Here we are, safely ensconced in the bye week, and the Niners have reverted to mini-camp mode in the kicking department. Because of the status of one David Akers, hurt or not, he’s been sucking the big one. His accuracy rate of 69% is good enough for 31st in the league. Only Green Bay has a worse kicker in (Jackie) Mason Crosby, who is an abysmal 64%.
The season for Akers started out with such hope as he tied the NFL record with a 63 yard kick in Green Bay. But he had costly misses in the Giants game early, and both the StL games (1 miss in the OT tie, and 1 miss in the OT loss) among a whole bunch of other botched attempts. With those kicks, the Niners could have ended up 13-3 and holding the #1 seed, but in the end the Niners still have the bye, and Atl will lose so the NFC Championship game likely goes through SF anyway.
The difference between this year and last is the distance of Akers’kicks. Last year, Akers was 31-32 in kicks from 0-39 yards. This year, he’s 20-23 for the same distance. 40 and up last year, he was 13-20 with an astounding 7-9 on 50+ kicks. This year, the numbers are much worse at 9-19, and 2-6 from 50+.
So, by the numbers, Akers isn’t getting the short kicks he got last year. He’s being asked to kick longer ones, and it isn’t working. He was hurt at some point in the season, but nothing has been done about his problems, til now. The Niners yesterday signed Billy (what, me worry?) Cundiff. He of the blown 32 yarder in the AFC championship game last year. Cundiff has the wonderful stat of being signed to 10 teams in as many seasons. He missed the cut with 5 of them, and played his way off of 4. Sure, he’s got experience, but he also has experience missing big kicks.
Let the competition begin.
Forty Niners Forever 
Sorry about the length, but thee are a lot of interesting numbers in there.
very interesting post, thanks for posting it.
Would have been shorter if not listed twice! LOL
That was excellent. Soap’s numbers were eye-opening. Thought Willis was bad against the pass, but that’s relevant. Willis gets beat, but all middle linebackers get beat. Kaep throws deeper and doesn’t take sacks. How can you be 33rd in the league in sacks like Alex was when there’s only 32 teams? Lol. That’s rhetorical humor….
http://www.49ers.com/news/article-2/Justin-Smith-Returns-to-Practice/953570dd-d3b8-4864-a694-84048a5fd65b
If you look closely in the background of this Justin Smith interview you’ll see that old sports psychologist that Bill Walsh used to love. I can’t remember the dude’s name or what his official title was under Walsh, but I hope that dude is in the building for one of two things: either to have a mastectomy or to counsel Akers.
Harry Edwards. He’s growing tits now, I see.
ah, I see you beat me to the tit-joke. Wish I’d hit that first.
I have a simple solution for our kicking woes…Go for it on 4th down! 4th and 4 from the 30? I like our chances of making the 1st down better than making the kick. And besides, FGs are for pussies. Score a goddamn TD.
Isn’t everything you disagree with for pussies?? just a thought.
Tweet from Mindi Bach: 49ers David Akers had off-season(Feb) surgery for double sports hernia: rehabbed& felt great until slip’d after Saints game.
Tweet 2: 49ers Akers flew back to Philly after Seattle game to see same surgeon where he recieved a few injections.
Still say they go with Akers.You have the same comfort zone all year with Center Jennings,Lee,Akers,you go with Cundriff now Lee switches to the right and it could be a major adjustment period and timing issues.Stick with the comfort zone going forward IMO.
I wonder if Akers losing all that money in that real estate ponzi scheme at the end of his career with a young family made him feel like he had to kick through the double nut drop. I wonder if Harbaugh had some added responsibility to Akers knowing that Akers and his family would be living the rest of their lives on the money Akers made with the 49ers. If Akers had the double nut drop, that’s a horse of another color.
If Harbaugh calculated that he could still make the playoffs with a falty kicker and Harbaugh stuck with Akers, that’s the kind of stuff the team hears about and runs through walls for. That’s the kind of stuff that brings Harbaugh’s humanitarian side through, and that’s much needed. And Harbaugh has that side to him. He might hate the press, and because the press is the lens we see Harbaugh through, we get a skewed view of Harbaugh. This story, if it shapes up the way it looks to be shaping up, makes me like Harbaugh and Akers that much more. The playoffs, however, are a horse of another color and bringing in Cundiff makes a lot of sense. Personally, I’d suit ’em both up and let Cundiff kick the kickoffs and let Akers focus completely on making field goals. But like Grump said, who do you scratch from the playoff roster? I’m showing my ignorance (but don’t care), but don’t you get an expanded playoff roster? Can’t you suit more guys up for the playoffs?
NO!
Wouldn’t Akers get paid his full contract even if he were shut down halfway through the season. Anyway, the rumor about injury has come true. How can you kick consistently with a double hernia problem? I say go with the Cundiff option — I’d rather have a healthy, crap kicker, than a guy that was good, but has an injury that could “slip” right in the middle of the kick to win or save a playoff game. How could Harbaugh wait this long to fix an injured kicker problem?…
Benching your starting QB who isn’t hurt rings louder than backing your kicker, Spitty . . .
I’m sure you’ll get over it and when you do the entire looker room will get a bounce.
Hell, let’s go with the Norwegian guy. Check him for hernias, larder in some tins of herring, and he’s good to go…
I got a kick outta this stat…Joe Flacco has more playoffs starts (9) then the other seven QBs (7) combined this weekend. Playoff King: Joe Fucking Flacco.
And Spit, if the Niners keep both kickers for the playoffs I’m gonna send that horse of a different color and his size 9 (that’s huge for horses) bar shoe to kick you in the goddamn throat. Keeping two kickers would be the dumbest move since Tim Geithner was appointed Treasury Secretary.
Who has a bigger impact on a game? A kicker or a backup lineman?
I think the Vikings go into GB and beat ’em, and I think the Redskins game is a pick ’em. I also think the Colts beat the Ravens. Lewis passes the torch to Luck. Houston beats the Bengals, but Houston stinks. I hope the Bengals win because that could be the start of something big for the Bengals (Steelers and Ravens stink).
Vikings
Seattle
Indy
Houston
GB is a bunch of pussies.
Cincy
Seattle
Indy
Green Bay
IMFHO!
If the Niners keep 2 kickers, Harbaugh will be asked to donate his brain for concussion studies in the locker room. GB may be pussies but they aren’t going to lose at home to Minnesota. Yer wrong so many times a day you cant keep yer shit straight, skippy. Yer like 15 broken clocks.
Hou beats Cincy
Green Bay over Minn
Wash over Sea
Balt over Indy
New thread is up.
Double Check Rogers and GB easily wins at home over Minnesota
Houston gets by Bengals in a shootout!
Baltimore even with chump Joe Flacco and now with Ray Lewis back for his spirited pregame speech farewell ,take down Luck and the Colts with their D.
Seattle ,just to strong overall for Washington!!
Moving on:
Green Bay
Houston
Baltimore
Seattle