Lions release Hugh O'Neill

[B.C.FAN]

Surprising news from the Lions on the eve of a big divisional game. Hugh O'Neill, the kicker dubbed the "hair apparent" by LU, has been released and the team's kicking future rest solely on the 43-year-old foot of Paul McCallum. Apparently O'Neill was playing out his option and his agent tried to play hardball with Wally. Wally also noted (as fans have) that O'Neill hadn't significantly outkicked McCallum and Wally wanted to "not play with Paul's head anymore."

Struggling Hugh O'Neill cut by Lions

[Rodu]

good thing Paul is having a good year and not any where close to retirement

[GoHugh]

There may be some confusion about who was trying to play hardball with whom. Anyway, I think in the end the Lions just felt (quite reasonably, given his long and successful history with the team) that McCallum is their guy and that the two player arrangement wasn't really helping either one of them. Hopefully Hugh will land someplace where he isn't backing up one of the CFL's best-ever kickers.

[WestCoastJoe]

Impressions ...

It seems that it is almost a waste of time drafting a kicker these days.

Brody McKnight. Hugh O'Neill. Not that O'Neill will be a bust, but the market is not exactly clamoring for his services. No takers on trade offers.

And the Lions then bring in Steve Shott, ex Okanagan Sun kicker, a cut from our TC.

Kickers of high talent becoming almost a dime a dozen?

A guy like Sean Whyte, up from juniors, doing fine with the Alouettes.

Rene Parades, undrafted, doing very well with the Stampeders.

I've never been a big fan of the importance of kicking in pro football. Football is a contact sport, and then you bring in the golfer for the kick. LOL They mostly practice on their own, golfers working on their stroke. Then of course the team practices kickoffs, field goals and punts.

In any case, it is reassuring that a decent kicker is probably available on short notice, if your guy gets nicked.

[GoHugh]

My thought is that there might be no takers on trade offers because other teams know that Hugh becomes a free agent at the end of the year, so there's no need to spend any talent to get him.

As for good kickers being a dime a dozen, I think that may be the point of view that teams hold when they have had a good one for a long time. The Lions have had McCallum making it look easy year after year. Shott might turn out to be great, but I have to think the Lions are hoping that McCallum makes it through the rest of the season without further injury, so they don't have to put Shott in before he has a chance to settle in.

With respect to the importance of kicking, I'd argue the same logic applies to coaches. Football is a contact sport, but you don't see any coaches getting on the field and hitting people. Nobody would argue that coaches aren't critical to the success of the team. I'd suggest that every member of an excellent organization has an important role to play, from the owner to the players to the trainers, to the front office staff. It takes everyone pulling together, doing their own jobs better than the same guys on the other team, to take a team to a championship.

On the field I would note that although McCallum had a spotty game on field goals, a lot of people are crediting him with a significant role in the last BC win, making amazing punts down to the one yard line that few other punters would be able to replicate. Also, Hugh (a former linebacker) had three special teams tackles so far this year so occasionally kickers do have to get their uniforms dirty.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

Did I hear Winnipeg was bringing in Sandro De Angelis? This on a team where kicking has been the last of their worries. Maybe Justin Palardy may come available and the Lions could do worse than bringing him in if PM is injured or retires next year. Yes, lots of kickers around (though when the Argos needed an injury replacement, I still can't figure out why the best they could find was to bring Noel Prefontaine out of retirement for the twelfth time).

[David]

Great. McCallum misses 2 games with a groin injury, 2 makeable field goals last game and, despite 2 perfectly placed coffin corner punts, nearly blows the game with a flubbed punt off the side of his foot that give the Bombers life and good field position......but let's give him job security!

O'Neill wasn't really given a shot to take over but was set up to fail (with new holder and Cronk's snapping issues). However, I don't think he did himself any favours with his kick-offs and certainly wasn't booting 48 yard punts to really make Wally's decision tough (maybe Wally's just not a beard guy).

My concern is, what now? It's highly risky to pin an entire season on a 43-year old kicker doing all 3 kicking chores.


DH

[The_Pauser]

good thing Paul is having a good year and not any where close to retirement

My sarcasm meter is broken so I apologize, but you're not being serious right? McCallum isn't having a good year and almost cost us the game last week. I have zero confidence in him.

