For all the concern about Blair Walsh's move to a home outdoor stadium, the Minnesota Vikings' kicker had his season come to a pivotal point indoors.
Walsh had missed two field goals outdoors in his new temporary home, TCF Bank Stadium, in Week 14 bringing about the natural question of Walsh's consistency in the elements after spending his first two NFL seasons in the Metrodome. A week later, Walsh was inside again at Detroit.
Walsh missed each of his three attempts in a 16-14 loss to the Lions. A 53-yard attempt went wide right. He then had a 26-yard field-goal attempt blocked and the Vikings had him try a desperation 68-yard attempt as time expired in the loss. In two weeks, Walsh was 1 of 6 on field-goal attempts and the heat was on.
The ever-confident kicker wasn't bothered. There was only one kick that truly weighed on him. He missed a 39-yard field-goal attempt wide right at TCF Bank Stadium against the New York Jets.
"I think if you look back at that two-game stretch and look at all the kicks, I think you can probably answer what really went wrong and what happened," Walsh said after the season ended. "It wasn't like I was missing 25- and 30-yard kicks. There's one egregious miss that I could take back, was the 39.
"You're expected to make those 53s because of what you've done in the past. I expect myself to make them. But I'm never going to get too hard on myself for missing a kick like that. I worked hard and I continue to just sort of stay in and stay confident. I think the last two games showed that."
Heading into the offseason with one year remaining on his rookie contract, Walsh feels he finished the season strong by converting all four of his field-goal attempts over the final two games.
A former sixth-round draft pick out of Georgia, Walsh finished 20th in the league among kickers with 107 points. The consistency was a concern. He ranked 32nd among all kickers with a field-goal percentage of 74.3 percent. Included in the number is the 1 of 6 in Weeks 14-15.
Walsh, in three NFL seasons, has an 80.4 conversion rate outdoors compared to 88.5 percent indoors or with a retractable roof. But Walsh felt good about the way he finished the season and said he proved he can kick outdoors.
"I feel like I had my best year kickoff-wise and my numbers show that," Walsh said. "I felt like I finished strong with the last two games and needed to do that, and move on to next year."
Walsh was sixth in the league in touchback percentage, hitting 63.2 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks.
Vikings general manager Rick Spielman said he's still confident in Walsh's ability.
"He's a blue-chip kickoff guy," Spielman said earlier this month. "I think we had a couple of blocks. I think Blair went through a little bit of a slump there, but he was able to come out of it. I think him and even Jeff Locke, and I thought Locke had struggles early, too. But I thought during the second half of the year, Jeff Locke punted the ball very consistently.
"That's again two young guys that are continuing to come through and develop but also learning all of a sudden the conditions in TCF [Bank Stadium]. I think that experience in them understanding the winds and how all that all works in that stadium is going to be a huge benefit as they get their opportunity to kick in that stadium again next year."
With the move outside to TCF Bank Stadium for two seasons, Walsh changed his offseason preparation last year. He did more cardiovascular work in the offseason and tried to strengthen his core. He returned leaner and stronger.
Walsh plans on doing much of the same offseason training this year.
"Just got into the cardio a lot more and strengthening my core, and just becoming a better athlete," Walsh said. "I knew that being outside you're going to have to be able to fight through little minor injuries and you're going to have to be stronger in your hamstrings and quads and all that stuff. I knew that if I got my body in better shape that was going to help."
Walsh's splits last season don't show a dramatic difference from TCF Bank Stadium to other locations.
He was 11 of 15 (73.3 percent) on field-goal attempts at TCF Bank Stadium and 15 of 20 on the road, which included indoor games at St. Louis, New Orleans and Detroit and also good-weather conditions in Green Bay in October, Tampa Bay and Miami. Only one road game, Chicago in November, had temperatures near freezing.
He pointed to kicks against Atlanta (55 yards) and Green Bay (51 yards) at home as examples of his ability to kick outdoors. Walsh set the bar high as a rookie with a 10-of-10 performance on field goals of 50 yards or longer. He was 5 of 9 from 50 yards or longer this season, tied for the fourth-most conversions of 50 yards or longer in the NFL this season.
"I thought it went well," Walsh said of transitioning to TCF Bank Stadium. "I hit enough deep kicks. I hit enough good kicks that I proved that I could kick outdoors, that it was not just a hey-he-only-kicks-inside deal."
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