The Vikings are set to audition a group of kickers on Tuesday, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today (on Twitter). The workout will include Kai Forbath, tweets Matt Vensel of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Randy Bullock is also likely to be a part of that group, but it’s not clear who else will be participating. In total, there should be four or five kickers in attendance, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN (on Twitter).
On Sunday, Blair Walsh missed an extra point attempt and had a field goal blocked as the Vikings lost to the Lions 22-16. This year, Walsh is just 12-16 on field goal attempts, though it should be noted that three of those misses came from more than 40 yards away.
Bullock was part of a group of kickers that worked out for the Bengals recently, along with Zach Hocker and Forbath. As of right now, the Bengals have not made a change at kicker and are forging ahead with Mike Nugent. Bullock served as the Giants’ kicker in the season opener while Josh Brown served his (initial) one-game suspension.
Great news. We need a new kicker a.s.a.p.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why they’d do this.
I couldn’t even type that with a straight face.
Its a shame since Walsh used to be a decent kicker, but that miss in the playoffs just wrecked his confidence and the fans’ confidence in him.
That’s exactly it, I think. I think his confidence has been shot since the playoffs (even though he singlehandedly scored ALL of the Vikings points that day) and he’s been trying to redeem himself with every kick. But, you can’t play like that.
Honestly I feel bad for the guy. You want to show faith in a guy and get him through his slump but at the same time you can’t have a game go for an OT loss when your kicker left 4 points off the board. If this was baseball he’d lose his closer job but he could go pitch in low leverage situations and work his confidence up. Unfortunately that’s not an option in the NFL.
Unfortunately, I think we need to make a change. Any change. I am normally opposed to a move like this, but we need to do it. I have defended Walsh, and I am very loyal to my team and its players, but this kid cannot be allowed the opportunity to miss any more kicks. We are going to be playing in a lot of close ball games down the stretch, and we will melt down if Walsh shanks another game winner. P.S. BEAT WASHINGTON!! SKOL!!!!