Should Seahawks have attempted hail mary?
Jason Myers doesn't make those kicks and Mike Macdonald should know that
Jason Myers is not the right kicker for the job and the Seahawks need to replace him next year. I know that’s a bold statement coming off of a miss from 61 yards that nobody should have expected Myers to make, but then I came across these findings on Monday and I’m more convinced than ever that Seattle needs a new kicker if they want to increase their odds of winning tight games against good teams like the Rams:
In 11 seasons, Myers has never made a game-winning or game-tying field goal attempt beyond 53 yards in his entire career. He’s 0-for-4 in those situations and 1-of-6 from 53+:
Moreover, Myers is not a good kicker from long distance (1-of-5 at 60+ and 3-of-8 beyond 57) and making a 61-yard attempt to win the game was never really all that realistic. The Seahawks needed to do one of three things to beat the Rams and for as fantastic as Mike Macdonald has been with Seattle, he should be mulling over these as potential endgame mistakes:
Manage the clock better on their second-to-last drive
Get 10 more yards on their final drive
Hail Mary instead of 61-yard kick
It’s easy to say this stuff in hindsight, right? But that’s the benefit I have: We KNOW 100% that Myers missed the kick and that it wasn’t even close. Macdonald would have expected that if he had the following numbers and that’s why I’m going to argue that Seattle was better off with a Hail Mary from Sam Darnold to the pretty significant size/talent advantage that the Seahawks have at receiver compared to the Rams secondary rather than a predictable miss by Myers.
I can sense how skeptical you are and I love that about us. Here’s the evidence that proves to me that Myers was never going to make that kick and what do teams do when they’re not in field goal range? They give their playmakers one more shot: