Sometimes, kickers just know, even if it's someone who only spent part of one training camp as an NFL kicker.
Stefan Fatsis, author of the first-person book A Few Seconds of Panic: A Sportswriter Plays in the NFL, rushed to the defense of Baltimore Ravens placekicker Billy Cundiff on Sunday. When just about everyone else was burying Cundiff for missing a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game, Fatsis tried to explain why Cundiff's kick "looked threatened, if not doomed, from the outset."
"With the play clock at 10 seconds and ticking, I was stunned, like others, to see Cundiff racing onto the field," Fatsis writes on Slate.com. "I haven't talked to him or seen an explanation for the delay. It's possible that Cundiff normally trots out a bit later than the rest of the field-goal unit. But this looked extreme."
Cundiff looked rushed, Fatsis went on to say, and rotated his hips too quickly before pushing the ball left.
Fatsis rejected the criticisms of everyone from blowhard media personalities like Stephen A. Smith to seasoned football reporters like Tim Layden (who has forgotten more about the NFL than Fatsis, you or I ever knew).
"When it comes to missed field goals," Fatsis writes, "kicker solidarity trumps journalistic propriety every time."
OK, then. You might be wondering how two short camps and one three-week training camp entitles Fatsis to "kicker solidarity," but Cundiff is everybody's whipping boy at the moment, so we'll let this one ride in his defense.
Fist pound to Deadspin
Photo of the day
Sad face. :~(
Don't worry, Billy. At least you've got Mr. Fatsis on your side.
Book cover image via Amazon
Quote of the day
"He's going to be sick for a little while."
— Giants wide receiver Devin Thomas on 49ers return man Kyle Williams' emotions. Thomas recovered both botched balls by Williams
Tweet of the day
Since when is a little Enrico Palazzo too much to ask?
Video of the day
"Look out! Look out! It's no good!"