Would be nice to be able to send out the field goal unit, with reasonable confidence, to get us 3 points when we are snapping the ball from the other teams 39 yard line. Instead I've gotten used to seeing us punt.

[SammyGreene]

Wow if I had to bet on any kicker being released over the bye week it would have been McCallum after that performance in the Winnipeg game. Hopefully this isn't another strange move that is part of a disappointing season.

[Rodu]

good thing Paul is having a good year and not any where close to retirement

My sarcasm meter is broken so I apologize, but you're not being serious right? McCallum isn't having a good year and almost cost us the game last week. I have zero confidence in him.

Would be nice to be able to send out the field goal unit, with reasonable confidence, to get us 3 points when we are snapping the ball from the other teams 39 yard line. Instead I've gotten used to seeing us punt.

was being very sarcastic

[Ravi]

Regarding the importance of the kicking game, it is extremely important in Canadian football, moreso than in the U.S. game IMO as the Canadian game tends to be one of field position. The 2004 Grey Cup would be Exhibit A for Lions fans.

Regarding O'Neill, I would love to see the Argos bring him in for a look.

[WestCoastJoe]

Yes. The kicking game is ultra important in the CFL game. And the teams practice them hard. Seen it done at the Lions' facility hundreds of times.

However, I have sometimes wondered what football would be like if there were no punts, no field goals, and no converts.

They are a rather distinct component of the game.

In regard to punting: What occurs to me is that the reward a team gets for moving the ball is enhanced when the other team is pinned in its own end. They cannot punt the ball away.

Here is an article about Kevin Kelley, coach of state champion in 2003, 2008, and 2011, Pulaski Adademy in Arkansas.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=892888

Jeff Fedotin
Special to RivalsHigh

Kevin Kelley decided to flip football convention on its head after Pulaski (Ark.) Academy's second game of the 2007 season.

Never a fan of taking his offense off the field, the coach became miffed when his Bruins punted away to Pine Bluff (Ark.) Dollarway High only to see Pulaski allow an 80-yard touchdown on the return.

"That was stupid," Kelley said. "We should've gone for it."

As a result, his 2008 team did not punt during 14 games. Such an unorthodox strategy may seem like lunacy, but it was successful: Pulaski won the 5A state title on Dec. 6.

Kelley's team only punted twice in 2007 − once as an act of sportsmanship to prevent running up the score − and never after that Dollarway game.

Kelley has reasons to go for it.

Keeping the offense on the field on fourth down allows for more creative play-calling. Third-and-long does not have to be a passing down. The Little Rock school can run the ball, throw a screen pass or use any number of formations. Defenses do not know whether to use a nickel or dime defense. And Pulaski's offense has less pressure on third down.

"We don't really worry too much about it," quarterback Spencer Keith said. "We just get as many yards as we can. We don't have to go for the first down."

If Pulaski converts on fourth down, it creates a momentum change similar to a turnover. Other high school coaches have told Kelley they would rather see his team punt.

The Bruins even avoid punting when the defense has stopped them inside their own 10-yard line.

"You can just tell people are in the stands thinking, 'You're an idiot,' " Kelley said.

Kelley supports this rationale with numbers analysis.

If Pulaski has a fourth-and-8 at its own 5-yard line, Kelley said his explosive offense likely will convert a first down at least 50 percent of the time. If it fails to convert, statistical data from the college level shows that an opponent acquiring the ball inside the 10-yard line scores a touchdown 90 percent of the time. If Pulaski punts away (i.e., a 40-yard punt with a 10-yard return) the other team will start with the ball on the 38-yard line and score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. The difference is only 13 percent.

An innovative and statistics-minded coach, Kelley had tinkered with eschewing the punting game since winning his first state championship in 2003. He became further emboldened after reading several studies, including "Do Firms Maximize? Evidence from Pro Football," by University of California-Berkeley economics professor David Romer. Kelley also examined ZEUS, a computer program developed by Chuck Bower, who has a doctorate in astrophysics, and Frank Frigo, a game theory expert, to model and predict football outcomes.

