Ex-Vikings kicker Blair Walsh: Last season 'wasn't fun'
Ex-Vikings kicker Blair Walsh: Last season 'wasn't fun'Now he's getting a shot at redemption with Seattle.Walsh missed a 27-yard field goal with less than 30 seconds remaining against Seattle in a frigid wild-card playoff game against the Vikings two seasons ago. Walsh yanked the kick wide left, allowing the Seahawks to survive for a 10-9 victory. After Walsh’s struggles continued into last season, the Vikings cut him loose after nine games. He’ll kick against the Vikings instead of for them when the teams play a preseason game Friday in Seattle.
“It just wasn’t fun,” Walsh said of his last year in Minnesota. “It wasn’t fun trying to work through it and get better. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish out the year. I thought I would be able to correct it, and I didn’t get that chance. But it’s all right. I’m happy with the place I’m in, and I wouldn’t change anything.”
Walsh had missed four of his 16 field goal attempts with the Vikings last season and four of 19 extra point tries before being let go.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks were looking to make their own change at kicker after Steven Hauschka missed 10 total kicks, with six kicks blocked, last season for Seattle.
“We are getting him at a time when he really has something to prove,” coach Pete Carroll said of Walsh. “He has been a tremendous worker for us, really diligent worker. He is a very good athlete, too. You can see he has soccer background in him and all that. He has a big leg though, too. We haven’t seen a ball pop up in the air like this in years. We are really excited about what he’s bringing in, and now it’s just about consistency.”
Walsh was named a first-team All-Pro and made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season with the Vikings in 2012. He converted 92 percent of his field goal tries and was perfect on extra points. He believes he can recapture that form with the Seahawks...
http://www.startribune.com/ex-vikings-kicker-blair-walsh-last-season-wasn-t-fun/440216613/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
Might be that a change of scenery is all that Walsh needed to reach his true potential. He's everything you'd want in a kicker physically. But the lights aren't very bright right now, are they? Let's see him in a pressure situation.
i had heard that he was struggling in seattle with consistency this summer. maybe my guy was wrong, or maybe this is just carol trying to build his confidence?
I am tired of hearing "I didn't get the chance" from players like him.... Motherfucker we gave you all the chances you deserved after you missed a damn chip shot, then showed up the next year and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. How many chances does he think he deserves before the team is supposed to find someone that can do his job?
I am so tired of that mentality from players. Your job is to kick the ball through the uprights. That job requires people with a special talent set that not many people can do with regularity. If you can't do it with regularity.... then you can't do the job. I guess I should be pissed that the VIkings haven't given me the chance to be their inside linebacker. I mean all I need is time to correct it.....
All the leg talent in the world, but what makes a good kicker is mental toughness. Look at Hansen in Detroit. Pretty sure he missed some big kicks, but he came back and made the next one. Walsh couldn't get out of his own head. I have never seen a pro football player look so shaken as he did after the miss in his last game. He was frantic on the sidelines, trying to settle himself down, but it was obvious he was done.
@"Mike Olson" said: I am tired of hearing "I didn't get the chance" from players like him.... Motherfucker we gave you all the chances you deserved after you missed a damn chip shot, then showed up the next year and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. How many chances does he think he deserves before the team is supposed to find someone that can do his job?I am so tired of that mentality from players. Your job is to kick the ball through the uprights. That job requires people with a special talent set that not many people can do with regularity. If you can't do it with regularity.... then you can't do the job. I guess I should be pissed that the VIkings haven't given me the chance to be their inside linebacker. I mean all I need is time to correct it.....
I see you have not fully recovered from the 10-9 game. I try not to even think about. Before the shot, I had a weird feeling he would miss it.
@"Mike Olson" said: I am tired of hearing "I didn't get the chance" from players like him.... Motherfucker we gave you all the chances you deserved after you missed a damn chip shot, then showed up the next year and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. How many chances does he think he deserves before the team is supposed to find someone that can do his job?I am so tired of that mentality from players. Your job is to kick the ball through the uprights. That job requires people with a special talent set that not many people can do with regularity. If you can't do it with regularity.... then you can't do the job. I guess I should be pissed that the VIkings haven't given me the chance to be their inside linebacker. I mean all I need is time to correct it.....
deep breath there Mike, hes not saying he didnt get a fair shake in Minny. he simply said that he thought he could work through it but the team went a different direction and he didnt get the opportunity to prove or not prove himself right.
as far as you at MLB... i think you need more than time to learn the position and get your head right... you need about 2 years of roid therapy and to somehow grow about 2 or 3 inches. :p
@"Mike Olson" said: I am tired of hearing "I didn't get the chance" from players like him.... Motherfucker we gave you all the chances you deserved after you missed a damn chip shot, then showed up the next year and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. How many chances does he think he deserves before the team is supposed to find someone that can do his job?I am so tired of that mentality from players. Your job is to kick the ball through the uprights. That job requires people with a special talent set that not many people can do with regularity. If you can't do it with regularity.... then you can't do the job. I guess I should be pissed that the VIkings haven't given me the chance to be their inside linebacker. I mean all I need is time to correct it.....
