Special Teams Dept. ~ ~ ~

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Jets Special Teams : A Love Story and A Quest  ... https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/jets-special-teams-a-love-story-and-a-quest 

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3 things to know about new Jets return man Quadree Henderson

https://jetswire.usatoday.com/2019/04/07/3-things-to-know-about-new-jets-return-man-quadree-henderson/

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Rich Cimini     ESPN Staff Writer 

The Jets have a developing problem at kicker, as Chandler Catanzaro missed two PATs. His work in practice also has been spotty. It's time to bring in some competition. Adam Gase didn't dismiss that possibility, but he refused to sound the alarm. He said there was an issue with one of the snaps/hold. "We have to look at the whole operation," he said.

>        https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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For the second straight season, the Jets could be looking for a new kicker.

The Jets are working out former Seahawks kicker Blair Walsh and former Steelers and Bears camp kicker Chris Blewitt this weekend, according to the New York Daily News‘ Manish Mehta. This comes just days after Chandler Catanzaro missed two PATs in the Jets’ preseason opener.Catanzaro re-joined the Jets on a one-year, $2.3 million deal after spending the 2018 season with the Buccaneers and Panthers. Catanzaro has had a shaky summer since training camp opened, and his kicking woes spilled onto the gridiron Thursday night when he missed his first two kicks of the Jets’ loss to the Giants – 33- and 38-yard PATs. After the Jets appeared content with just Catanzaro in camp, they’ve changed their tune and are bringing in some competition.

Walsh hasn’t kicked since 2017 when he went 21-29 on field goals and 37-38 on PATs for the Seahawks. Walsh connected on 82.4 percent of his field goals over his six-year career, including 24-35 from 50 yards or more. He’s also converted 95 percent of his PATs. Walsh led the league in field goals made twice – his rookie season in 2012 when he also earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors, and 2015. Walsh enjoyed a great five-year career with the Vikings until he missed a potential game-winning 27-yard field goal in the playoffs against the Seahawks in 2016, which ultimately led to the Vikings cutting him that offseason.Blewitt hasn’t kicked in the regular season but spent time with the Steelers in 2017 and the Bears this offseason. During his four years in college at Pittsburgh, Blewitt converted 55 of 79 kicks. 

Another name The Daily News said to monitor is Ravens backup kicker Kaare Vedvik, who converted all four of his kicks in Baltimore’s preseason opener Thursday night. Jets GM Joe Douglas and director of player personnel Chad Alexander both have connections with the Ravens and could try and facilitate a trade (likely for a late-round pick), but Mehta says New York has competition for Vedvik’s services.

✔ @MMehtaNYDN

Ravens kicker Kaare Vedvik is another name to watch if the Jets aren’t satisfied with any of guys trying out today. They had interest in Vedvik last summer, per sources.But NYJ thinks the Bears will ultimately trade for him. https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/ny-kicker-tryouts-catanzaro-missed-fg-20190810-uvsrg755lzazzofg5wevhylrpm-story.html … 

7:49 AM - Aug 10, 2019

A similar situation to this one occurred during the 2018 offseason. The team signed veteran Cairo Santos after letting Catanzaro walk the previous year, but after Santos couldn’t stay healthy and backup Taylor Bertelot failed to impress, the Jets brought in Jason Myers who eventually won the starting job. Myers played so well he made the Pro Bowl in his lone season with the Jets, but the team let him leave for a lucrative deal with the Seahawks.Walsh could be the Jets’ 2019 version of Myers if they ultimately find him to be a better option than Catanzaro. Walsh, like Myers, is a prolific long-ball kicker who found himself out of a job after missing kicks. There’s nothing better than a reliable kicker, and the Jets need all the help they can get if they want to compete with the Patriots and the rest of the NFL.

>      https://jetswire.usatoday.com/2019/08/10/jets-working-out-kickers-blair-walsh-chris-blewitt-chandler-catanzaro/?utm_source=smg&utm_medium=wasabi&utm_content=home-hero

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Rich Cimini         ESPN Staff Writer 

Jets PK Chandler Catanzaro, struggling in camp, has retired, the team announced. They signed K Taylor Bertolet. The Cat Man has run out of lives.

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

[Apache 51]

He better get their act together.

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The Jets still don’t have a starting kicker for 2019.

