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Suisham Is a Better Kicker Than Moseley
By Jamie Mottram | September 3, 2008
Any Redkins fan who sees this picture from last week’s team luncheon is probably wishing for the days of Mark Moseley, or perhaps Chip Lohmiller, when our team actually had a placekicker who could make field goals. But those Skins fans should also look at the numbers, because the numbers say young jedi Shaun Suisham is a better kicker than master Mark Moseley.
Absurd, right? Suisham is an oft-criticized youngster who missed a crucial 30-yarder in last year’s playoffs, while Moseley is Redskins royalty who won the ‘82 MVP.* Yet Suisham has also made 84% of his kicks as a Redskin, while Moseley only made 66%. That’s a big difference, and one explained in part by sample sizes and advances in kicking. Still, Suisham made 83% last year, which would have been the second-best season of Moseley’s long career, and is about average by today’s standards.
And, sure, “average” doesn’t sound so good. Probably because it’s not. But 83% is better than Lohmiller ever did, and he was a 2nd-round draft pick and Pro Bowler with his own McDonald’s commercial. And 83% is also better than the shit parade of kickers who followed Lohmiller’s departure 13 years ago: Eddie Murray (73%), Cary Blanchard (63%), Scott Blanton (73%), Brett Conway (75%), John Hall (78%), etc., etc.
So while Suisham doesn’t have much of a leg for 50-yarders and touchbacks, maybe we should relax a bit on the “Shaun Suisham sucks” thing and appreciate him for what he seems to be: a pretty accurate kicker.
* How Moseley won MVP is beyond me. I mean, he had a great season, missing just one field goal, but still. He was a kicker, and ‘82 saw guys like Dan Fouts, Marcus Allen and Lawrence Taylor operating at peak form.
Topics: Shaun Suisham, Stats Are Cool, Redskins |
20 Responses to “Suisham Is a Better Kicker Than Moseley”
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September 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
* It was the hair — definitely the hair.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:12 am
How would you describe Moseley’s coif? NASCAR hair?
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:13 am
You’ve officially been shunned by Nick Novak.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Right now it is almost a duck-ass, but back then…
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 am
Wow, it looks like Moseley used to have a perm.
And yes, Stet, all apologies to Mr. Novak, who was money at Maryland, not so good with the Skins and is now starting in KC.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:36 am
It was a perm, he admitted to it.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Mark Mosley is Napoleon Dynamite’s father.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
Also a comment on the “fast lane” that the Redskins are selling. It is just not the Redskins doing this. The 49ers and Bronocos are doing it as well. http://professionaltravelguide.com/Travel-News/index.aspx?id=TW178244
Although Oompa Loompa Synder probally started it
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Suisham will be nothing until he can kick a 50-yarder with three pounds of lead in his shoe.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I miss Ola Kimrin. Best Swedish kicker _ever_ to play for the Skins.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Kicker accuracy is largely random from year to year, so I seriously doubt whether there are field goal kickers that are dramatically better than one another in terms of kicking it between the uprights. Kickoff distance, however, is very predictable.
That’s why I’m down on Suisham. He could be the most accurate kicker next year. But he won’t have the most touchbacks.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Kicker accuracy fluctuates, sure, but my point is that Suisham’s performance hasn’t been bad, which is contrary to popular opinion. Well, that and that also Moseley wasn’t very good.
And, yeah, Suisham sucks on kickoffs. Like, really sucks, to the point where Pro Football Prospectus lists him as having the worst “gross kickoff value over average” last season.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Moseley did not even kick off — Jeff Hayes did. After Moseley got picked up by Cleveland, we saw why.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Respekanize #3 Mark Moseley:
Moseley had the best ever single-season FG% at the time (95.2%, previous record was set the year before with 91.67%). It’s still tied for 10th best ever. Weirdly, he missed three extra points that year. He led the league in FG makes with 20, averaging 2+ FGs a game for the 9 regular-season games.
Crapping on Moseley is like not giving Art Monk his due because now catching 100 passes in a season is no big thing. But Art did it first and when no one was doing it.
And in ‘83, Moseley followed it up by setting the NFL record for points by a kicker in a season, a record that stood for 15 years. It was 2nd most for any player ever, and is now 7th most for any player ever.
Fouts was named MVP by just about everybody but the AP. Allen was offensive rookie of the year for a Raiders team that matched the Skins 8-1 record. But LT? The Giants were 4-5 that year. The Giants D was 8th in the NFL in points allowed. And yes, Moseley did have better hair than all of them.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Moseley’s counting stats were impressive, yes, but his percentages were not (aside from ‘82, that is).
Oh, and LT was only Defensive Player of the Year that season, meaning he was almost certainly more valuable than any kicker has been or ever will be.
September 4th, 2008 at 5:28 am
Moseley kicked five field goals to beat the Giants 15-14 at RFK in the snow that season. That probably helped his cause.
September 4th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Suisham was five-for-five on FGs — including a 46-yard game-winner in OT — to beat the Jets 23-20 last season.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I’ve stayed outta this because I’m no expert on the fine art of place kicking, but are people here actually attempting to justify Moseley winning the MVP?
September 4th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Kicked 2 field goals to help the Redskins win Super Bowl XVII and remains their all time leading scorer with 1,207 points. Plus he had that wicked straight on kick, none of this soccer style crap. As far as winning the MVP goes, probably not the best choice but he’s a Redskin so does it really matter? Out.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Moseley should have been the back-to-back MVP in ‘82 and ‘83.
I seriously believe that 95.2%.
And LT more valuable than Moseley? What like the Giants would have been 0-9 instead of 4-5 without LT. LT was one of the best, but give me Dexter any day. Or Neil Olkiewicz. Or Rich Milot. Or Darryl Grant. Or Dave Butz.