Jason Elam Fantasy News

K Matt Bryant Wins Atlanta's Kicking Job
Monday, August 16, 2010, 3:52am

Matt Bryant, who was signed late last season, has won Atlanta's kicking competition. Falcons coach Mike Smith announced the news after Sunday's second practice.

"We went ahead and made that move today," Smith said.

The Falcons released kicker Steven Hauschka and tight end Colin Peek between practices.

"This is year nine for me and I still try to go out there just like I did when I was a rookie," Bryant said. "Do good today so I can come back tomorrow."

Hauschka and Bryant missed field goals in the exhibition season opener against Kansas City. Hauschka missed a 53-yarder and Bryant missed a 50-yarder, but it had plenty of distance, but sailed wide right.

"I crushed it," Bryant said. "I thought I hit it pretty well. It was one of those deals where it made a, for some reason, a goofy right turn on me and it straightened out again. I hit maybe one of those every 100 balls. It was not a normal ball flight."

Bryant was signed on Dec. 1 after Jason Elam was released.

Suisham in danger?
Monday, December 7, 2009, 11:24pm

Shaun Suisham, the most accurate kicker in Redskins history, could be out a job after his 23-yard miss with 1:56 left cost Washington a monumental upset of unbeaten New Orleans on Sunday.

After watching the film of the errrant field goal try that failed to seal the upset, coach Jim Zorn said that Ethan Albright delivered "a decent snap" and Hunter Smith "an excellent hold," but that Shaun Suisham's kick with 1:56 left was "poor."

Therefore, Zorn didn't rule out replacing Suisham, who had made all three of his kicks earlier in the game and was 18-of-20 for the season, if another kicker wows the Redskins during tryouts on Tuesday.

The only kickers who were in the NFL this year and are currently out of work are 39-year-old Jason Elam, the unreliable Mike Nugent, and the inexperienced Shane Andrus and Steve Hauschka.

Thursday, December 3, 2009, 6:40pm

Dallas Cowboys kicker Nick Folk has missed four of his last eight field-goal tries, but coach Wade Phillips continues to express confidence in him.

That is consistent with Phillips' coaching philosophy. While some members of the NFL coaching fraternity can barely tolerate kickers, Phillips has show extraordinary patience with them.

This is his eighth season as a full-fledged NFL head coach. In that time, Phillips has never made an in-season change at kicker. His teams have used only three kickers: Jason Elam with Denver, Steve Christie with Buffalo and Folk. By comparison, Bill Parcells went through five kickers in his last two seasons as the Cowboys' coach

Elam out... Bryant in
Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 9:44pm

Filed to ESPN: wholesale special teams changes in Atlanta. K Jason Elam, LS Bryan Pittman released; K Matt Bryant, LS Joe Zelenka signed.

Falcons bring in four for kicker tryouts
Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 5:29am

The Atlanta Falcons are looking at alternatives for slumping kicker Jason Elam. The Falcons brought Steve Hauschka, Sam Swant and Shane Andrus and former Georgia standout Brandon Coutu to their practice facility for tryouts on Tuesday.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 10:54pm

Falcons HC Mike Smith did not offer an injury update on running backs Jerious Norwood (hip) and Jason Snelling (hamstring), who were inactive for the game.

… Veteran kicker Jason Elam missed a pair of field goals Monday night, leading to questions about the position from the Atlanta media.

“Jason did not kick the ball like we’re accustom to seeing him kick the ball,” Smith said. “That’s something we’ll always be evaluating. We always have a backup plan in place already in terms of who would be our backup kicker. (Punter) Michael (Koenen) has done that in the past, but that’s something we’re always evaluating.”