With the preseason two weeks deep, the position remains a major concern for a team that began camp with Chandler Catanzaro before being forced to move on to Taylor Bertolet.Catanzaro was expected to be the team’s starting kicker coming into the season. He had a strong 2017 season with the Jets when he made 25-30 field goals and all 29 of his extra points. That’s who the Jets thought they were getting when they decided to let Jason Myers walk and bring Catanzaro back this offseason.However, Catanzaro’s training camp performance went as poorly as possible. He was missing field goals and extra points almost every day of practice. As each day passed, it became more of a concern. But the Jets weren’t going to bring in another kicker until they saw Catanzaro kick in the preseason. It didn’t get any better in game action.

Against the Giants, Catanzaro missed two out of his three extra-point attempts, while also nailing a 34-yard field goal. A few days later, as rumors spread of the Jets’ interest in other kickers, Catanzaro surprisingly retired. After that, Jets signed Bertolet, who was in camp last year.But over the last week, Bertolet hasn’t been much of an improvement over Catanzaro. He has missed plenty of field goals and extra points in practice as well. Then in, Week 2 of the preseason against the Falcons, Bertolet struggled mightily. He whiffed on two of his three extra-point attempts but made a 49-yard field goal. Bertolet will likely get one more shot to kick in Week 3 of the preseason, but it’s hard to see him being the answer going forward.The Jets put themselves in this situation by being cheap with Myers during free agency. He was a Pro Bowl kicker last season, but former general manager Mike Maccagnan was not prepared to make Myers a highly paid kicker. Instead, he took the cheaper route by signing Catanzaro to a one-year deal worth $2.3 million, while Myers signed a four-year $15.45 million deal with the Seahawks.

Maccagnan had every right to be skeptical about Myers because he had never had a season like 2018 before in his career. However, the Jets had about $100 million in cap space heading into the offseason, so Maccagnan had the money to pay him. He didn’t even spend all of the money he had available to him. So why not just cough up the extra couple of million and try to bring back Myers?It’s a decision that could haunt the Jets in 2019, but there’s nothing they can do about it now. They should bring in another veteran kicker, whether it’s through free agency or via trade. The free agency market for kickers is on the older side and any of them would likely only sign on for a year. As for the trade market, there are some names who could be available such as Vikings kicker Dan Bailey. Minnesota just made a trade with the Ravens for Kaare Vedvik, who the Jets had interest in; that makes Bailey, who hasn’t had the strongest summer, expendable.

Whoever it is, the Jets would be wise to find some competition for Bertolet. The Jets expect to be contenders in 2019; they can’t let an untrustworthy kicker derail their season.

>   https://jetswire.usatoday.com/2019/08/18/new-kicker-same-problem-for-jets-taylor-bertolet-chandler-catanzaro/?utm_source=smg&utm_medium=wasabi&utm_content=home-latest-news

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Rich Cimini     ESPN Staff Writer 

Jets PK Taylor Bertolet is coming off a big game, but he's not assuming the job is his. "I still believe I'm competing against every kicker in the league," he said. "I have to do my job. You never know who they're watching." So true.

 >      https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini      ESPN Staff Writer 

Coach Adam Gase gave Taylor Bertolet (2-for-5 on FGs) an alibi for his shaky night, saying the FG team was late on the field for two of the attempts. "You can't do that to the kicker," Gase said. "You can't bust his rhythm like that." Bertolet refused to use that as an excuse, saying he was disappointed in his performance. Chances are, the Jets will look for other options.

>      https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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You’re 5-foot-7 and 173 pounds and you’ve had this crazy NFL dream from the time you were 3 years old, and now the doubters and the naysayers who have followed you every step of the way are reminding you that you are the littlest Jet, and an undrafted free agent no less, confronting gargantuan odds.

So here is Greg Dortch, backup slot receiver and punt returner, carrying the banner for all little underdogs everywhere who dare to dream the biggest possible dream.

The tweet, from @_GDortch, was posted on Monday night:

“They Tried To Lock Me Out … I Kicked The Door Down.”

Greg Dortch hasn’t kicked the door down to the 53-man roster just yet. He will try to kick it down in Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Eagles.

The way Bruce Harper kicked it down in the summer of 1977.

Harper was Dortch back then, a 5-8, 175-pound running back out of Kutztown (Pa.) State, when he walked into the Tower E dormitory that housed Jets players on the Hofstra campus.“The first day I was there, I remember coming into the dorm, and Greg Buttle poured a bucket of water on me,” Harper recalled. “He was up on the second floor. And I looked up and I saw people laughing. And I said, ‘OK, I guess this is initiation.’

“And then I remember I got in the elevator, and all these big guys were there and they were laughing at me and saying, ‘What position are you gonna play, offensive guard?’ or something, you know. It was trying initially, but that was to be expected.”

