Blair Walsh posted a video on Instagram showing himself nailing a pole with a straight-down-the-middle-kick from long-distance.
The Minnesota Vikings’ season ended disappointingly when Blair Walsh missed a chip-shot field goal that would have given his team a massive playoff victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Walsh seemed distraught after the miss, a fact that was not lost on a certain group of kindly elementary school students, but since that dark day Walsh has put the pieces back together and gotten back to work.
Saturday, Walsh gave the fans (and his teammates, and coaches, and all the haters) a little offseason progress report via Instagram video. In the clip, Walsh gives one a good boot from distance and it flies arrow-straight right into a target pole.
This is one case where Walsh wanted to hit the upright.
When you set it up with the tee, it’s always laces-out. Note that it is also sunny and and warm there is no apparent wind. And the field is nice and soft. And there are no fans. And no other team. And no pressure.
But you gotta give it up to Walsh, he kicks it dead straight into that pole. Mike Zimmer will be very pleased to see this. You know Zimmer got frustrated last year with Walsh’s tendency to get cute and try to curve everything.
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When asked recently about Walsh’s struggles, Zimmer suggested that it will be important to start the kicker off slowly once the team re-convenes (via ESPN):
"“You’re always only as good as your last kick, right? So we want to make sure that a lot of his kicks are good kicks now. We’re not going to start him out at a 60-yarder on the first day of [organized team activities]. I don’t know that I need to build his confidence, but I’m going to make sure I don’t need to build his confidence.”"
I don’t know Zim, by the looks of it, I think Walsh is ready for those 60-yarders. He’s kicking it straight down the middle on Instagram.