Respect for Shayne Graham?
Oct 5, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints kicker Shayne Graham (3) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the first quarter of a game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
As Saints fans, we’ve gotten used to racing hearts, disappointment, and triumph. The ‘racing hearts’ part is not something we enjoy. Saints kicker Shayne Graham and his wobbly kicks has gotten plenty of Saints fans clutching their hearts.
Shayne Graham makes me nervous every time he attempts a kick.
— Lawnyá Benton (@AtlCane09) October 27, 2014
Saints fans prayed that team GM Mickey Loomis would once again work his magic in the off-season and find a better kicker than veteran Shayne Graham but our prayers went unanswered.
When recently suspended Broncos kicker Matt Prater hit the open market right before the Saints bye week, fans were practically salivating at having his services on special teams.
The Saints made no moves to acquire him and he eventually was signed by the Detroit Lions. Fans were bewildered as to how the Saints front office couldn’t see what was blatantly obvious. Then this announcement came over Twitter:
NFC Special Teams Player of Month for Oct: @Saints K Shayne Graham. 1st career Player of Month Award
— Randall Liu (@RLiuCBS) October 30, 2014
I’ll admit that I was a bit perplexed seeing this, but Graham is the only NFL kicker to have scored on three field goals in each game this month. He’s scored at least 10 points in each game as well.
Graham had an NFL folly type extra point miss last month but its plagued one kicker one time or another. Its the first miss he has had in four years. Of course you always want to have a kicker to depend on and wobbly kicks don’t build confidence.
Looking bad and being bad can be two different things. Just look at Chargers QB Phillip Rivers who eventually replaced QB Drew Brees as the starter in San Diego.
He had the weirdest throwing motion ever. The ball came out wobbly sometimes. He still was able to get the ball to receivers and score touchdowns.
Graham is in a good situation. The Saints offense usually sets him up in manageable field goal range when they don’t score touchdowns so he doesn’t have to worry about kicking from 40-50 yards.
Graham is a veteran so the age question will always creep up. Sean Payton and the rest of the team depend on him. As long as Graham keeps the ball going between the goal posts, no matter how ugly it looks, I could learn to like him too.