Crapigna shakes off rare miss in loss to Als
Placekicker has worked hard in practice, says he takes football ‘one kick at a time’
For as long as he can remember, Tyler Crapigna has had a short memory.
That’s why the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ placekicker is confident he’ll be able to move past Week 1 of the CFL regular season, when he missed a 45-yard field goal on the last play of his team’s 17-16 loss to the host Montreal Alouettes.
“It’s cliché to say but it’s kind of the way I’ve always been told, especially from my college coach,” Crapigna explained following Thursday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s just water off a duck’s back. Stuff is going to happen. You just have to let it slide and move forward.”
The best example came during the 2011 Vanier Cup, when Crapigna failed to hit a 30-yard field goal at the end of regulation, temporarily depriving the McMaster University Marauders of their first-ever national championship.
Crapigna was able to shrug it off in overtime, hitting from 20 yards out to secure a 41-38 double-OT victory over the Laval Rouge et Or.
“I don’t think there’s much shorter of a memory to have than missing one with three seconds left in regulation and coming back in overtime about 15 minutes later and hitting a game-winner,” he said with a smile.
“I remember being a little bit pissed (about the initial misfire), as anyone would be. Coming back (for overtime), it was just kind of, ‘Let’s go out there! We have another chance to seal this right now.’ ” That’s exactly what he did. Crapigna plans to use a similar mindset in Saskatchewan’s homeopener on Saturday night against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“(A short memory) is essential — not just for a kicker, it’s essential for any position in pro sports,” he said.
“I always like to think to myself, ‘Misses are going to happen. It’s about not missing two in a row, not letting one kick affect the next kick.’ That has kind of been my mindset ever since (college) and even when I was younger. It’s one kick at a time.”
Instead of dwelling on his latest setback, Crapigna put his nose to the grindstone. Those efforts didn’t go unnoticed by special teams co-ordinator Craig Dickenson, who expects the 24-yearold kicker to reap the rewards on Saturday.
“You always worry about a guy’s confidence regardless of position,” said the veteran coach.
“You want to just focus on the details (of the job). He has had a great week of practice. The main thing is he’s putting the work in and the process is there. I think he’ll bounce back strong.”
Crapigna has been answering questions all week about his ability to recover from last week’s setback. It was his only miss of the game after hitting three straight field goals — from 35, 41 and 18 yards.
“It’s funny when people ask me about bouncing back this week,” he said. “I don’t really even feel like I need to bounce back. It was just one miss. It’s not like I drilled it into a lineman’s back or something like that and completely screwed it up. I just happened to push it a little bit right. Coming into this game ... there’s really no need to change too much.”
Crapigna’s general approach worked out pretty well in his first full CFL season.
He was named the Riders’ most outstanding special-teams player and most outstanding Canadian in 2016 after hitting 85.7 per cent of his field goals. He also connected on a trio of game-winners, accounting for three of the team’s five victories.
Unfortunately for Crapigna, his latest miss is what people remember at the moment.
“It’s what you sign up for when you play that position,” said Dickenson.
“He knows that. We still believe in the kid 100 per cent. I’m excited to see him bounce back and have a good ball game.”
EXTRAS: Riders head coach/GM Chris Jones revealed after Thursday’s practice that linebacker Henoc Muamba “may be out” Saturday with an unspecified injury/ illness. Jones also said: “Rob Bagg looks like he’ll be good.” The veteran slotback missed Week 1 with an ankle injury.