One or Two or Three Kickers?
Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 10:17 pm
Some teams have one player to handle both placekicking and punting duties while other teams have two. I suppose when it came to kicking duos, two of the most well known in the last two decades were Trevor Kennerd/Troy Westwood and Bob Cameron for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, along with Hank Illesic and Lance Chomyc for the Toronto Argos.
For most of their history, the Lions had a single kicker to handle both kicking duties. Since Lui Passaglia joined the BC Lions in 1976 until his retirement after 2000, he always performed both field goals and punts. The only brief exception was when his career was interrupted in 1988 during a contract dispute and he went to try out for the Cleveland Browns. In that year, originally the Lions brought on Tony Martino for both duties but he was ineffective, as was Roy Kurtz. Then Lions then released both of them and signed Bernie Ruoff at about the same time Passaglia returned to the team. It was decided that Ruoff would do the field goals while Passaglia would do the punting. But after missing several field goals in a certain game, Ruoff was also released and Passaglia was given both duties.
After Passaglia's retirement, Matt Kellett was brought on for both duties in 2001-2002, and then Duncan O'Mahony in 2004-2005, and finally Paul McCallum for 2006.
But let's not forget that there is a third kicking position: the one who handles the kickoffs. Although he is unofficially called the kickoff specialist, his official position is still a placekicker and apparently, there's no official term to distinguish him from the player who performs field goals.
I have noticed that in the case of the BC Lions, they have had several kickoff specialists. Therefore, even during Passaglia's long reign with the team, he was not the team's sole kicker. While Passaglia handled kickoffs up to around 1990, starting in 1991 he gave way to Giulio Caravatta who handled most kickoffs. Passaglia performed kickoffs again in the 1994 Grey Cup. But by the time the 2000 Grey Cup came, Bret Anderson performed kickoffs and he also handled them in the 2006 Grey Cup.
In both cases, why were Passaglia and McCallum not performing kickoff duties? I believe there were two reasons:
#1.
For Passaglia, despite the fact that he punted and kicked field goals well, I did notice that his kickoffs did not go very deep. So perhaps Caravatta performed kickoffs better. I don't know about how well McCallum performs in kickoffs. But overall, one would reasonably assume that the placekicker is most experienced and adept at kickoffs than any other player who doesn't specialize in kicking.
#2.
A more plausible explanation might be that the player taking the kickoff would be required to make tackles during the kickoff return when necessary. So it might be safer to have a stronger player who is more adept to making tackles perform a kickoff, rather than the usual placekicker who may not be used to performing tackles and therefore, is at a greater risk of facing a serious injury.
What are your thoughts on having one, two, or three kickers for field goals, punts, and kickoffs?
For most of their history, the Lions had a single kicker to handle both kicking duties. Since Lui Passaglia joined the BC Lions in 1976 until his retirement after 2000, he always performed both field goals and punts. The only brief exception was when his career was interrupted in 1988 during a contract dispute and he went to try out for the Cleveland Browns. In that year, originally the Lions brought on Tony Martino for both duties but he was ineffective, as was Roy Kurtz. Then Lions then released both of them and signed Bernie Ruoff at about the same time Passaglia returned to the team. It was decided that Ruoff would do the field goals while Passaglia would do the punting. But after missing several field goals in a certain game, Ruoff was also released and Passaglia was given both duties.
After Passaglia's retirement, Matt Kellett was brought on for both duties in 2001-2002, and then Duncan O'Mahony in 2004-2005, and finally Paul McCallum for 2006.
But let's not forget that there is a third kicking position: the one who handles the kickoffs. Although he is unofficially called the kickoff specialist, his official position is still a placekicker and apparently, there's no official term to distinguish him from the player who performs field goals.
I have noticed that in the case of the BC Lions, they have had several kickoff specialists. Therefore, even during Passaglia's long reign with the team, he was not the team's sole kicker. While Passaglia handled kickoffs up to around 1990, starting in 1991 he gave way to Giulio Caravatta who handled most kickoffs. Passaglia performed kickoffs again in the 1994 Grey Cup. But by the time the 2000 Grey Cup came, Bret Anderson performed kickoffs and he also handled them in the 2006 Grey Cup.
In both cases, why were Passaglia and McCallum not performing kickoff duties? I believe there were two reasons:
#1.
For Passaglia, despite the fact that he punted and kicked field goals well, I did notice that his kickoffs did not go very deep. So perhaps Caravatta performed kickoffs better. I don't know about how well McCallum performs in kickoffs. But overall, one would reasonably assume that the placekicker is most experienced and adept at kickoffs than any other player who doesn't specialize in kicking.
#2.
A more plausible explanation might be that the player taking the kickoff would be required to make tackles during the kickoff return when necessary. So it might be safer to have a stronger player who is more adept to making tackles perform a kickoff, rather than the usual placekicker who may not be used to performing tackles and therefore, is at a greater risk of facing a serious injury.
What are your thoughts on having one, two, or three kickers for field goals, punts, and kickoffs?
