3 glaring problems the Commanders must fix in Week 2 vs. the NY Giants
By Jonathan Eig
Commanders kicking woes bring another fresh face
Austin Seibert - you’re up.
Adam Peters cleaned house when he took over the moribund roster that had been assembled by previous head coach Ron Rivera. One of the players he dismissed was 2023 kicker Joey Slye - a long-time associate of the fired figurehead from their time together at the Carolina Panthers.
Slye has a big leg but was a little too inconsistent for Peters’ liking. We all know what happened next. Brandon McManus was supposed to take over but allegations with his previous team ended that plan before it even started. The Washington Commanders have been struggling to find a reliable option ever since.
Cade York was supposed to be the man. Peters even traded a conditional draft pick to acquire him instead of plucking someone off the waiver wire. That experiment lasted one whole week.
York missed both of his field goals against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and very nearly pushed his first extra point wide right as well. One of his kickoffs went out of bounds. The only silver lining was that his misses didn’t cost Washington the game. They were going to lose anyway.
The former LSU star is now gone. And the Commanders have their seventh-round pick back as he played just one game rather than the required two.
But against the New York Giants - who the Commanders should beat - a missed kick could be disastrous. Seibert, who was released by the New York Jets just before the season began, has made 80 percent of his field goals in the NFL but has been a journeyman over the last four seasons, bouncing from team to team as an injury fill-in.
He was a very talented kicker in college. After a decent offseason without ever really moving ahead of the Jets' undisputed No. 1 kicker Greg Zuerlein, Seivert will now have the chance to establish himself with a team desperate for some consistency.
For what it's worth, Slye made all three of his field goals for the New England Patriots in their close win last week. Oh yeah, and the guy Washington dropped before that - Dustin Hopkins - made his only kick, a 51-yarder, for the Cleveland Browns.
Enough said.