in 2009). Although he is 37 and Suisham is 30, age doesn't matter a huge deal with kickers (he's connected on a 50+ yard FG in 4 of the last 5 seasons and 7 out of the last 9 seasons). We might lose a little bit in terms of kickoff distance, but not enough to supercede the improvement in FG accuracy. Since the NFL moved up the kickoff to the 35 yard line last year, Longwell had 19 touchbacks out of 77 kickoffs (opponents' average start at the 25.1 yard line) as opposed to Suisham who had 28 touchbacks out of 72 kickoffs (opponents' average start at the 23.7 yard line). By the way, how sad is it that Minnesota had more kickoffs than us...more kickoffs mean your offense scored more...the craptastic Vikings scored 340 points and we scored 325...considering the overwhelming difference in offensive weaponry between those two teams, is anyone still wondering why Arians is no longer here? Anyway, back to Longwell...sure he kicked in a dome for the last 6 years, but before that, he kicked on the Frozen Tundra in Green Bay for 9 years, so he knows about kicking in poor field conditions.