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Cowboys Should Break Bank for Vinatieri

Todd Archer agues, persuasively, that the Cowboys should pay whatever they have to to get Adam Vinatieri. He begins with the facts and a little supposition: “If the Cowboys had a decent kicker last season, they most likely would have finished 11-5 and won the NFC East. Without a kicker, they finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs.”

I think that’s right. Indeed, not only did lack of a decent kicker cost two or three games but it rendered the Week 17 game against the hapless Rams meaningless; presumably, the Cowboys would have been up for that game had they not just had their playoff hopes dashed minutes before kickoff.

Archer argues that the Cowboys should have learned their lesson by now.

Two years ago, the Cowboys got caught in free agency at cornerback. They did not want to shell out $10 million a year to corners they didn’t think were worth the money. Well, that was the price they were going for, and they paid dearly for it, running Pete Hunter, Tyrone Williams, Lance Frazier and Jacques Reeves out there. They wised up last year by signing Anthony Henry and giving him a mega-bonus. He cemented the right corner spot.

[...]

When the Cowboys were hampered a few years ago by poor long snapping, Jones went out and paid Jeff Robinson an average of $1 million a year, a whopping figure for a long snapper, but their problems were gone.

Quite right. $3 million a year for a kicker would be well worth it if it buys reliability.

 
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I just had to post the story above after this one.

Posted by Rodney Dill | March 17, 2006 | 01:49 pm | Permalink
 

Heh. If the money is anything close, I’d think Dallas would be preferable to Green Bay. Granting that he’s done it well, most kickers hate kicking outside in bad weather.

Posted by James Joyner | March 17, 2006 | 01:57 pm | Permalink
 

Based on last season the Cowboys look closer to a good play off run as well. (sigh)

Posted by Rodney Dill | March 17, 2006 | 03:00 pm | Permalink
 

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