New Orleans Saints' Thomas Morstead proves worth in multitude of ways (1 Viewer)

retthib

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"He's ahead of the curve when it comes to the approach to the kicking game, his workout routine, his mental focus," Carney said. "It may say 'rookie' next to his name, but he really trains and behaves as if he's been in the NFL for five years."

"Everyone was up in arms with a fifth-round selection there, but it looks pretty good now," Payton said.

"He's the best I've seen since I've been in the league at kickoffs, and his placement on punts has been big for our special teams." Darren Sharper

Hopefully this kid stays healthy, confident, continues to improve and we dont have to worry about a punter for the next 15 years.

If Hartley gets right, we may be set w/ our specialists for a while. that should give SP way less headaches and allows him to concentrate on more pressing matters.

Can you imagine him kicking a drop kick for 65 yds to win a game? The kid would be a legend.
 
Morstead has been terrific and it's so nice to have that kicking situation pretty well in hand after so many years of shakiness. Will be interesting to see how Garrett Hartley does coming back after his suspension. Personally, I think they will both be great kickers for us for years to come, like the article said. What a great place to be! I can't get over how well-rounded our team is! Woohoo!!
 
Morstead has been terrific and it's so nice to have that kicking situation pretty well in hand after so many years of shakiness. Will be interesting to see how Garrett Hartley does coming back after his suspension. Personally, I think they will both be great kickers for us for years to come, like the article said. What a great place to be! I can't get over how well-rounded our team is! Woohoo!!

Good point. And the best part is that this squad should be able to stay together for the next 5 years. Add in a few pieces here and there, we should be able to establish consistency year in and year out.
 
Good point. And the best part is that this squad should be able to stay together for the next 5 years. Add in a few pieces here and there, we should be able to establish consistency year in and year out.

retthib...:plus-un2:

Totally agree. Critical mass has been achieved.

I was not that keen on the idea of getting a punter in the 5th.

Those of us old enough to have gone through the Erxleben experience,
will have to be given to be given a mulligan on this one if we
didn't have much faith.

When i finally read up on Morstead and realized he had great hang times in college, the light went on. New rule changes and ball control, no run backs. His ability to kick off was a surprise, and a god send.

We will have essentially 8 rookies after next years draft if Vaughn
and Arnoux come through...more than enough to keep the fires lit.
 
Morstead has been awesome and when I see one of his kickoffs going 7 yards deep in the endzone it fires me up. I am so used to watching our kickoffs hit at the 5 or 10 yrd line. He has definitely been worth the pick.
 
Morstead has been awesome and when I see one of his kickoffs going 7 yards deep in the endzone it fires me up. I am so used to watching our kickoffs hit at the 5 or 10 yrd line. He has definitely been worth the pick.


More importantly, when he does that it fires THE TEAM up!

He's quite a weapon to have on our special teams. :9:
 
I was high on morestead from the beginning. Seeing him punt in college, I was excited that we got him, even if it cost us a pick. Hes worth that. He has helped us win games.
 
He said, though, special teams coordinator Greg McMahon told him, "We don't ever want you to kick another ball again.' He said, 'Just focus on punting, that's all we want you to do."

Tired of that guy
 
This is simply amazing:
Morstead is tied for the NFL lead with nine touchbacks on kickoffs, though he had never kicked off in high school or college and just started doing it for the Saints in the final preseason game.
Thomas has the potential to become more of a weapon for the Saints than Ray Guy was for the Raiders, for all those years...

Two years from now, we may be calling him the steal of the draft in the Payton era. You just can't take for granted what his talents mean to this team.

Major kudos to Loomis, Payton, & the scouting team!!

BTW, excellent read, retthib!
 
Good point. And the best part is that this squad should be able to stay together for the next 5 years. Add in a few pieces here and there, we should be able to establish consistency year in and year out.

I agree. There is no need to trade any draft picks anymore, no need for expensive free agents. Just keep adding 6-7 rookies a year, with a focus on the D-line and O-line...develop them and assimilate them in the system. We'll be a contender until Brees retires 5-10 years from now....by then, hopefully, we have a guy to be next in line, like Aaron Rogers replaing brett farve.
 
Behind Sharper, Hands down, Thomas Morstead is our defensive player of the year so far!
(I realize he is special teams, but he helps the defense so much!)
 
Can you imagine him kicking a drop kick for 65 yds to win a game? The kid would be a legend.

Morstead just said on the FOX 8 show "Saints Game Plan" that he dropkicked a 65-yard FG during training camp... so, this seems to be something that he could actually pull off! ... which would be amazing! :D
 
Morstead just said on the FOX 8 show "Saints Game Plan" that he dropkicked a 65-yard FG during training camp... so, this seems to be something that he could actually pull off! ... which would be amazing! :D

From Wikipedia:

The only successful drop kick in the last sixty-plus years in the NFL was by Doug Flutie, the backup quarterback of the New England Patriots, against the Miami Dolphins on January 1, 2006, for an extra point after a touchdown.
Flutie had estimated "an 80 percent chance" of making a drop kick,[5] and was called to give Flutie, 43 at the time, the opportunity to make an historic kick in his final NFL game. (In fact, the drop kick was his last play in the NFL.) After the game, New England coach Bill Belichick said, "I think Doug deserves it,"[6] and Flutie said "I just thanked him for the opportunity."[5]

The last successful drop kick in the NFL before that was executed by Ray "Scooter" McLean of the Chicago Bears in their 37-9 victory over the New York Giants on December 21, 1941 in the NFL championship game at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Though it was not part of the NFL at the time, the All-America Football Conference saw its last drop kick November 28, 1948 when Joe Vetrano of the San Francisco 49ers drop kicked an extra point after a muffed snap against the Cleveland Browns.

Another recent vocal proponent of the drop kick in the NFL had been Jim McMahon, quarterback for several NFL teams. During the 1980s, while playing in Chicago, McMahon regularly practiced the drop kick, and was known to frequently petition Bears head coach Mike Ditka for an opportunity to use the maneuver. Ditka, who regarded the play as an anachronism, never allowed it.
 

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