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OK, I'm not going to proclaim Lindell to be the next Morton Andersen. HOWEVER, folks around here are coming down awful hard on the guy for finishing 2004 safely within the top 10 in all scoring stats. He was 7th in Percentage made, 8th in total points for the season, and he did not miss an extra point all season (in fact, he hasn't EVER missed an NFL extra point). He may not consistently reach the endzone on kickoffs, but how many kickers do since the tee was lowered and moved back a few years ago?
I agree that he has not instilled great confidence in me when lining up for a kick. But I really have to question why I feel like that. Is it because I keep reading all these hate posts about him? It isn't as though he missed a number of game-on-the-line kicks (although you wouldn't know it by reading posts around here). His stats are not bad at all, especially when you consider where he plays most of his games. He only missed 4 kicks all year.
Here's the basic line on Lindell's last two seasons:
YEAR TEAM G FGM FGA PCT LNG XPM XPA PTS
2003 BUF 16 17 24 70.8 44 24 24 75
2004 BUF 16 24 28 85.7 43 45 45 117
Last season was a dramatic improvement over 2003. But, consider that the 2003 team pretty much sucked in general.
Would you consider this kicker better or worse than Lindell?
YEAR TEAM G FGM FGA PCT LNG XPM XPA PTS
1992 BUF 16 24 30 80.0 54 43 44 115
1993 BUF 16 23 32 71.9 59 36 37 105
1994 BUF 16 24 28 85.7 52 38 38 110
1995 BUF 16 31 40 77.5 51 33 35 126
1996 BUF 16 24 29 82.8 48 33 33 105
1997 BUF 16 24 30 80.0 55 21 21 93
1998 BUF 16 33 41 80.5 52 41 41 140
1999 BUF 16 25 34 73.5 52 33 33 108
2000 BUF 16 26 35 74.3 48 31 31 109
Well, that was Steve Christie's career with Buffalo. Not once did he get his FG % as high as Lindell. If you remember, for a while, Steve was considered one of the most accurate kickers in NFL.
So, I'm going to bury my doubts as far as I can for now. I'm going to give Lindell a fair shot going into this season. I'd suggest that all the haters take a closer look at last season and do the same. Either way, he's the guy were going with, so we may as well through some support behind him.
I agree that he has not instilled great confidence in me when lining up for a kick. But I really have to question why I feel like that. Is it because I keep reading all these hate posts about him? It isn't as though he missed a number of game-on-the-line kicks (although you wouldn't know it by reading posts around here). His stats are not bad at all, especially when you consider where he plays most of his games. He only missed 4 kicks all year.
Here's the basic line on Lindell's last two seasons:
YEAR TEAM G FGM FGA PCT LNG XPM XPA PTS
2003 BUF 16 17 24 70.8 44 24 24 75
2004 BUF 16 24 28 85.7 43 45 45 117
Last season was a dramatic improvement over 2003. But, consider that the 2003 team pretty much sucked in general.
Would you consider this kicker better or worse than Lindell?
YEAR TEAM G FGM FGA PCT LNG XPM XPA PTS
1992 BUF 16 24 30 80.0 54 43 44 115
1993 BUF 16 23 32 71.9 59 36 37 105
1994 BUF 16 24 28 85.7 52 38 38 110
1995 BUF 16 31 40 77.5 51 33 35 126
1996 BUF 16 24 29 82.8 48 33 33 105
1997 BUF 16 24 30 80.0 55 21 21 93
1998 BUF 16 33 41 80.5 52 41 41 140
1999 BUF 16 25 34 73.5 52 33 33 108
2000 BUF 16 26 35 74.3 48 31 31 109
Well, that was Steve Christie's career with Buffalo. Not once did he get his FG % as high as Lindell. If you remember, for a while, Steve was considered one of the most accurate kickers in NFL.
So, I'm going to bury my doubts as far as I can for now. I'm going to give Lindell a fair shot going into this season. I'd suggest that all the haters take a closer look at last season and do the same. Either way, he's the guy were going with, so we may as well through some support behind him.
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