Head coach Kyle Shanahan had some damage control to do after their first preseason game. The team took kicker Jake Moody with a third-round pick which is unheard of for a kicker. The pressure was on Moody to deliver. He missed two kicks in his first game which made a lot of fans very upset. Shanahan attempted to calm those worries in an interview after the game.
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Kyle Shanahan On Kicker Jake Moody
Simply saying he missed two kicks doesn’t tell the whole story. One miss wasn’t good. Moody hooked a 40-yard field goal right before the end of the first half. The second miss was on a 58-yard attempt. That is a kick that even the most seasoned NFL kickers have difficulty with. Shanahan isn’t worried.
“It’s unfortunate because I know the pressure’s on him when everyone’s looking, and I know he missed those two today, but he’s been great in practice.”
The two misses are unfortunate but Shanahan is confident that Moody will be able to correct the errors. He made plenty of high-pressure kicks while at the University of Michigan so there is no reason to believe he cannot translate it to the pros.
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Patience
We want every rookie to come in a perform right away. Sometimes they need to take their lumps and better to do it now than in an important game. “I’m glad it happened now, there’s a lot to learn from it,” Shanahan said in the interview. He’s right. Hopefully, Moody will be able to learn from this and become one of the best kickers in the game. If not, the 49ers will have to answer a lot of questions about why they drafted him so high.
Kyle Shanahan isn’t worried about Jake Moody. Fans shouldn’t be either at this point. If it continues, the 49ers may look elsewhere but right now, it is hopefully some early-season struggles.
