Shaun Suisham Gets the Boot; Meet Graham Gano aka "Graham Cracker"
by Kevin Ewoldt on Dec 8, 2009 12:37 PM EST
in Redskins News
53 comments
Given the short patience of the Redskins front office, it's not surprising the Suisham experiment is officially over. In trying to find more info on the new Redskins kicker, Graham Gano, I came across SB Nation friend Bruce's interview with Graham on Baltimore Beatdown. Some highlights:
Graham Gano converted 24 of 26 field goal attempts in 2008 for the Seminoles, including five of seven from 50+ yards. Gano did not miss from inside 49 yards in 2008. He missed the first two games of the season with a torn meniscus suffered in pre-season but it obviously didn't affect the rest of his season.
During the last year of his career at Florida State, Graham was asked and slated to become the first player in school history to handle all of the kicking duties - consisting of punting, placements and kickoffs - for the 2008 season.
Named the top punter in the ACC by the Sporting News.
Won the Lou Groza Award, given to college football's top placekicker, and was considered to be the best kicking prospect entering the 2009 NFL Draft
Rexx: Do you have a nickname that you can share with us?
Graham: I have a ton of nicknames but the one that sticks out to me the most would have to be Graham Cracker.
Rexx: What little known fact should we know about you?
Graham: I was born in Dundee, Scotland. My Dad was in the U.S. Navy for 30 years and was stationed in Scotland where he met my mum.
"Graham Cracker"? I anxiously await Fred Smoot's take on this nick-name. Graham lost the kicking battle to Steve Hauschka and was cut September 5th by the Ravens.
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Sorry Suishy
After your start to this season, I thought we may have found a decent kicker.
I was wrong.
"By far the worst performers on the team are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
I am sorry as well
I got to chat with him during training camp a bit. Nice guy…I know the players all liked him as well (before the Dallas game that is).
by Kevin Ewoldt on Dec 8, 2009 12:58 PM EST up reply actions
he made a mil this year
he’s doing ok
"By far the worst performers on the team are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
leave it to smuts to put it in perspective
you heartless bastard lol
SpotieOtieDopalicious
A pro-rated Mil
as opposed to an amateur rated Mil.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
man
I actually feel bad for him. guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. l8tr guy
SpotieOtieDopalicious
I could have kicked that field goal.
He sucked under pressure. As a person, he will be fine.
Still think we should have
delayed hiring a kicker until next year and simply go for TDs the remainder of this year as Red Zone practice for the Offense. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Oh, yeah. We win a game and lose spots in the draft order.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I wasn't expecting this
But considering the kicks that he’s missed, I guess that it’s warranted. I kinda feel sorry for him, but that missed 20-something yarder against the Saints was just the worst. I wish him well in the future however.
Finally
I am fucking glad he is gone. He fucking sucked.
It’s not personal, I’m sure he’s a good guy, but he sucked at his job. He had to be fired.
ACC guy
After Durant Brooks I’m not too high on ACC kickers. I emailed the Ravens blogger asking your question and will post back his reply. Def worth the investigation.
Hopefully it was similar to the 'Skins "competition"
and he lost out simply because there weren’t a ton of reps to go around and.the incumbent didn’t look horrendous in the preseason
These are his UFL stats
Kicking
FG LONG XP
13/16 53 20/20
Punting
TOT YDS AVG TB -20 BLK
2 85 42.5 0 0 0
what stinks for this kid is he has no leeway
If he misses that first FG, it’s gonna be ugly.
Skins signed him to a 3-year deal…1 year guaranteed.
with 4 games left to actually see how he does
we signed this kid 4 three years, and he gets guaranteed money for a year?
ugh
SpotieOtieDopalicious
Thats a terrible deal
I wonder if cerrato was able to throw some draft picks to somebody just stay comfortable
I don't know
sounds like a paid 4 game tryout. Most kickers get a quick look at and maybe a kick or two in pre-season -sharing kicks with a rival. Crackers gets to prove himself for top dollar with no competition. Doesn’t get much better than that for a kicker. There isn’t even any pressure until next year as he is 0-0 while the team is 3 and 9.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I don't feel sorry for him...
That kick was unacceptable. I don’t care if this new guy stinks either because at least we know what we can expect of him.
oh boy…here we go again!
we replace a guy who made 75% of his attempts this year with someone who has never played in the NFL. And he could not make the squad in Balt or anywhere else he tried, and Balts kicker is not that good.
And why? because he missed three imp kicks…and they were imp and those misses hurt. but by and large, he has been a good kicker for us. is he clutch? he has not had many opps so it is too early to tell. but lets not kid ourselves…kickers do not win and lose games.
its classic snyder scapegoating. why not fire the defensive coach who blew 4Q leads three weeks in a row and some more earlier in the season!!!
i dont have any special love for suisham; he will be kicking again next year if not this year. but the reason i hate to see this is threefold:
1- it reinforces my belief that snyder does not feel any responsibility for their role in this mess and still thinks they are a quick fix away.
2- so we are probably going to waste a pick on some QB who is a couple years from being as good as campbell is today with the same limited upside.
