Wow, Olindo Mare. We're saved. A guy who got run out of Miami and New Orleans because he sucks. Let's hear from the Ruskell knee-pad crowd how great a move this was...what an upgrade over Josh Brown.-nighthawk2

There's a laundry list here, but I found this one particularly amusing. I mean, us Ruskell lovers don't need no knee-pads, we hurt for our man.

nighthawk2 might articulate his mistake more amusingly than most, but most Seahawks fans questioned signing Mare. He was a brutal in 2007, making just 58.8% of field goal attempts. In the NFC South. In the Superdome. Before being placed on the IR. See how easy it is to construct a case against Mare? And I haven't even resorted to pseudo-argumentation yet.

Kickers are like golfers sometimes you just loose it. At one time Ian Baker-Finch was one of the best golfers in the world, then all of a sudden he could barely break 90. He never got it back. Reminds me of Mare. -Houck Fin

See, I think kickers are like monster trucks sometimes you just outgroow it. At one time every boy I knew wanted to see Grave Digger, then all of sudden he could barely break Corvairs. He never got it back. Reminds me of Mare.

Mare didn't do enough in to 2007 to prove much of anything. He was still top five in touchback percentage (28.8%), so he hadn't lost leg strength. He missed seven field goals on 17 attempts. That's got to mean something, right? Not really. It's 17 attempts. From week 7 to week 13 of the 2007 season, Josh Brown missed five of 17 attempts. That's not as bad, but it's bad. It's also pretty meaningless. It's 17 attempts.

I didn't expect Mare to play this well. I did think he was a smart free agent signing. His accuracy kicking field goals is a pleasant surprise, but small samples produce pleasant and not so pleasant surprises. Over the last two seasons, Mare has converted field goals on 78% of attempts. His career average is 80.5%. Figure that.

...and he has 194 touchbacks in 837 career attempts.

That's where the Mare sucks story derails.

There is effectively no correlation between a kicker’s field-goal percentage one season and his field-goal percentage the next. But average kickoff distance shows more consistency from season to season than almost any other individual statistic in the N.F.L. --Aaron Schatz

The two abilities are almost equal in value. It makes sense kickoffs would be more consistent: It's a larger sample with fewer variables. A kicker kicks kickoffs from a tee and is not dependent on his snapper, holder or blockers.

The story that wasn't really wasn't, as Mare has been among the best kickers in the NFL. Now about this Coutu kid...