Arizona Cardinals: 5 things given freedom from
By Scott Allen
Chandler Catanzaro
Over and over I said that kicker Chandler Catanzaro was not the only reason why they lost in 2016. Yes, as team president Micheal Bidwill put it a couple of weeks ago, three missed kicks were the difference between the playoffs and sitting at home with a losing record.
He made a couple of big ones too last year. The biggest one came in Seattle on Christmas Eve, but by then it was too late. He missed potential game-winners against the New England Patriots and twice in the tie at home against the Seattle Seahawks.
He also missed a game-tying field goal against the Miami Dolphins. While he provided some fun moments he also let fans and his team down.
The Cardinals decided to do nothing about it during the 2016 season and quite honestly there wasn’t much they could do. No kicker was coming off the street to help right the ship.
That is until free agent kicker Phil Dawson became available in the offseason. The Cardinals allowed Catanzaro to walk away to the New York Jets and the veteran Dawson comes in to do the placekicking duties in 2017.