Fragile
Pronounced- Fra-jeel-ay…must be Italian. Hopefully you get the reference from the movie classic “A Christmas Story”. The word fragile comes to mind quite often these days as I watch game after game with kickers struggling in bowl games and the NFL playoffs. All in all, it’s been a horrible year for kickers.
Even going back into the regular season, some of the best kickers in history hit a wall. Jason Elam with the Falcons and Nick Folk with the Cowboys are two of the best examples. What’s so strange is, the kicker who replaced Folk, Sean Suisham, has had his struggles as well. He was cut from the Washington Redskins just a few short weeks before joining the Cowboys. In fact, a short miss versus the Cowboys is what got him cut from the Redskin roster in the first place.
The worst case scenario just happened Sunday with Nate Kaeding of the San Diego Chargers going 0-3 versus the New York Jets. Two of the misses should have been automatic. Jim Nance had just gotten the words out of his mouth and I KNEW it was a jinx coming. Kaeding had made 67 in a row inside 40 yards. Sunday he started another streak, missing two. The final score of 17-14 makes it a big deal. The fact that similar games have happened in the playoffs before, makes Charger fans crazy.
When a negative precedent is set, a molehill can become a mountain pretty quickly, and almost impossible to get over. I’ve been there. I have mentioned the 1978 Astro Bluebonnet Bowl before. Without doubt my worst game as a Georgia Bulldog. It was a game played on turf, in a dome. The next time I had a chance to play on turf, in a dome was the Sugar Bowl for the national championship. I would have been fine, but all week reporters reminded me of my earlier failure and asked me if it would happen again.
This constant negative input was very difficult to push aside. As you have seen this year, when a kicker has any doubts in a pressure situation, the results are less than stellar. The reporters questions actually ruined that week for me, because all I could think about was not letting a replay of the Bluebonnet Bowl take place. As it turned out I had a solid game, not perfect, but solid.
When doubt creeps in, that chink in the armor can kill you. As a golfer, a pitcher or hitter in baseball, and especially a kicker, confidence is key. Phill Simms really impressed me with his understanding of the position Sunday. A regular player is instinctive, reacting to the flow of the game. Kickers are on the sideline, stagnant and come in for one play to either succeed or fail. It’s not easy, but it is the nature of the position.
A kicker has to do his part, or suffer the consequences.
What NOT to Wear…in Training Camp
The year was 1982 and I was in training camp with the Miami Dolphins. I had started out in Denver that summer and was still struggling with consistency kicking off the ground. I was very happy to be in Miami as I had been a fan of the Dolphins and Coach Don Shula for years. I will never forget meeting him for the first time, at practice after having been picked up from the waiver wire.
He called me over and said he was glad to have me in camp. He then asked how much I weighed…I said 197….he said don’t get over 200 lbs and pinched my stomach. As crazy as it sounds that made me feel good that he actually knew me and my tendency to struggle with my weight.
Yes, that’s right I said TENDENCY…pfft!
But that’s not what this post is about. It’s about thinking about what you say and do and wear in every situation. You may have heard of the TV show, WHAT NOT TO WEAR. Well it sometimes is a matter of life and death. One of my old team mates, punter Mark Malkiewicz gave me a tee shirt in 1981. His parents had moved to Poway, California to relocate their mattress business and factory. You may or may not know that Poway is a suburb of San Diego. Mark brought me a Chargers tee shirt on one of his trips back home. It was cool, but it was just another tee shirt to me.
Can you feel the stupidity building?
So one day I went to lunch wearing said shirt. Bad, bad mistake. Have you ever heard of Bob Kuechenberg? Bob was a NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman. He played at Notre Dame back when they were still Notre Dame. Let me just say, he was a bad man. Bob approached me and “suggested” that I take that _____ shirt off. I asked if I could wait til I got back to my room or did I have to do it in the cafeteria. He let me go back to my room, the fact that I was still alive was a bonus.
Now, do you by chance remember the 1982 AFC Playoff game when the Dolphins played the Chargers in one of the most historic games on record. It was a back and forth knockdown drag out war, that ultimately the Chargers won in overtime. Kellen Winslow became a legend that night. Think about if the tee shirt incident had happened after that game and not before. Holy Crap!
How I could do something so stupid still baffles me.
For those of you that know me, don’t say a word.
On a positive note I did finish my time a Miami with a great game against the New York Football Giants. I had field goals of 42 and 53 yards and a 31 yarder to win in overtime.
Tell me what you really think!