The Job of A NFL Kicker

Many times has a kickers position been questioned when it comes to importance on a football team. They do not make the same money the likes of Tom Brady or Peyton Manning does but they can be very important to a team winning the Super bowl. When talking about pressure moments it is these men who are called upon to become heroes.
Watching the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots vie for a spot in the Super bowl and Billy Cundiff missing the kick that would have sent the game into overtime, all I could think about is Ray Finkle. Finkle is a made up character from the movie Ace Ventura Pet Detective. After missing the game winning kick that would have won it all for the Dolphins, he lost his mind. No one said the job of a kicker was easy; it is just something that someone has to do. It can result in being a hero, or a goat for the rest of the world to laugh it. Billy Cundiff is one of those goats, but he is not alone. Along with Cundiff and Finkle there are many kickers who missed timely field goals that could have changed history. One could surely remember Canadian Mike Vanderjagt who was a lifetime eighty-eight percent kicker during the season, but with everything on the line a routine kick became insurmountable. In the 2005 playoffs, Vandergajt a member of the Indianapolis Colts missed a 46yd FG that resulted in Pittsburgh winning 21-18. However, the most notorious kicking blunder was none other then Buffalo Bills kicker Scott Norwood. (see attached video on the bottom) Norwood’s 47yd miss in Super Bowl XXV has given us the infamous call “Wide Right” and the New York Giants a Super bowl ring.
There are many people who believe that because their professionals they can kick from all different yardages but it is in fact one of the toughest things to do in all of sports. Did I forget to mention the entire world is watching? It’s easy to point the blame finger at one player but football is a team sport. A play here, a play there all could have been a difference maker in possibly preventing the kick from ever happening. If Lee Evans had not dropped the game-winning touchdown then Cundiff’s kick would never have mattered and the Ravens would be in the Super bowl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8_KDERNb5g&feature=related