1990 All Pro K and P

Kicker: John Bazile, Washington
Punter: Nicholas Houston, Tampa Bay

Finally got the blog issue worked out, but now I'm behind on the All Pro stuff, again. I'll be working on the ballot over the next couple of days, hoping to get it ready for everyone before I go to work Monday evening.

As always, the commish names the All Pro K and P, and the kicker should be a familiar name. For the 5th time, Washington's John Bazile is the USFL All Pro Kicker. Bazile made 47/53 FGs, including an incredible 16/20 from 50+. Bazile has been All Pro 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, and 1990.

Punter is always a difficult position to judge, as the top 30 punters all had gross averages within 2.1 yards of each other. The spread of the top 30 in net average is just 3.7 yards per kick, so I usually go with the guy with a Top 3 Inside the 20 percentage that also has a top 10 gross average. I use percentage because who would you rather have...a P with 62 punts inside the 20 out of 149 punts (.416) or one with 58 in 115 (.504)? The guy with the 62/149 is who MFN picked, the other one is Nicholas Houston. Not to mention, Houston has better gross and net averages than MFN's pick.

I asked tribewriter for his opinion, and he picked one guy, and the MFN player awards pick someone else. While I certainly respect tribewriter's opinion, and I do use MFN player awards for some OL All Pro candidates, I'm choosing Nicholas Houston.

Totally good with this pick.

In the early days of the USFL, there was much more disparity between punters and kickers, so picking the All-Pro guy was relatively simple. The league has matured to the point that the stats for the top half of the league, or more, are pretty darn close.

Bazile is an anomaly. The GOAT.

While Bazille is great and deserves mention.....these vets have something to say about him being the GOAT and with the exception of Schaefer, all are still active!

John Bazille
WASHINGTON FEDERALS (8 seasons)

FGs 333/371 89.8%
50+ 75/100 75%
XP 331/333 99.4%
PTs 1330

Daniel McCormick
HOUSTON GAMBLERS (14 seasons)
PORTLAND STORM (1 seasons)

FGs 499/551 93.2%
50+ 118/135 87.4%
XP 690/708 97.5%
PTs 2187

Donald Dosch
PORTLAND STORM (14 seasons)
BOSTON BREAKERS (1 season)

FGs 499/551 90.6%
50+ 95/127 74.8%
XP 548/559 98.0%
PTs 2045

Anthony Schaefer
ARIZONA WRANGLERS (8)
SAN JOSE SABERCATS(2)
DENVER GOLD(4)

FGs 417/447 93.3%
50+ 91/104 87.5%
XP 536/542 98.9%
PTs 1787

Lester Reed
OAKLAND INVADERS (12 seasons)
ARIZONA WRANGLERS (1 season)

FGs 410/448 91.5%
50+ 85/99 85.9%
XP 517/521 99.2%
PTs 1747

All 4 have better fieldgoal percentage, 3 have better 50+ fieldgoal percentage, Bazille does have the best XP percentage while all 4 have more points.

Edit to add a curious side note.

My current kicker Vern Mckinney is an undrafted player. He has 14 years of experience but is playing in just his 3rd season. That's means he went undrafted in 1977 and didn't sign his first contract or play for any team until 1989. Talk about a never quit/never give up mentality.

This season he went

FGs 33/33 100%
+50 3/3 100%
XP 51/52 98.1%

Plus in the playoffs he went

FGs 5/5 100%
XP 1/1 100%

Thought I would share a nice feel good story for an old kicker who never gave up hope through 12 seasons without even a look see and finally made it!

Wow. GOAT omment withdrawn.

But five times All-Pro for Bazile ... not too many of those.

If he can maintain he performance another 6-7 seasons....he may become the GOAT. He is on that trajectory.

ALL-PRO SELECTIONS

John Bazille
5 (85,86,88,89,90) should have 4

88- won with 45/49 & 25/25 while Schaefer finished 35/37 & 49/49

Daniel McCormick should have 1
3 (79,80,83)

80- Although Lester Reed was 40/40 & 68/69 compared to McCormick 44/48 % 28/29

83- Won with 37/39 & 40/41 while Dosch had 38/39 & 22/22

Donald Dosch should have 2
1 (78)

78- Although Schaefer had a perfect season (32/32 & 46/46) and Dosch was 32/34 and perfect from XP 54/54

82- Lost to Matthew Eno who was 36/39 & 20/20 despite Dosch posting 39/41 & 29/29

Anthony Schaefer should have 4
2 (75,77)

Lester Reed Should have 2
1 (76)


Just my opinion of who should have how many. I was bored so I had time to kill. Its crazy because it's really about opportunity. The better teams have less fieldgoal attempts and much more extra point attempts. All 5 are great and should be Hall of Fame candidates when they retire.

Read this in Allen Iverson's voice..."we're talkin about kickers man, not skill guys, ...kickers"

Higher percentages are awesome, but the one big factor in Bazile winning so many is the # of kicks he makes from 50+. He always tries a lot of long FGs, and also usually is top 3 in attempts, so his percentage might not always be the best.

I copied this from my PM to tribewriter regarding this year's All Pro K.

raidergreg69 wrote:
What are your opinions on who the All Pro K and P should be? I like John Bazile again, although Rodriguez, Grossi, and Boyce deserve consideration. Bazile is under 90%, but when you factor in 16/20 from 50+, and it's hard to go against that.

Maybe in the future, we could have a message board poll to pick the K and P...maybe.

I definitely wasn't debating if Bazille deserves this year's All-Pro. I found the GOAT comment intriguing and wanted to look at him versus other kickers alltime. I had no agenda going in because I had no idea what the stats alltime were but being bored on a Saturday and unpatiencely waiting for 1PM Sunday to arrive, I dug in and did my research.

Bazille is on the path to being the GOAT but his 75/100 +50 FG% alltime ranks him 5th alltime for kickers with at least 100 attempts. Daniel McCormick is 118/135 from +50 (87.4%) with a 93.2% FG% alltime and is currently the GOAT in my opinion.

Of course, none of it means a thing, I was just killing time and I thought my story of my kicker was pretty interesting.

I know, just reiterating my thought process. There are at least 2 sides to every story, and one can say a prolific FG kicker is just a by-product of an inefficient offense. I'm going to bed so I can watch as much crack, I mean Red Zone Channel as I can.