John Hall
 

Not sure if this was mentioned somewhere else, but it sure was nice to see John Hall nail that 47-yarder . His longest of the year, of the last two and a half years in fact.

Granted, it would have been nicer if instead he was kicking an extra point, still that will be a huge plus if we can count on his leg like that

Re: John Hall
 

It's very nice to see that Hall is back, presumably at full strength (one of his kickoffs even made it to 1-yard line!). We need every single point we can get during the playoffs.

Re: John Hall
 

John Hall is good to have on the team because of experience, but I would like to see the kickoff by someone else.

Re: John Hall
 

Yea I agree, hes good on field goals and extra points but damn he cant get a kick off inside the 10 usually. We need a kick off specialist who can boot it inside the 5 EVERY kickoff.

Re: John Hall
 

It just looks to me that everytime Hall kicks off, it is the most painful expereince he has ever gone through.

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=twinskinsfan]It just looks to me that everytime Hall kicks off, it is the most painful expereince he has ever gone through.[/QUOTE]

Yes, I noticed that too. He still seems hurt. We can't keep letting Seattle start at the 35-40-yrd line every kickoff.

Re: John Hall
 

I do not think he is 100 percent, can Frost do the kickoffs? If Frost can kick that far, we can keep Hall fresh this way. For next year, draft Conor Huges, best kicker in college (and he went to UVA, my school :) )

Re: John Hall
 

We need to find something new, we might as well kick onside kicks all game, we can't afford to let Seattle start with good field position all game. Maybe they should put Sean Taylor in there, if he can kick as far as they say he can spit, he's our man!

Re: John Hall
 

I have to admit I was really rooting for Nick Novak when Hall was out.

Hall has never impressed me that much; maybe I'm spoiled growing up in the heyday of The Chip Shot, when you never had to worry because Lohmiller would drill it... but the 47 yarder this week went a long way to placating any fears I had about Hall being back.

Surprised the announce crew seemed unsure of Hall's ability to make that kick. Hasn't he kicked a bunch of 50 yarders in his career?

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=dgack]I have to admit I was really rooting for Nick Novak when Hall was out.

Hall has never impressed me that much; maybe I'm spoiled growing up in the heyday of The Chip Shot, when you never had to worry because Lohmiller would drill it... but the 47 yarder this week went a long way to placating any fears I had about Hall being back.

Surprised the announce crew seemed unsure of Hall's ability to make that kick. Hasn't he kicked a bunch of 50 yarders in his career?[/QUOTE]

not since his injury last year... longest before that 47 yarder was a single 45 yard kick i believe.

When we got him he was a great 50-54 yard type kicker, since then we haven't bothered to try it... he only has like 15 kicks on the year.

Re: John Hall
 

It's easy to assess the situation as we need a kickoff specialist. The only problem with that is what position player do we cut to make room for a guy that only comes out after we score and either the beginning of the game or 2nd half? Also bear in mind the way the injury bug has bit us, any position player we drop for a kickoff man makes us one less deep at a position that could be very thin at any given time during the season. It doesn't make sense to carry an extra kicker on the roster unless you have to carry him (under a long term contract like Hall was while he was hurt this year).

Re: John Hall
 

hall has really improved over the last 2 weeks,even the kickoffs are getting longer.facts are, he is our kicker for at least the rest of this season

Re: John Hall
 

I am glad we have John Hall. He is a good kicker. Does anybody remember our kicking woes of the late 90s/ early 00s? We would have killed for a kicker like John Hall at the time. We need to hold onto him, IMO. Kickers are not easy to come by.

Re: John Hall
 

I don't think anyone should be complaining about John Hall on kickoffs right now. Danny Smith often tells the kicker to kick it high and shorter so that the coverage team can get down on top of the returner in a hurry. We started the Tampa game doing this and it backfired, as they returned the ball to the Tampa 40 a couple times. After that you saw Hall kicking it down around the goalline, that's because the coaches switched it up and told him to go deep with it.

Hall is perfectly healthy and his leg is as strong as ever, as evidenced by the 47-yarder.

Re: John Hall
 

I loved hearing the ESPN crew talk about Hall's leg only being good to 45 yards or so, and then have him nail that 47 yarder with probably 5-7 yards to spare. The next kickoff was his longest, too (dropped it around the 2). Nonetheless, he needs to get seriously healthy before next year.

Re: John Hall
 

John Hall is a solid kicker when healthy. We need him to be at his best in the playoffs. At least one of the next three games will come down to a field goal.

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=twinskinsfan]It just looks to me that everytime Hall kicks off, it is the most painful expereince he has ever gone through.[/QUOTE]


I noticed it weeks ago at pre-game warm-ups during the Raiders Game, at our end of the field!


Hope he survives all of his duties and assignments.

Re: John Hall
 

John Halls leg is either not completely healed, or atrophied as it healed, and is much weaker than it was two years ago. His accuracy has never been a problem. He's still one of the more accurate kickers in the league, but obviously, his range isn't where it used to be.

The problem with getting a kickoff specialist is it takes another roster spot, which I'm pretty sure Gibbs won't even consider, so unless they can find a punter that can also kickoff, that won't happen. I don't think cutting him is the answer either. If you've paid attention to the kicking game around the league, it has been an off year for kickers in general. Just look at how many teams have hired Jose Cortez, in this season alone. Having an accurate kicker is a definite plus to have, especially in the playoffs. They'll just have to find a way to compensate for his short kickoffs.

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=onlydarksets]I loved hearing the ESPN crew talk about Hall's leg only being good to 45 yards or so, and then have him nail that 47 yarder with probably 5-7 yards to spare. The next kickoff was his longest, too (dropped it around the 2). Nonetheless, he needs to get seriously healthy before next year.[/QUOTE]You have to give the announcers a little break here. They said in warm ups he was not making any kicks over 45 yards and thats why they did not think he could make anything over 45yards.

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=firstdown]You have to give the announcers a little break here. They said in warm ups he was not making any kicks over 45 yards and thats why they did not think he could make anything over 45yards.[/QUOTE]

You misunderstand my point - I ddin't think it was a gimme, either. It was awesome to see him just demolish that kick when, prior to it, it wasn't clear that he had it in him. He crushed (relatively speaking, of course) that kickoff immediately following the field goal, too.

Re: John Hall
 

Our team would benefit if we cut Antonio Brown, put Moss in for punts, Betts in for kickoffs, and signed a kicker who can put it in the end zone on every kickoff. I know a guy who can do it, he just cant kick a field goal with guys in his face. Brown is a liability, and so are Hall's kickoffs. Easily fixable problems, but Danny Smith is a jackass.

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=skindogger47]Our team would benefit if we cut Antonio Brown, put Moss in for punts, Betts in for kickoffs, and signed a kicker who can put it in the end zone on every kickoff. I know a guy who can do it, he just cant kick a field goal with guys in his face. Brown is a liability, and so are Hall's kickoffs. Easily fixable problems, but Danny Smith is a jackass.[/QUOTE]

or maybe its not that simple and you're an idiot :P

Re: John Hall
 

[QUOTE=That Guy]or maybe its not that simple and you're an idiot :P[/QUOTE]
I'd agree with you. The jackass comment came out of nowhere. Something tells me it isn't as easy as Skindogger would have us believe. Maybe the fact that there are only probably 10 decent kickoff guys around and everyone else is simply adequate. Otherwise they'd all be in the NFL. I know a guy who can run a 3.8 40 and throw the ball accurately 85 yards. He's also 9 feet tall and can spit farther than Sean Taylor. But he can't do anything with other football players on the field. So he doesn't get a chance.