Kentucky Jet Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Posted: Saturday August 7, 2010 11:57 AM Jets' Folk earning trust of once-skeptical coaches PRINT EMAIL Buzz up! FACEBOOK DIGG TWITTER RSS SHARE CORTLAND, N.Y. (AP) -Nick Folk has earned the confidence of his New York Jets coaches after having a wildly inconsistent offseason. The former Pro Bowl kicker struggled last season after rushing himself back from hip surgery, and Dallas cut him while the Cowboys were making a playoff run. Unemployed and uncertain about his future, the Jets came calling and signed him to replace the reliable Jay Feely. Folk looked lousy at times during offseason workouts, and coach Rex Ryan and special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff issued him a challenge to get better - and fast. Folk is having an outstanding training camp, to the point Ryan recently declared he's "officially not worried about our Pro Bowl kicker anymore.'' Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/wires/08/07/2020.ap.fbn.jets.folk.s.tale.0246/#ixzz0vxnv8arX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted August 7, 2010 Author Share Posted August 7, 2010 [ Westhoff works Nick Folk out of funkJets special teams coordinator helped get kicker on right foot after tough OTAsEmail Print Comments2 By Jane McManus ESPNNewYork.com Archive CORTLAND, N.Y. -- There's no point in couching it, Nick Folk looked awful in organized team activities. There were days the Jets kicker would miss 25-yard field goals and then back up and miss so wide he nearly hit the scoreboard. This was how a Pro Bowl kicker looked? It looked as though the decision to leave Jay Feely unsigned would be ultimately costly. Special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff saw the problem and addressed it. He measured Folk's steps and had the building and grounds crew construct a kind of T-square for Folk to work on his steps. The contraption helped Folk measure his steps, keeping his approach the same every time. Jets blog Looking for more information on the green and white? ESPNNewYork.com has you covered. Blog "We just thought if we could help him be more consistent," Westhoff said. "We tried to tinker with that. Once we did, he was 39 out of 42 with a long of 55, so that's how he finished up." In 2007, his Pro Bowl year, Folk went 26-for-31 with Dallas. He said he had the same kind of progression there after being drafted. "That's how it was in Dallas, too, right when I got drafted -- OTAs, minicamp -- was just about like that. I started the first couple days and weeks very slow and then I picked it up toward the end, went to training camp and had a great training camp," Folk said. "So a lot of similarities." In 2008 he was 20-for-22, but after surgery to repair torn cartilage in his hip, he went 18-for-28 last year and was waived by the Cowboys. "I just felt really rushed to get back to training camp and to kick, and they had drafted a guy and I felt like I had to push to go compete against him," Folk said. Westhoff said he was comfortable with Folk, although not as familiar with him as he was with Feely. Westhoff said he could be though, given time. "I think I can be; that's a hard question to answer," Westhoff said. Westhoff said the wind in the new Meadowlands will be similar to what it was in Giants Stadium, although less so because of the way the new stadium is oriented. He didn't rule out the possibility of bringing former long-snapper James Dearth back, depending on how Tanner Purdum performs in camp. Jane McManus is a columnist for ESPNNewYork.com. Follow her on Twitter. More from ESPNNewYork.com » Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 To be determined if he can kick under the glare of New york/New Jersey media and fan pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan80 Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 To be determined if he can kick under the glare of New york/New Jersey media and fan pressure. He wasn't under pressure in Dallas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faba Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 No there is nothing like playing in New York and the weather conditions (wind) he ever experienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsfan80 Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 No there is nothing like playing in New York and the weather conditions (wind) he ever experienced. I'll definitely agree with you on the weather conditions. I don't think any kicker is really "built" to deal with the conditions at the Meadowlands, just like few kickers have success in Pittsburgh. Hopefully we're a successful enough football team to limit the number of pressure kicks Folk is forced to attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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