The Pulaski coach has adopted an unusual approach to kickoffs as well. About 75 percent of the time, he uses an onside kick instead of a standard kickoff. To illustrate why, Kelley again relies on numbers.

If his team does not recover the onside kick, the opponent likely will field the kick around its own 47-yard line. On a typical kickoff, the other team usually starts around the 33-yard line.

"You're only giving up 14 yards," Kelley said. "And you get a chance to get the ball."

Pulaski features seven different kinds of onside kicks, including bunching eight players on one side of the field and three on the other; faking the kick with one kicker while another player shifts over to kick to a vacated spot in coverage; clustering all 11 players before spreading out just as the ball is kicked; bouncing a hard kick off the turf for a jump ball and launching a "helicopter kick" by kicking a ball placed on the ground against the tee. The latter strategy causes the ball to spin like a helicopter's propeller and move like a curveball.

"Much like the punting situation, [the onside kick] becomes something the other team has to work on a lot during the week," Kelley said. "That's taking time from their preparation against your offense or defense. So it all works towards the common goal."

For Kelley's objective of winning games with a risky but aggressive offense, Pulaski had the purrfect quarterback. Keith, who has received major interest from Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State and several Ivy League schools, could make defenses pay for not stopping the Bruins on fourth down. And if the other team scores off a short field because of a missed fourth-down opportunity, the unflappable passer could compensate by scoring points in a hurry.

Kelley called him the most athletic quarterback he has ever coached, and Keith set the state record with 5,308 passing yards this season. He also possesses the requisite accuracy for an offense that threw on about 45 of its 75 plays a game and averaged 570 total yards.

You can just tell people are in the stands thinking, 'You're an idiot.'
? Kevin Kelley, coach of Pulaski Academy

"It's a really fun offense," Keith said. "I wouldn't change it for anything."

A possible pre-med or pre-engineering student who scored a 30 on the ACT, Keith has the intelligence to master an intricate scheme, which features pre- and post-snap reads with receivers making adjustments based on coverage.

With Keith and several other impact players returning from his 2007 team, Kelley said he knew his team had the potential for a state title this year. When the media asked for his pick of the No. 1 team in Arkansas before the season, Kelley chose Pulaski and consequently received some heat.

"It was just confidence in my guys," he said. "I thought this might be one of the better teams we've ever had."

His prediction proved to be on the mark. Although Pulaski lost its first game of the season, 46-29, to West Helena, it reeled off 13 consecutive wins and avenged that Week 1 defeat with a 35-32 state title victory against the Cougars.

During the offseason Kelley will begin investigating different football strategies. He also plans to further study the punting game by analyzing specific instances where punting may prove statistically superior.

After Kelley searches through data, Pulaski may tweak its approach next year. His 2009 team could punt on occasion, or he may develop a new tactic that defies the norms of football but gives his team an edge.

"Just because something's always been done that way," Kelley said, "doesn't mean it should continue to be done that way."

No punts.

Onside kicks 75% of the time.

Crazy. Wild. Fun.

No kicks in football? I wouldn't mind. When we scrimmaged other teams in preseason, the kicking game was left out of it. It was run a number of plays then switch O and D. A number of series.

Again, not saying the kicking game is unimportant in the modern game. I just don't like it as much as the running game and passing game.

[Hambone]

Just wondering if Shott has been practicing with the team. If the club thinks of him as being a viable plan B maybe O'Neill's release is simply a case of being a victim of the numbers game. They may have tried talking O'Neill into going onto the PR with him refusing.

[notahomer]

Wow if I had to bet on any kicker being released over the bye week it would have been McCallum after that performance in the Winnipeg game. Hopefully this isn't another strange move that is part of a disappointing season.

X2

[B.C.FAN]

According to LU, Shott has been at the practice facility for a few days. He'll likely be added to the practice roster next week.

In watching the three kickers in training camp, I got the impression that O'Neill had about three yards more distance than McCallum on his field goals and that both McCallum and O'Neill had about five yards more distance on punts and kickoffs than Shott, but that can change. In Sean Whyte's first training camp with the Lions, the team would have him kick off from the 45 instead of the 35 to simulate a normal kickoff for the return team.