Saints Nation: John Carney is Back with the Saints (Again)

Hard to believe, but at 46, John Carney is going to get yet another stint with the New Orleans Saints. This comes on the heels of Garrett Hartley’s struggles to perform early in the season. Hartley is 4 for 7 on the season, including a 29 yard missed attempt in overtime that would have given the Saints a 3-0 record. Now they sit at 2-1, with a must win game at home against Carolina this Sunday. Apparently Garrett Hartley is still on the team, so there is no word yet on who was released to make room for Carney. The Saints are going to carry two kickers for now, much like they did last season. It remains to be seen how they plan to use either or both this week. My guess is one will be active and one will not. The immediate question is: which one will be active on Sunday? Do the Saints immediately give Carney the job his first week back? Interestingly, all of Hartley’s missed have come at home in the Superdome, so it’s not impossible Carney could kick at home, and Hartley on the road. We’ll have to see. The signing could merely be a move to spook Hartley a little bit into getting himself into gear, or it could be to help him as Carney served as a great mentor for the young kicker last season.

My take on the whole situation with Hartley is that he’s still a good young kicker that has shown, by and large, that he’s accurate and powerful. The Saints would be stupid to let him go. Every kicker goes through some struggles, but he’s already proven he can make big time kicks in big time situations. If the Saints feel like Carney currently represents the best option, then I support the signing provided they hold on to Hartley. At 46, I’m not even sure Carney represents a short term answer, but I still think he’s extremely reliable accuracy wise inside 40 yards. That said, I’ve always been a huge fan of John Carney, as I think he’s the ultimate professional and he’s had an outstanding career. It’s nice to see him back in black and gold.

Carney was 13 of 17 for the Saints last year, but he also missed two extra points. In his career with the Saints, he’s been 163 for 197, or a conversion rate of 82.7%. Hartley, by comparison, is 26 of 31 in his career with the Saints with a conversion rate of 83.9%. Granted the sample size is much smaller, but by no means has Hartley been bad or even average during his stint with the Saints. Those number, by the way, don’t factor in the perfect numbers he had in the playoffs last season, make a number of big time kicks. We can go back to Carney’s career and think of some bad misses and bad stretches he’s had, but the bottom line is he’s traditionally been extremely accurate and reliable. The same can be said for Hartley so far.