This is just my take so it's open season for anyone who wants to disagree.
A good holder can (and should!) adjust to a bad snap. He should catch a ball that is off target or that arrives with the laces facing the wrong direction, make the necessary adjustment(s), and get the ball on spot, on time, correct launch angle, with the laces facing the goal posts.
If any of that goes wrong - let's say, for example, the ball is placed with the laces facing directly left instead of directly at the goal post (as happened with at least one of Karty's misses this year) - I don't think there's a damn thing a kicker can do to adjust.
That ball is going to hook way left (which is what happened on that kick I mentioned) and the adjustment would be to change his planned trajectory in mid leg-swing to aim 20 yards to the right of the right upright to account for the hook that is guaranteed to happen. Considering that he's already into his leg swing as the ball is being placed it seems totally unrealistic for a kicker to take lace placement into account before making contact with the ball.
"Total operation time refers to the time it takes for the center to snap the ball, the holder to put it down and the kicker to get the ball kicked. The total operation time from snap to kick should not exceed 1.3 seconds." [
www.espn.com] (I know BerendsenRam posted Meador's comment saying 2.1 seconds. That was 60 years ago. They've gotten better.)
How much time does a kicker have between when the ball is placed and when his foot hit's it? If it's more than a tenth of a second I would be surprised.
How much time does a receiver have to adjust to a poor throw?
IMO this is not even apples to oranges. This is apples to elephants territory.
AlbaNY_Ram
