The San Francisco 49ers are looking to head into halftime with a 10-7 lead. They have a 27-yard field goal set up for Jake Moody. Sounds easy, right? Even for a guy who's made 74.2% of his kicks, he'd certainly make this one...
...Right?
For all the Vegas Golden Knights fans that don't follow 49ers football, Moody is football Jake Leschyshyn. He doesn't do much other than hinder his own team from winning games. Luckily, San Francisco won despite the mediocre kicker, defeating the Seattle Seahawks, 17-13. It's like the city knows a thing or two about losing, amirite, Kraken?
Anyways, this isn't anything new for the kicker. Last season alone, he made 70.6% of his kicks. Yet, that didn't stop John Lynch from offering a Tony Robbins-like speech about how confident he was in Moody.
"I found it interesting after having a hell of a game in Las Vegas that a lot of people still have questions. I guess that when you had a season like he did last year, those things are going to be there until you kind of put that away. We've got a lot of belief in him and understand that last year was rough, but that happens in guys' careers."John Lynch on Jake Moody
What would Bruce Cassidy have done with Jake Moody?
Golden Knights fans know that Bruce Cassidy isn't one for Tony Robbins speechs. He cuts to the chase whenever the Golden Knights fumble badly or when a group of players does awful.
Therefore, I would assume that Cassidy would've put Moody in his proverbial "dog house." Of course, Kelly McCrimmon would've stuck it out with the kicker if he ran an NFL team. However, he would've had a fate similar to Leschyshyn's, getting kicked out of town for his mediocrity.
Cassidy and McCrimmon would've also found a different kicker to take Moody's place. Could it have been Greg Joseph? Would it have been someone else? Who knows?
Whatever the case is, they would've taken care of the issue and put in a new kicker. After all, Vegas's mission is to win championships, not give motivational speechs and believe in Joe Hendry.
Oh well. At least my team got a win. You can't say that about 16 other clubs by the end of Week 1. Thank goodness for the NFL returning. Now, we can wait for the NHL season to follow suit.