Tag: Greg Zuerlein

Giants net -9 passing yards in horrendous overtime loss to the Jets

The Jets downed the Giants in overtime in one ugly game

This will go down as one of the ugliest games of 2023 or any NFL season.

The New York Jets “earned” a road victory over the New York Giants, 13-10, on Sunday.

The game went to overtime when Greg Zuerlein kicked a field goal as time expired and then hit one in the extra session.

How wretched was the Giants’ strategy in the final minutes of regulation?

Big Blue accounted for a net of -9 yards passing.

The Giants had a chance to go for it on fourth-and-1 late to close out the game.

Brian Daboll opted for a field-goal try and Graham Gano missed, giving the Jets a last gasp.

Tommy DeVito, who replaced an injured Tyrod Taylor, was 2-of-7 passing for -1 yard.

Fans chanted “Let him throw” and DeVito was rarely given the opportunity.

Greg Zuerlein ruled out for Week 2, Jets sign Austin Seibert

Greg Zuerlein ruled out for Week 2, Jets sign Austin Seibert

The Jets have downgraded kicker Greg Zuerlein to out for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys with a groin injury. Zuerlein suffered the injury during Thursday’s practice and did not practice Friday, leaving his game status in doubt.

Zuerlein was initially listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report. He is now officially not going to play in Week 2. In his place will be former Browns, Bengals and Lions kicker Austin Seibert.

Seibert appeared in three games last season for the Lions and went 4/5 on field goals and 12/12 on extra points. He is a career 80% field goal kicker (44/55) and a 90% extra-point kicker (55/61). That includes a perfect 25/25 on field goals within 40 yards.

Former Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein considered ’50-50′ for Jets in Week 2

From @ToddBrock24f7: After being released by Dallas prior to the ’22 season, Zuerlein was the Jets’ top scorer last year. He is questionable with a groin injury.

When the Jets take the field at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, they already know they’ll be without their Week 1 starter at quarterback. They now may also be without last year’s team points leader and a familiar face to many of the Cowboys player and coaches.

Kicker Greg Zuerlein suffered a groin injury during the team’s practice on Thursday, according to Jets head coach Robert Saleh. The former Cowboys specialist will not practice on Friday and is considered “50-50” to play in Week 2’s game.

The Jets will reportedly work out several kickers in case a late roster move is needed.

“It’s not serious,” Saleh said of the injury, “but serious enough to put Sunday in question.”

Zuerlein, now 35 and in his 12th NFL season, kicked for Dallas in 2020 and 2021. He was brought aboard when John Fassel took over the Cowboys special team coordinator role; the two had previously spent eight years together with the Rams.

Over his two seasons in Dallas, Zuerlein went 63-for-76 on field goal attempts, with nine of those misses coming from 50 yards or beyond. He was released in March of 2022 in a salary cap move.

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“Greg the Leg” soon signed with the Jets and went on to lead the team in scoring with 118 points. He connected on all three field goal attempts and his lone PAT try in New York’s overtime win versus Buffalo on Monday.

If Zuerlein is unable to go in the Cowboys’ home opener, it will leave the Jets with their backup quarterback trying to put the ball in the end zone against a Dallas defense that pitched a shutout in Week 1… and, if he cannot, relying on a brand-new kicker to put it through the uprights against a field goal unit that blocked one and returned it for a score to start their regular season.

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Studs and duds from Jets’ 21-16 loss to Browns

Here are a couple of studs and duds on the Jets in Thursday’s 21-16 loss to the Browns in the Hall of Fame Game.

The New York Jets opened their preseason schedule against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night in the Hall of Fame Game, giving us our first taste of a live-action NFL game since the Super Bowl. New York was unable to come away with the victory as Cleveland secured the 21-16 victory.

Both teams rested a plethora of players in their preseason opener, which allowed some of the players competing for roster spots to get more opportunities. Some players performed better than others and there is still time for players that struggled on Thursday night to turn things around before roster cuts are made.

Following Thursday’s loss to the Browns, here are a couple of studs and duds from the Jets.

Jets re-sign Greg Zuerlein

Jets re-sign Greg Zuerlein

While waiting on the big quarterback position, the Jets are at least set at the kicker position. The Jets have re-signed Greg Zuerlein, per ESPN’s Dianna Russini.

Zuerlein helped solidify the position after the Jets had some issues in recent years. He went 30/37 on field goals last season — five of those misses were from 50-plus — and 28/29 on extra points. He also set the Jets’ franchise record with a 60-yard field goal in Week 13 against the Minnesota Vikings.

It’s a minor move compared to what everyone is waiting for with the Jets, but still a noteworthy move, nonetheless, and gives the Jets some stability at the position.

Greg Zuerlein wins Jets kicking competition

Greg the Leg beats out Eddy.

The battle of the boots in New York is over. Greg Zuerlein will be the Jets kicker in 2022.

The Jets released kicker Eddy Pineiro on Tuesday as teams had to cut their roster down to 80 players.

Zuerlein was always seen as the favorite throughout camp and did nothing to lose that job, including making a 44-hard field goal right before halftime to put the Jets on the board. He also added an extra point in Monday’s 24-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

 

8 Jets players to watch as 2022 training camp begins

8 #Jets players to watch as 2022 training camp begins this week:

The New York Jets are gearing up to begin their 2022 training camp adventure this week. A lot will be determined on the field, and on the way to discovering those answers, there will be some players to keep an eye on in particular.

