Dave Fipp Calls Jake Elliott’s Short Misses “Unacceptable”

Clank!

Jake Elliott single-doinked a 22-yarder off the left upright on Sunday afternoon and is now one for three on field goals inside 29 yards this season.

Ironically, he’s 10-10 between 30 and 49 yards, but has also missed two extra points this year, so something is funky with his short game. He’s the anti-Phil Mickelson.

It seems like Elliott has been ‘off’ for a little while now, and Tuesday special teams coordinator Dave Fipp channeled his inner Andy Reid when explaining that he has to “do a better job” with his kicker:

“Obviously, the last three weeks he’s had some short misses there. It’s unacceptable for us. He knows that, I know that. I have to do a better job with him just working our fundamentals, our techniques, our drills. We had a good snap, a good hold. I think the operation has been really good for him. He’s obviously made a bunch of longer kicks, so some of it is hard to fathom. At the end of the day, I’m not going to get into all the techniques and detail, but it comes down to just striking the ball more consistently. We got to get him in a little bit better rhythm and make sure he’s striking the ball a little bit more consistently there.

I think just like any player in any times like this, you go back to fundamentals and your routine and your process and you stay the course. He’s a talented player, he’s got a lot of conf… (Fipp cut himself short there) he’s got a lot of tools, he’s a really talented player, he works really hard at it. It’s really important to him, it’s not a lack of effort, or of a want to, so we’ll just stay the course. I think any player in that position in this league or most players in that position in this league have had to fight through something. This will be a good opportunity for him to fight thought a little adversity here. He’s been a really consistent player for us the last handful of years, so I look forward to the opportunity to get him back on track here.”

That part above, where I wrote “conf…” was a little strange. On video, Fipp actually began to say the word “confidence,” but paused and continued with this thought.

Nick Fierro at The Morning Call picked up on that and followed by asking how the Eagles get Elliott’s confidence back up.

Fipp:

“I misspoke there, I don’t know if he has a lot of confidence. I’m sure he does have a lot of confidence in himself. I’m also not naïve to the fact that he has struggled a little here the last three weeks, so I’m sure that takes a toll on you.

I think you get it back by going out there and practicing and developing confidence by executing in practice and then by getting it done in the games. He’s got a lot to draw on. He’s had a lot of success. He’s made a lot of big kicks. All those things give you confidence. I’m sure at some point in his career, I haven’t really seen it or been a part of it, but I’m sure at some point in his career he’s struggled a little bit and had to fight though that, so I’m sure he can draw on those experiences as well.”

The thing with Elliott is that he carries a $3.3 million dollar cap hit in 2021. There’s a potential out in 2022, but they’ll have to eat a few million in dead cap because they guaranteed him 10 million when he signed his five-year deal. There’s not a lot of wiggle room to begin with, and you don’t want to find yourself eating dead cap from a kicker.

Elliott will bet the 13th-highest paid kicker in 2021, so he’s top half of the league.

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