I feel like I'm beating a tin drum.
I've wondered and finally had to look it up: Did Maher do better, about the same, or worse than he did in his previous assignment?
My lookup reveals about a 3 to 4% fall off, career wide, including this year's kicks factored into the career stat. His pre-Rams career stat is probably a wee bit higher, this year's falloff correspondingly a wee bit greater.
What were his holds like in our last game? Why three misses in one game?
Did anybody factor in the role of an inexperienced holder on his substandard performance? There is no pattern, no corrolary that I see evidence of, and as far a I can determine lacking any data whatsoever, no consistent fault - wide right, wide left, etc.
A football tilted left at the hold will arc left. A football tilted right at the hold will arc right. A football not held at the vertical angle (facing the kicker) where the kicker wants it will affect foot placement, trajectory, and to some extent direction. The hold has to be
right for the kicker to have confidence in what he is doing, concentrate accordingly, and put the ball between the uprights. If it isn't, it can mess with the kicker's head.
I'm not trying to pin blame on Evans. He's obviously doing the best he can. What I am concerned with is addressing the problem in a way that points toward a solution, or partial solution.
Do the Rams have anybody - at any position - on the roster who has held for place kicks at
any level? High school? Pop Warner? Intramural?
I've seen kicker performance fall off markedly with holder changes more than once.
I watched Nolan Cromwell hold for Danny Villanueva. Cromwell was probably the best pure athlete on that Rams roster at the time. Roman Gabriel said Nolan could play just about any position except interior line, offense or defense, and help you out. His holds were spot-on, every time, and Villanueva didn't miss.
Why does the punter have to be the holder?
Do we have a better, more experienced, holder somewhere on the roster?
And will an inexperienced kicker kicking our of an inexperienced holder's hold be better than what we had?
Or did Evans all-of-a-sudden become a good journeyman NFL pro-level holder, who could elicit confidence from any NFL place kicker?
I hope Snead and McVay have an answer. I sure don't.