Agreed - had his contract not been so large, he would have been cut even earlier. Being 79% on PATs is not good, not in today's NFL. That is a bad stat even in the days of straight-on kickers.
On Walsh - we talked to him lots. Stand-up guy, always took accountability, always felt bad when he missed, and was very friendly to us and gave us his time even when he had a bad day. But, he got plenty of chances. A shame, as after his rookie year, I had hoped he was our 15 year answer at kicker.
@"greediron" said:
All the leg talent in the world, but what makes a good kicker is mental toughness. Look at Hansen in Detroit. Pretty sure he missed some big kicks, but he came back and made the next one. Walsh couldn't get out of his own head. I have never seen a pro football player look so shaken as he did after the miss in his last game. He was frantic on the sidelines, trying to settle himself down, but it was obvious he was done.
True - Packers kicker had a rough time and came back. Everyone loved Walsh, but his confidence simply never came back. It is a terribly hard job and a lot of pressure.
@"Tom Moore" said: @"greediron" said:
True - Packers kicker had a rough time and came back. Everyone loved Walsh, but his confidence simply never came back. It is a terribly hard job and a lot of pressure.
Not sure about the terribly hard job, relative to other NFL positions anyway. But it takes mental fortitude. You only get so many chances and after a bad miss will have to sit around and wait for a chance at redemption. That miss he had would have been tough for about any kicker to overcome. The team had small feeling of destiny IMO and many long time vets were pretty shaken at that loss. So it wasn't just the weight on his shoulders, but the weight from many others.His miss in the preseason in seattle last year sealed the deal. He wasn't coming back.
@"JimmyinSD" said: deep breath there Mike, hes not saying he didnt get a fair shake in Minny. he simply said that he thought he could work through it but the team went a different direction and he didnt get the opportunity to prove or not prove himself right.
Not how I read it at all.
He had his chance but he couldn't make it happen. He had more than enough chances. He is a good guy but we had to move forward. Peace out Wide Left.
He's a nice guy, and I'm a mean gal. I'm glad he's gone. He had plenty of chances and he's smoking some serious Washington weed if he thinks he didn't.
So....if my job isn't "fun" then it's not worth the trouble to be a professional?
color me confused
W@"Vanguard83" said: So....if my job isn't "fun" then it's not worth the trouble to be a professional?color me confused
Where is the lack of professionalism? Just because it wasn't fun does that mean he was half assing it?
@"JimmyinSD" said: I just dont see the malice in his comment.“It just wasn’t fun,” Walsh said of his last year in Minnesota. “It wasn’t fun trying to work through it and get better. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish out the year. I thought I would be able to correct it, and I didn’t get that chance.
“This team is genuine,” Walsh said. “It doesn’t seem like they change who they are if they go through a little bit of a rough patch or a losing streak, and I like that."
You (Walsh) didn't get that chance??? You got 9 games and missed 8 fucking kicks!!! How many more misses did you think you SHOULD get from the coaches after you butt fucked them by missing a chip shot FG in the playoffs!!!
Comments like that... I'm with Mike. FUCK Walsh. I hope he ends Seattle's season by missing a 27 yard FG. See how Seattle treats you then... I doubt they'll be welcoming you back with open arms.
@"Wetlander" said:“It just wasn’t fun,” Walsh said of his last year in Minnesota. “It wasn’t fun trying to work through it and get better. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to finish out the year. I thought I would be able to correct it, and I didn’t get that chance. “This team is genuine,” Walsh said. “It doesn’t seem like they change who they are if they go through a little bit of a rough patch or a losing streak, and I like that." You (Walsh) didn't get that chance??? You got 9 games and missed 8 fucking kicks!!! How many more misses did you think you SHOULD get from the coaches after you butt fucked them by missing a chip shot FG in the playoffs!!! Comments like that... I'm with Mike. FUCK Walsh. I hope he ends Seattle's season by missing a 27 yard FG. See how Seattle treats you then... I doubt they'll be welcoming you back with open arms.
I don't think it is malice as much as just typical yammering by a football player to canned questions. He hasn't been there long enough to experience "genuine" and that BS. It is a bit of a slap to the Vikings who stuck with him for too long in 2016, but he was talking seahawks, not Vikings.
That said, I hope he shanks a short one against us and is a blithering mess all year.
You can fix broken mechanics. You can increase leg strength. I’m just not sure how you can fix someone who
has the mental mindset to let one mistake snowball into a complete lack of
trust in their abilities.
I don’t doubt that Walsh might get his groove back for a
period of time, but you need a guy who’s mentally solid all the time.
Blair Walsh hasn't had a fun season for me since his rookie outing.
He was all-pro that year in my mind. Then went to average but still was able to get a large contract out of us, then went to crappy. If it was on the left hash, it was a miss.
Lesson learned: never draft kickers.
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