3- the way they treat people is a major problem. there is a major difference between the good teams who might not resign a star player and one that publicly tortures them. the message over the years is clear…if you are dear, you will be strung out publicly until everyone wants to throw up. And if u are not, you are cut after the second slip up. the double standards are very dysfunctional and why they will have a difficult time attracting quality front office and coaching staff personnel.
lets review-
steve spurrier- funky college system, no pro coaching experience, publicly tortured
joe gibbs- one time opportunity. he is not coming back
williams- successful coordinator and seemingly a natural selection- never given a real shot
my man marvin lewis- winner everywhere he has been- never given a chance. am happy to see him turn around the whole darn shameful bengals organization
jim zorn- no pro coaching experience (QB coach, come on!) and never even coached at coordinator level- publicly tortured
vinny cerrato- a complete bust almost across the board- still large and in charge
lavar arrington- come on…u dont file the whole contract with the league office and leave out the signing bonus page- lol
jason campbell- he might not be the greatest, but he does have class. publicly tortured
sue the fans who cant afford their ticket during the great repression
trash their signs
can go on and on…but u get the point.
this circus is a bad dream. i suggest u watch it from afar
by les boulez bomber on Dec 8, 2009 3:09 PM EST reply actions
he was bad under pressure.
It is easy kicking field goals in the first half.
ok, but he did not lose the game. we gave up over 30 points and missed some opps ourselves, so there were lots of game winning plays that were blown.
my point is simply that the timing is wrong. and snyder has shown a very inconsistent approach to dealing with people. and at times, he has treated them horribly.
and this inconsistently really hampers our ability to attract really good talent who have options. seriously, would u even consider working for the man ??? i dont want to give him a dime much less labor for him !!!
hes a jerk and it shows. and nothing will change until he changes how he treats people. and a good barometer starts with being consistently decent.
u know, abe pollin fielded horrible teams for years…including a whopping 19 win team last year. but people respected him and his approach. he was beloved even though he made u want to pull ur hair out. dan needs to grow up and learn how to be a real man.
leonsis is pretty good too! so go Caps … its the best chance we have :-)
by les boulez bomber on Dec 9, 2009 12:07 PM EST up reply actions
I agree with your thesis
but cutting Shaun Suisham is inconsequential to the argument.
Nobody cares about kickers, their treatment, or especially kickers who miss game winning 27 yarders
"By far the worst performers on the team are in the front office." – Sally Jenkins
75%
and 100% of those were from about 48 yards and in. I.E. ALL MAKEABLE for a true nfl kicker. How many times have we punted from the 35? And why? Because when we let Shaun kick those last year he missed them all.
Also, why does the op say “experiment?” He has been our kicker for 3 seasons now and isn’t any good. It’s proven fact.
What the hell are you talking about?
What in god’s name does any of what you just said have to do with firing a shitty kicker who lost us two BIG games (our rival, and chance to knock off the best team in the league) because he can’t make “gimme” clutch kicks?
we replace a guy who made 75% of his attempts this year with someone who has never played in the NFL.
It couldn’t get much worse. 75% is horrible. Sometimes it’s good to let young kickers work out their issues in the hopes that they will pay long-term dividends, but missing FGs of less than 30 yards is absolutely unacceptable.
Since the Skins have entered the 2010 preseason, why not give the kid some in-game experience? If it works out, they might have a solid kicker for a long time. If not, you lose nothing.
This kid has proven he is clutch tho in all his past experiences.
Suisham blew it 2 years in a row, time to start the auditioning.
Hey
Also if hunter goes down again he could handle both jobs
by washfan29 on Dec 8, 2009 3:43 PM EST via mobile reply actions
i wish you hadn't put that out into the ether
there is no replacing Hunter
it just can’t be done
SpotieOtieDopalicious
Hold on
don’t Crackers crumble under pressure?
SpotieOtieDopalicious
Bruce (of Baltimore Beatdown) response regarding Graham's kicks this pre-season
I didn’t think Gano stunk at all and actually was pretty convinced he was the better of the two kickers in camp. He only went 1-3 in pre season games while Hauschka went 5 of 6, which won him the job. However, throughout camp Gano had the stronger, more accurate leg and also has 4.5 speed t run down the breakout kick returns. Plus, he was the All-ACC as the FSU punter as well. I was disappointed when he was cut but saw what he did in the UFL and had hoped the Ravens might givwe him another chance.
When Hauschka was releaed, Matt Stover, who was the Ravens fall-back guy, had already signed with the Colts and Gano was tied to the UFL thru their Championship Game on 11/27. So the y signed Billy Cundiff who was doing really well but I just heard today that he came out of the Packers game with a concussion. Now Gano is signed with you nd we are once again out in the cold, figuretivly (sp?) and literally.
Not sure who swish is?
But go Novak
by washfan29 on Dec 8, 2009 10:12 PM EST via mobile reply actions
can't do that
then you’re takin reps away from Hunter!
SpotieOtieDopalicious
We'll have a mean Wild Hunter formation now
teams will have to gameplan for the burner lined up at placekicker
I can see it now
Albright hikes to Hunter, who stands up throw the fade but pitches it back to “Crackers” instead, who proceeds to run it with Hunter as his lead blocker.
IT WILL BE GLORIOUS!!!
SpotieOtieDopalicious
Interesting this guy couldn’t beat out a guy in Baltimore who has already been cut and replaced. Maybe he’ll do better for us. Sigh.
Also, Suisham missed 3 field goals this year—the 2 against Dallas and the 1 against NO. Before two weeks ago, he was perfect for the year. Granted, two of his 3 misses changed the outcomes of games, but I just don’t know if we should have made this decision this quickly. Vinny knows best, though, I suppose.
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