With that, here are eight Jets players to watch during the team’s upcoming training camp:

Jets re-sign K Eddy Piñeiro

Eddy Piñeiro will compete with Greg Zuerlein for the Jets’ starting kicker job in 2022.

The Jets’ starting kicker competition is officially between Greg Zuerlein and Eddy Piñeiro.

The Jets originally re-signed Piñeiro on a $2.4 million RFA tender, but New York reworked that deal, which is now worth up to $2.75 million, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. This comes just two days after the Jets signed Zuerlein to a one-year, $2.75 million contract.

Piñeiro joined the Jets midway through the 2021 season after Matt Ammendola and Alex Kessman failed to perform. Piñeiro converted all eight of his field goal attempts in the five games he played and went 9-10 on extra points.

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Cowboys tried to bring back Zuerlein for less before he signed with Jets

The Cowboys reportedly made their kicker an offer to come back on a reduced contract, but the veteran signed instead to compete in New York. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys gave Greg “The Leg” Zuerlein the boot earlier this month. But he’ll be issued the rest of his 2022 uniform by the New York Jets.

The Jets signed the veteran kicker to a one-year contract worth $2.75 million, according to Jets Wire. He’s expected to compete with New York’s current kicker, Eddy Piñeiro, for the starting job this season.

High hopes rested on Zuerlein’s right foot when he joined the Cowboys in 2020. But despite a reunion with his longtime Rams special teams coordinator John Fassel, Zuerlein’s accuracy never returned to its 2017 All-Pro level.

Zuerlein made just 82.9% of his field goal attempts both seasons in Dallas. His PAT percentage dropped from 91.7% in 2020 to 87.5% to 2021; his six missed extra points last year were the most in the NFL. The Cowboys lost three games last season by three points or less; Zuerlein missed at least one kick in all of them.

Just before the Cowboys’ wild card-round game versus San Francisco, Fassel was asked about his struggling specialist and how to judge when a kicker no longer has “it.”

“There might come a time where, yeah, he doesn’t get it back. But this time isn’t now,” Fassel said in January. “I just have full faith in Greg. I do, and if I’m wrong, then I’ll be wrong. But just really think that I’m going to be right. I guess we’ll see.”

Dallas released Zuerlein exactly two months later in a move to clear $2.5 million of salary cap space. Re-signing him on a smaller deal was an option; the Cowboys even made him an offer to return, according to the team website.

But news of a signing coming out of the Jets camp means the Cowboys will be forced to move in a new direction.

The team signed Chris Naggar earlier this offseason. But with just one pro game on his resumé, the SMU product will likely have to battle to become the Cowboys’ new starter.

There are a few veteran kickers available in free agency, should Dallas choose to go that route. They could look to Fassel’s long personnel file of kickers who he keeps tabs on, or even seek out a rookie prospect via the upcoming draft.

Among this year’s college class, Cameron Dicker of Texas, Cade York out of LSU, Oklahoma’s Gabe Brkic, Wake Forest’s Nick Sciba, and Chandler Staton of Appalachian State are names to potentially keep in mind.

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Jets not making same mistakes at kicker, quarterback with veteran signings

The Jets will be a young team again in 2022, but Joe Douglas has done well to add more experience to the roster in free agency.

The Jets were one of the youngest teams in the NFL last season and it was abundantly clear on a week-to-week basis. Robert Saleh’s team was competitive some weeks. Others, it looked like it was still learning how to play at the highest level of football.

New York’s youth showed at all positions, but quarterback and kicker were hit particularly hard. Zach Wilson got the starting nod as a rookie and his backup, Mike White, had never attempted a regular season pass before taking over for an injured Wilson midway through the year. Joe Douglas traded for Joe Flacco after Wilson’s injury to add experience to the quarterback room, but only after he failed to sign a veteran in free agency.

The kicking game, meanwhile, was an utter disaster — until Eddy Piñeiro showed up late in the season.

Douglas has made a point of not repeating last offseason’s mistakes so far in free agency. Flacco has already been retained and Greg Zuerlein was signed Saturday to give Piñeiro competition.

Flacco’s track record speaks for itself. He’s a former Super Bowl MVP and has accomplished more than any quarterback the Jets have trotted out in the last decade. Flacco might not be to Wilson what Josh McCown was to Sam Darnold, but the two seemingly have a good relationship. It definitely doesn’t hurt New York to have Flacco around — even after White briefly took the NFL by storm last season.

Zuerlein is comparable to Flacco in a sense. He once had one of the biggest legs in football and was an All-Pro in 2017. His presence alone puts the Jets’ kicking room in a much better position than it was at this point last offseason. Factor in Piñeiro and New York’s kicking game is now exponentially stronger.

It’s fair to temper expectations surrounding Zuerlein. He’s coming off a 2021 season with the Cowboys in which he missed six field goals and six extra points, battling bouts of inconsistency along the way. Still, his track record and Piñeiro’s late-season success after joining the Jets is a marked improvement.

The Jets will still be a young team in 2022, but they are adding more experience than they were last spring. That should pay dividends for Saleh as he looks to get Gang Green out of the AFC East basement in his second season at the helm.

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