would you rather have Adam Viniateri or Devin Hester on your team & why ???

Answer 1

A good kicker will win far more games for you than a good special teams guy. Viniateri easily.

Answer 2

Viniateri. I'd rather have a kicker then a return specialist. Just imagine if this move to offense doesn't work for Hester. Then what do you do with him? You have a guy that will be out of the league in about 3-4 years if he can't do anything more then return. Can't keep him around forever if he can't play another position and you will find someone else who will be as good as him at returning, he will slow down over time mind you. A great kicker who has a longer life then 3-4 years and is clutch is better to have. If Hester can't make it on Offense then Viniateri will have a longer career, even starting from last year and not including the time with the Pats.

Oh how soon they forget. Killin remember Dante Hall? There have been other return men who have had an excellent season. What are you going to say if Hester doesn't take ANY in this year? Gonna jump on the Viniateri bandwagon. I hope you stick by your view that a returner(who is FAR MORE A VARIABLE) is better then a kicker.

Answer 3

I think that over the season you have to take the kicker. He simply will score more points. A team can somewhat neutralize a returner by kicking away from him or squibbing a kick but a good kicker can make the difference in several games throughout a season. Even the best returner in the game (like Hester) will only amount to a handful of extra yards in field position per return over the season from the average guys but a good kicker will make a lot more field goals than the average kicker. Especially in the clutch, there is no match for Viniateri.

Answer 4

Most kickers will make field goals consistantly, so I would go with the Hester.

Return men like Hester are hard to find, most kickers have relatively similar percentages.

A huge return produces points, takes pressure off the offense and defense, and changes the momentum of the game.

Kicking a huge field goal is a great way to tell everyone - "Hey look, we didn't score a touchdown!"

Answer 5

I'm taking Vinatieri. He's the best big game kicker ever. He doesn't get enough credit for his contribution to New England's dynasty. Hester is great, but you can devise a scheme to limit an outstanding return specialist. You can just flat out kick it away from him. The only way to stop a field goal kicker is to block the kick, which rarely happens in the NFL. You have a better chance of hoping he misses, but Vinatieri rarely ever misses, especially in the clutch.

Answer 6

Without a doubt, Hester. I think a lot of Vinatieri's reputation is down to circumstance: the fact that he happened to be in a position to "win" 2 super bowls with his kicks. Meaning that he was on a team that was good enough to win, but not good enough to keep a large lead in the SB. Funnily enough, people tend to forget that Vinny MISSED two field goals in his first Super Bowl win. So if he was so damn he good he shouldn't have even had to be there to score that "clutch" kick.

People keep saying "the kicker will score more points". Sure, but to decide this question you have to ask "how many MORE points will AV score than another decent kicker, and how many MORE points will Hester score vs. another decent returner.

Devin Hester had 6 return touchdowns last year, plus the opening kickoff TD in the SuperBowl. Compare him to the league's next-best returner of last year, Pacman Jones, who had 3. That's TWICE as many touchdowns: touchdowns that are probably sealing victories of winning games outright for you.

Can you think of any other player who scored TWICE as many points as any other player in his position last year? Even LaDanian Tomlinson's 31 touchdowns weren't twice what Larry Johnson scored.

Compare Vinatieri's stats last year to Robbie Gould's, (he's the kicker for the Bears): AV made 25 of 28 FGs and all his extra points, whereas Gould made 32 of 36 FGs and all his extra points. That's an 83% completion rate versus 89%. In Gould's worst year as kicker he went 77%, versus AV's 73% in 2003 (an SB year for the Pats.)

Let's go back to Hester. His TD in Super Bowl XLI kept the Bears hopes alive until the fourth quarter. The fact that the Colts kept kicking AWAY from him gave the Bears EXCELLENT field position, which any decent QB would have been able to capitalize on hugely to swing the game. (Unfortunately, Grossman crumbled.) Meanwhile, Adam Vinatieri missed an FG and an extra point. Mind you it was raining, but Robbie Gould didn't muff any kicks.

So while you can't deny some of Vinatieri's accomplishments (kicking that ball through the snowstorm was awesome), I believe his reputation is based mostly on cirumstance. Really, I mean he kicked five FGs in that playoff game vs. the Ravens this year, but how many of those FGs would any other kicker have missed? You have to have around 80% completion rate in the NFL to keep your job these days. (You know Mort Anderson? He's 46 years old and is 25 years into an NFL career... he kicked 87% for the Falcons last year. A good kicker is not that hard to find.)

Need I remind you that Devin Hester's season as a return man was THE BEST of any returner in NFL HISTORY. And this guy is a ROOKIE.

So this has been a bit long-winded, but for me the choice is simple. If I'm building a special teams unit, give me DEVIN HESTER and a solid kicker like Robbie Gould over the overrated Adam Vinatieri and whatever nobody the Colts have returning kicks for them.

Sure, kickers score more points, but TDs are a HELL of a lot harder to come by than field goals. Your returner gives you field position, which is what you use to begin offensive drives and end up scoring FGs in the first place. A final note, I'll leave you with this question: who is more exciting to watch?!

Answer 7

I will go with Hester, as long as I have a decent kicker. Hester can either get a team back in a game if they are down, or blow a lead wide open. That guy is more fun to watch than Reggie Bush.

Answer 8

Vinatieri. The kicker wins you ball games and puts more points on the board. Besides, you need to have blocking to have good returns. So it takes all 11 guys, but the kicker for the most part is out on his own island.

Answer 9

Adam he is the ultimate clucth kicker and the reason the Colts made it to the superbowl this year lets face it they would have made it if it wasnt for his 5 field goals in one game. and yes i will admitt if the Pats had just kept him they probably would be the champs last year again. He can just get u out of a jam

Answer 10

Viniateri.

Hester is dangerous to both teams. He can break one at any time, but he can also fumble and cost you at any time or have a return of minus 10 yards. Viniateri won't ever give 7 points to the other team.