Hartley needs to settle down on the kicks 30 yards or closer

He tries to smash them like he's trying to make a 60 yarder and ends up shanking it wide

He's money from long range as evidenced in the superbowl, but doesn't need to treat a 20 yarder like a 50 yarder

Kasay is MONEY

Hartley is ... well... You say Super bowl (answer question at bottom please)... I say Atlanta Falcons.... The boy has been on the decline since the start of his career. At a position where consistency is EVERYTHING, Hartley is not.
2008 100%
2009 81.8%
2010 80%

I know what your saying... Thats 80%!!! If drew completed 80% of his passes he would be immortalized!!!!! and you are correct, but for FG kickers.... Hartley's 80% puts him 28th in the league in 2010

How he stands in the 2010 season

1-19 yards -100%
20-28 yards 67%---38th in the LEAGUE!!! With only 32 teams some second string kickers are more consistent than he is.
30-39 yards 78% 33rd in the LEAGUE!!!!
40-49 yards 86% 10th
50+ yards 100% 2-2 <----- The importance of game winning 50+ yard FGs for us is not that high.. Brees and Co. can get the ball down the field. Also with the change in the over time rules the 50+ yard field goal in OT is no longer needed.

Kasay has not been under 81.5 since 2006.

I always have to ask this question.. What frikken Super Bowl did Hartley win? We won by 14 points!!!! Hartley kicked 3 field goals.. that only 9 points, leaving a 4 point victory. Even if he missed both of his extra points we still win by 2.

Btw, it's spelled Kasay, not Kasey.

Hartley has missed two field goals so far during training camp, one of them a 25 yarder wide left! SOUND FAMILIAR??? Kasay, on the other hand, hasn't missed anything.

He had a magical run in the 2009 season, but Hartley is going to give us all chest pains. And even during that 2009 season, he botched a kick wide left from short distance against the stupid Buccaneers.

If not for Hartley, we would not have been in the Superbowl... He's still at the beginning of his career and Kasay is at the end of his... The answer is obvious

If I remember correctly Hartley is under contract with us for some years to come. Does not make sense for him to ride the bench.

I'm with Mitch on this one.

It was the timeliness of the kicks, when we needed something, anything to keep us close, and to give us "something" he did it. 3 from over 50, no one else has done it in a Super Bowl. Although outcome was more, I believe it was a clutch, huge performance. Timeliness is everything.

It's a tough call because Hartley was brought in specifically to be THE GUY, who was going to solve all of Payton's kicking problems that the Saints had early in his time here, and really even before Payton was here. Gramatica and all that. Payton got burned by kickers early on, it really bit him BAD, and Hartley was supposed to be "the fix." Which is why Payton said "you deserve to be here" before the famous kick, and why Payton is so willing to stand behind him, long term.

I can't corroborate this, but the story I heard through the grapevine was that Hartley's bad slump back there in 2010 where he missed a bunch of kicks, the Falcons game that everybody hates him for, the wobbly kicks and and all that, I heard it was caused by personal problems he was having, emotional problems, just general success and girlfriend type problems,24 year old kid who is suddenly rich and famous, those type problems. He's definitely a "head case" kicker, but supposedly that has all been fixed now.

I am aware that is all just sorta water cooler talk and rumor, but the same guy who told me this has been right about a bunch of other stuff before. In local politics, when a scandal breaks, he usually knows who Jim Letten is going to indict a day or two in advance; he knew non-public details about the other Hornets deals with other owners that didn't go through before Benson finally bought them-- this is from a source I know who tends to always have the scoop on that type of stuff. So if he says that Hartley's head is screwed on straight these days, I kinda believe him.

The comeback from injury I guess we don't know about yet. The missing kicks in camp is news to me, so I dunno.

The safe pick is Kasay. Hartley is younger and holds a Super Bowl record and ring. But, he's also been suspended, benched, and missed a year due to injuries. By the reports from camp, he's also pulled a couple to the left whereas Kasay has been perfect. You have to look to the future, but in regards to kickers, the future is now.

Then let's keep "Shank-ley" as the "Coach" until Kasay starts shanking 7-yard field goals to win a game, OR he swings his friggin' leg and pulls up hurt.

Like Hartley did. I've never forgiven him for his giveaways. Just can't do it.

Kasay is MONEY.

Alaska