Buck Harvey: Romo with a leg? Next Dallas move
San Antonio Express-News
Martin Gramatica, an Argentine, has hung around Manu Ginobili. If anything rubbed off, that's a plus, right?
Gramatica kicked in a Super Bowl, and that means something for a franchise that thinks it could be in the next one.
But mostly, Gramatica isn't Mike Vanderjagt, which is why this is Romo-for-Bledsoe all over again. Vanderjagt was going to fail just as Drew Bledsoe was going to fail.
Bill Parcells is gambling, again, because he had to.
There are differences between this move and the one that changed the NFC. Unlike Tony Romo, Gramatica is a tested veteran.
He was a two-time first-team All-American at Kansas State, he made the Pro Bowl in 2001, and he kicked for the 2002 champion Buccaneers. New York won't intimidate him this Sunday.
Parcells likely weighed that, as well as what he saw with his own eyes. Gramatica once beat Parcells, and coaches always remember those who do that.
That was in 2003, Parcells' first season with the Cowboys. They had started off 5-1 but saw reality when they went to Tampa to play the defending champs. The Bucs' defense shut out Dallas.
Keyshawn Johnson scored the game's only touchdown, and adding everything else was Gramatica. With an unusually small shoe size of 6 and an unusually strong leg, he kicked three field goals, including one from 50 yards. Each came with a trademark victory leap that made Vanderjagt appear sane.
Gramatica would become the Bucs' all-time leader in scoring and field goals, and they called him "Automatica." But he was out of the league by 2005, partly because of a groin injury.
He didn't hurt himself with one of his post-kick jumps. That was his brother, Bill, who once injured a knee with a bad landing while celebrating a routine field goal with the Cardinals.
Vanderjagt, remember, is the one Peyton Manning called the "idiot" kicker.
Martin instead fell to the serendipitous nature of his craft. Just as Vanderjagt lost feel and confidence this season, so did Gramatica then. He spent 2005 recovering from his injury and coaching youth soccer in Tampa.
The Patriots brought him to camp last summer to try to replace Adam Vinatieri, and he lost the job to a rookie. But Gramatica was healthy, and he came with an anti-Vanderjagt attitude, both humble and hungry.
He also did nothing notably wrong. As a Boston newspaper said after he was released, Gramatica "sure didn't look like the guy who couldn't land an NFL job last season."
Bill Belichick chimed in with the same theme. "I think he's been very competitive in camp," Belichick told reporters in Boston. "He's accurate. He handles the elements well. He's kicked in wind. I think that's a strength for him. He gets the ball off quickly. I thought he kicked off pretty well. I'm not saying he's the best kicker in camp. I'm just saying I think he's very competitive, and I've been around kickers for a long time. I think he's a very competitive kicker in the National Football League at this point."
Accurate. Handles the elements. Gets the ball off quickly. Competitive. Wouldn't all those traits appeal to Parcells?
Gramatica got some work this season replacing an injured Vinatieri in Indianapolis, and this made him more attractive. Parcells might not have dumped Vanderjagt without such an available kicker. Going with a novice would have been a bigger gamble than waiting to see if Vanderjagt might come around.
But with an experienced 30-year-old? Parcells saw another way to retool his team.
Removing Vanderjagt was a positive itself; the only thing he did right in Dallas was squeeze money out of Jerry Jones. He pushed the football right and everyone else wrong. There was a sense his one leg would doom the Cowboys, just as Bledsoe's two legs would have.
Gramatica won't be the rare talent that Romo is. But if he wins some trust? If he finds the groove he once knew, giving the Cowboys another reason to believe?
Then he will be Romo.
Martin Gramatica, an Argentine, has hung around Manu Ginobili. If anything rubbed off, that's a plus, right?
Gramatica kicked in a Super Bowl, and that means something for a franchise that thinks it could be in the next one.
But mostly, Gramatica isn't Mike Vanderjagt, which is why this is Romo-for-Bledsoe all over again. Vanderjagt was going to fail just as Drew Bledsoe was going to fail.
Bill Parcells is gambling, again, because he had to.
There are differences between this move and the one that changed the NFC. Unlike Tony Romo, Gramatica is a tested veteran.
He was a two-time first-team All-American at Kansas State, he made the Pro Bowl in 2001, and he kicked for the 2002 champion Buccaneers. New York won't intimidate him this Sunday.
Parcells likely weighed that, as well as what he saw with his own eyes. Gramatica once beat Parcells, and coaches always remember those who do that.
That was in 2003, Parcells' first season with the Cowboys. They had started off 5-1 but saw reality when they went to Tampa to play the defending champs. The Bucs' defense shut out Dallas.
Keyshawn Johnson scored the game's only touchdown, and adding everything else was Gramatica. With an unusually small shoe size of 6 and an unusually strong leg, he kicked three field goals, including one from 50 yards. Each came with a trademark victory leap that made Vanderjagt appear sane.
Gramatica would become the Bucs' all-time leader in scoring and field goals, and they called him "Automatica." But he was out of the league by 2005, partly because of a groin injury.
He didn't hurt himself with one of his post-kick jumps. That was his brother, Bill, who once injured a knee with a bad landing while celebrating a routine field goal with the Cardinals.
Vanderjagt, remember, is the one Peyton Manning called the "idiot" kicker.
Martin instead fell to the serendipitous nature of his craft. Just as Vanderjagt lost feel and confidence this season, so did Gramatica then. He spent 2005 recovering from his injury and coaching youth soccer in Tampa.
The Patriots brought him to camp last summer to try to replace Adam Vinatieri, and he lost the job to a rookie. But Gramatica was healthy, and he came with an anti-Vanderjagt attitude, both humble and hungry.
He also did nothing notably wrong. As a Boston newspaper said after he was released, Gramatica "sure didn't look like the guy who couldn't land an NFL job last season."
Bill Belichick chimed in with the same theme. "I think he's been very competitive in camp," Belichick told reporters in Boston. "He's accurate. He handles the elements well. He's kicked in wind. I think that's a strength for him. He gets the ball off quickly. I thought he kicked off pretty well. I'm not saying he's the best kicker in camp. I'm just saying I think he's very competitive, and I've been around kickers for a long time. I think he's a very competitive kicker in the National Football League at this point."
Accurate. Handles the elements. Gets the ball off quickly. Competitive. Wouldn't all those traits appeal to Parcells?
Gramatica got some work this season replacing an injured Vinatieri in Indianapolis, and this made him more attractive. Parcells might not have dumped Vanderjagt without such an available kicker. Going with a novice would have been a bigger gamble than waiting to see if Vanderjagt might come around.
But with an experienced 30-year-old? Parcells saw another way to retool his team.
Removing Vanderjagt was a positive itself; the only thing he did right in Dallas was squeeze money out of Jerry Jones. He pushed the football right and everyone else wrong. There was a sense his one leg would doom the Cowboys, just as Bledsoe's two legs would have.
Gramatica won't be the rare talent that Romo is. But if he wins some trust? If he finds the groove he once knew, giving the Cowboys another reason to believe?
Then he will be Romo.
posted by The Gryphon at 8:46 PM
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