The Jets were Harper’s only chance, only after he had asked teammate Walt Michaels Jr., son of then-head coach Walt Michaels, to lobby on his behalf.“I went over to the Giants first, and Coach [John McVay] was sitting there having lunch, and he looked up and said hello, and then he went back eating his food,” Harper said.

Cut down to sighs again.

Harper’s NFL dream began in the living room of his Englewood, N.J., home, then at Benning Park, then at Dwight Morrow High School. Harper laughs at the memory of his Uncle Earl telling him he was too small to play in high school.

“He said I was gonna get my head knocked off,” Harper said.

Harper refused to listen every step of the way.“I just wanted to play football,” he said. “I didn’t know anybody from Penn State or anybody from Purdue or the No. 1 draft choice or anything. It made no difference to me. I wasn’t afraid of anybody.”He had never returned kicks. Didn’t matter. Bruce Harper, No. 42, would be a Jet for eight seasons. He remembers catching a screen pass in the right flat from Richard Todd for a 45-yard touchdown at Shea Stadium against Earl Campbell’s Houston Oilers.“It was so funny, I’m laughing right now, all the guys come over and they just picked me up like we won the Super Bowl it something,” Harper said.

Harper would get 60 minutes from a Super Bowl when the same screen was called for him in the infamous AFC Championship Mud Bowl. Except A.J. Duhe, who accounted for three of Todd’s five interceptions, turned this one into a pick-six. Harper could only watch helplessly as Duhe rumbled to the end zone. “So heartbreaking,” Harper said.He would rush for 1,829 yards. He would catch 220 passes for 2,409 yards. He would return 243 kickoffs for a 22.3-yard average. He would return 183 punts for a 9.7 average with a touchdown. He was a fan favorite.

“I didn’t realize I was a fan favorite,” Harper said. “I was just out there playing my heart out, having fun, man, and just doing my thing.”

Dortch has displayed the same huge heart and quickness and elusiveness.

“You cannot tell him that he can’t do something,” Greg Dortch Sr. told The Post. “He hates to lose.”

Kevin Higgins, associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and receivers coach at Wake Forest, recalls Dortch making good on a vow to play a week after suffering a high ankle sprain.“He wills things to happen,” Higgins told The Post. “That’s what he’s had to do his whole life.”Where there’s a will there’s a Bruce Harper way.“My thinking is if you think you are too small to play in the NFL,” Harper said, “then you are too small to play in the NFL. Why not me? That was my attitude.

“Tell me why not me?”

>   https://nypost.com/2019/08/28/heavily-doubted-greg-dortch-can-follow-jets-greats-path/

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Rich Cimini   ESPN Staff Writer 

My take on the Jets' kicking mess: Former GM Mike Maccagnan made a questionable economic decision by low-balling Pro Bowler Jason Myers and letting him bolt to the Seahawks. To me, what's worse, is how he replaced him. He trusted Chandler Catanzaro, coming off a bad year, and it backfired. Now, with Catanzaro retired and Taylor Bertolet struggling, the Jets have a major headache only nine days before the opener. FYI: Myers was 8-for-9 in the preseason, with three FGs from 50+ yards. The $5.5 million he's making this year from Seattle doesn't look so hefty, does it?

   >   https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

Barring changes, the Jets will go into the season with untested players at two key positions on special teams — K Kaare Vedvik and PR Braxton Berrios. Neither has played in a regular-season game. Rookie Greg Dortch was the No. 1 punt returner throughout the preseason, but he was waived today to make room for Berrios. For the Patriots, Berrios had five returns for 46 yards in the preseason. KR Trent Cannon also is a newbie; he had only one return last season. The Jets' special teams, one of the league's top units last season, got real young real fast.

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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The Jets claimed former Patriots WR Braxton Berrios hoping he can be a force on special teams.Berrios is just now joining Adam Gase’s team, replacing Greg Dortch on the depth chart at both wide receiver and punt returner. However, Gase has had his eyes on Berrios since they both were in Miami.

When Gase was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Berrios, a University of Miami product, caught the organization’s eye during a local pro day. The Dolphins, however, were unable to find space in their receiver room for him.“We worked him out, we were able to at our Miami day down there,” Gase said on Monday. “He was a guy who we actually spent a little more time with. We were excited to see kind of how the draft went and see what happened there.”

Berrios has yet to play a single NFL regular-season snap, as his time with the Patriots was doomed by injuries, but the Jets are hoping he can make an impact.Berrios only returned one punt for a touchdown while at Miami, but he averaged nearly 15.9 yards per punt return during his senior season with the Hurricanes. He was a threat in the slot during his college days, too. At Miami, Berrios caught 100 passes for 1,175 yards and four touchdowns.

