why have the Gramaticas...

[bulls96go]

not gotten another shot?

there seems to be a ton of teams in need of a kicker

they were gpretty good back in the day.

why no opportunities?

[Minotaur]

not gotten another shot?

there seems to be a ton of teams in need of a kicker

they were gpretty good back in the day.

why no opportunities?

Gramatica trying to kick way onto Pats’ roster

New England wonders if former Pro Bowler can replace Vinatieri

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - A kicker once hailed as the best in the NFL is back and with the New England Patriots.

No, not Adam Vinatieri.

It’s Martin Gramatica, whose outstanding career faded so completely that he didn’t even play last season. He’s competing to replace Vinatieri, the clutch kicker who left for the Colts after 10 seasons and three Super Bowl championships with the Patriots.

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“Anywhere you go, everybody watches the kicker because it’s an important part of the game,†Gramatica said, “but here especially for what Adam did. Everybody’s really concerned about who’s going to replace him.â€Â

Will it be the 5-foot-8 Gramatica? A few days before Tampa Bay won the 2003 Super Bowl, coach Jon Gruden said, “we have the best kicker in the league.â€Â

Or will it be 6-foot-1 Stephen Gostkowski, a rookie drafted out of Memphis in the fourth round.

“He’s good,†Gostkowski said of Gramatica, but “I can’t worry about what he does.â€Â

Gramatica said the two kickers are friendly and he’s not focusing on how Gostkowski is performing.

“I don’t feel any extra pressure than if I were the only (kicker) in camp,†he said.

A little more than a week into training camp, coach Bill Belichick says it’s too early to compare the two. He wants to see them kick a lot more before making a decision.

“You’re talking about (an) operation that is a three-man operation†with the snapper, holder and kicker, he said. “I think it’s too early to start charting kicks.â€Â

Gramatica has a big edge in experience even though he grew up playing soccer in Argentina, came to the United States when he was 10, and didn’t play organized football until his senior year at LaBelle High School in LaBelle, Fla., about two hours south of Tampa.

Drafted in the third round out of Kansas State in 1999, he made at least 79 percent of his field goal attempts in each of his first four seasons and went 2-for-2 in the Super Bowl in his fourth season.

Then his career went downhill.

He struggled while battling injuries in 2003 and was released Nov. 30, 2004 after missing seven of his last nine field goal attempts. Three of them came in a 21-14 loss to Carolina two days before the man once nicknamed “Automatica†who jumped after successful kicks was released.

He wasn’t shocked.

“I’ll bounce back,†he said at the time. “It hurts, but it doesn’t mean I’m done.â€Â

[Minotaur]

Enough said.

[USF03]

Doesn't Bill play for the TB Storm still?

haha...

nice pic

[smazza]

they werent well liked

no body likes a big mouth

[BULLfreak]

what you should have said is no body likes a big mouth KICKER

[Bulludo]

Enough said Lombardi speaks for itself.. ;D