>     https://jetswire.usatoday.com/2019/09/03/adam-gase-braxton-berrios-new-york-jets/?utm_source=smg&utm_medium=wasabi&utm_content=home-latest-news

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Rich Cimini     ESPN Staff Writer 

Slump? What slump? New Jets PK Kaare Vedvik, who got cut by the Vikings after missing three of four FGs in his brief stint with the team, insisted he's OK. "It's not so much mechanical," he said. "I just went one for four. I think it's as simple as that. Anything more into it is just over-analyzing a problem that doesn't necessarily exist."

>        https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini   ESPN Staff Writer 

Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer inherited a slumping kicker (Kaare Vedvik) who needs a hug and will have only three practices to get ready for his NFL debut. Oh, and he can't get any practice time at MetLife Stadium because of a soccer match. What can go wrong?

  >   https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

New Jets PK Kaare Vedvik is a train wreck. He missed a PAT and missed from 45 yards, costing the Jets four points in a 6-0 game. This is what happens when you pick up a kicker on waivers in Week 1. Blame the front office (past and present) for screwing up the entire kicking situation.

>     https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini    ESPN Staff Writer 

PK Kaare Vedvik didn't receive any sort of endorsement from Adam Gase, fueling speculation the Jets could change kickers — again. "We'll see what happens on Monday," Gase said. He said he'll leave it up to the personnel department. Right. You can bet Gase will have input. Vedvik had a bad warmup and missed a PAT and 45-yard FG. "It sucks," he said.

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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Rich Cimini   ESPN Staff Writer 

New Jets PK Sam Ficken made every kick in the team's five-player tryout on Tuesday, per Adam Gase, who is hoping (praying?) Ficken can do it in a game. He's their fourth kicker since training camp. Gase said he's confident Ficken is "the right guy for us. I have to give him a shot." Gase was confident in Kaare Vedzik — until the pre-game warmup. "Not so good," Gase said.

>    https://www.espn.com/nfl/team/_/name/nyj/new-york-jets

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The New York Jets no longer have a kicking problem. You can thank Sam Ficken for quietly solving the team’s kicking issues.

The New York Jets are 1-0 in the second quarter of the 2019 season. While things haven’t gone according to plan this season, things are actually looking up. Especially at kicker.

Back in March, the Jets had duffel bags of cash to hand out to any free agents they wanted including their own. Despite that, the green and white decided to inform their only Pro Bowl kicker in franchise history to hit the bricks in Jason Myers.So the Jets decided to be frugal and went with a cheaper alternative in Chandler Catanzaro.Well, that cat ran out of lives following the first preseason game. After struggling throughout training camp and in Week 1 vs the New York Giants, he opted to retire.

Which sent the Jets to Taylor Bertolet, an unproven kicker that had some past training camp experience with the team.Once he struggled the Jets made another switch by bringing in Kaare Vedvik off of waivers. This Norwegian superstar the green and white almost traded for but lost in a bidding war to the Minnesota Vikings.Two weeks after that trade was consummated Kaare was released and the Jets jumped on him. Vedvik would go on to cost the Jets four points in the regular-season opener vs the Buffalo Bills in a game they lost by one single point.The team quickly moved on once again as the fanbase started to lose hope a knight in shining armor arose from the shadows his name is Sam Ficken.

Samuel James Ficken played collegiately at Penn State and played a couple of years with the LA Rams as a fill-in placekicker.Since seizing the starting role with the Jets we’ve rarely heard his name called.He’s made 2-of-3 field goals and has converted every extra point (5-for-5). While that’s not a large sample size, he’s delivered when it mattered most.

In Week 6 vs the Dallas Cowboys, the Jets were driving up five points looking for the kill shot. Sadly they had to settle for a field goal. With a conversion they’d extend their lead to eight, guaranteeing at worst an overtime appearance. Although with a miss the Jets would leave themselves vulnerable to a last-second one-point loss to the Cowboys if they punched in a touchdown.Ficken unfazed delivered a crisp 38-yarder to essentially clinch the victory if the Jets defense held serve which they did.

Just because Sam’s name hasn’t been mentioned lately, doesn’t mean he’s not doing a serviceable job. Ficken has quietly solved the team’s kicking woes and with Sam Darnold back running the show, he’ll be called upon more often to deliver for the green and white down the stretch.

>    https://thejetpress.com/2019/10/15/new-york-jets-sam-ficken-quietly-solved-kicking-woes/