Was Cundiff Distracted Prior To FG Attempt?

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 12:01 PM EST

According to their staff, this TMZ Exclusive Report is alleging that Baltimore Ravens placekicker Billy Cundiff was unprepared and "distracted" prior to getting on the field for what ended up being the missed field goal that could have tied the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots with seconds left and sent the game into overtime:

Billy Cundiff -- the Baltimore Ravens' kicker who botched the kick that could have kept the team's Super Bowl dream alive -- was distracted before his field goal attempt ... to the point that coaches were yelling at him.

Two players on the team have spoken with TMZ -- one of whom says he witnessed the confrontation and another who did not witness it but says it is being widely discussed among Ravens players.

Our sources say ... immediately before Cundiff attempted the game-tying FG, he was doing what he was supposed to do -- practicing kicking on the sidelines. But as the Ravens marched down the field, Cundiff was unaware that his time to kick was looming.

It's S.O.P. for kickers to walk toward the field when the time approaches for them to kick -- ready to run into the game.

According to our sources, coaches repeatedly called for Cundiff -- at least 6 times -- to no avail -- he wasn't responding. We're told the coaches became "furious" because Cundiff wasn't ready to go.

Our sources say players and coaches are saying Cundiff was distracted ... not paying attention and not ready to immediately execute a kick.

As for how the team reacted to the botched attempt, we're told players were gracious. As one player put it, "We didn't give him a hard time because he looked like he was ready to kill himself."

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Seems like a load of sh*t to me. In the biggest game of his career, Cundiff was staring into space? Don’t buy it for one second.

Anything TMZ reports, ignore. I thought all those people do is take pictures of Paris Hilton? Since when did they learn anything about football?

Flacco has to trust his receivers to make catches, but shouldn’t throw towards coverage. He needs to attack deep more often, but shouldn’t hold onto the ball so long. He needs to show more awareness in the pocket and move to extend plays, but nothing good comes of him leaving the pocket. He should run with the ball if nobody’s open, but he definitely can’t run with the ball.

Flacco should have the awareness of Roethlisberger, the elusiveness of Vick, the control of the offense of Manning, the leadership of Brady, the accuracy of Brees, and the arm strength of … Flacco? - Ampallang

by Mr MaLoR on Jan 24, 2012 12:13 PM EST reply actions

Agreed.

That doesn’t sound like Billy at all. Although with all these reports of distractions and confusion and even Bill Belichick saying that “they looked rushed,” either Billy or Harbs should have called a TO. Captain Hindsight at your service..

by fedfan64 on Jan 24, 2012 12:33 PM EST up reply actions

Sorry guys

but rarely is TMZ inaccurate in their reports. I’m saying Cundiff was distracted, but the whole scoreboard thing looks to have confused a lot of people, the coaches AND Billy possibly included.

As far as TMZ goes, they are not sued very much because they are usually right and fair in their reporting, much better than those other rags, the National Enquirer.

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 3:47 PM EST up reply actions

Faux news is never sued either

doesn’t make them ‘fair’

by kryptonianjorel on Jan 24, 2012 4:16 PM EST up reply actions

Agreed but

I told my kids to lose the word “fair” from their vocabulary when they turned ten years old. Hate the word.

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 4:48 PM EST up reply actions

I’m saying Cundiff was distracted

Disagree, his job is a very simple one…go out and kick the ball. He had plenty of time to do it, and even if there was a distraction or confusion on the sidelines, there was no distraction on the field. He missed it, bottom line.

by YeahDonnie on Jan 25, 2012 8:42 PM EST up reply actions

Did you read the article about the malfunctioning scoreboard (the one talking to Cundiff)?

I think that pretty much explains what happened here.

Cundiff thinks it’s 3rd down. He’s off doing what he does on 3rd down (envisioning the kick I think, which would look like he was staring into space). He’s not expecting to get called to go onto the field. It’s actually 4th down. Even the coaches are surprised, I think. They start yelling, they’re obviously pissed at being deceived, it takes a minute for Cundiff to hear them, and voila, fake story.

You come at the king, you best not miss.

by organizedchaos52 on Jan 24, 2012 12:37 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, I saw that article. That I believe more so than this crap report about him drifting off in the final moments of the game.

by Mr MaLoR on Jan 24, 2012 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

This makes more sense

anyone trying to contact me via my yahoo account should be aware it has been hacked

by Cold_Old_Steelers_Fan on Jan 24, 2012 1:25 PM EST up reply actions

So what you are all saying is ...

that there was no chance he was checking out some hot chick in the stands, trying to make ye contact, saying, “yeah, that’s right, Ima pro football player. Wanna meet me after the game to be my ball-holder?”

Come on, wouldn’t you!?

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

It would be more plausible

if there weren’t another, better explanation. Occam’s Razor.

You come at the king, you best not miss.

by organizedchaos52 on Jan 24, 2012 4:16 PM EST up reply actions

No way I would do that

My wife would turn me into kindling.

anyone trying to contact me via my yahoo account should be aware it has been hacked

by Cold_Old_Steelers_Fan on Jan 24, 2012 11:53 PM EST up reply actions

What a Minute

You mean to tell me that a home-team operated scoreboard malfunctioned which caused issues for the visiting team? The very same organization (Patriots) that has never, ever had even a hint of cheating allegations leveled against it?

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”

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"It's big for a reason."

For Pittsburgh fans, that's Pope, Twain, Rostand, Rogers and Megamind

by vlad755 on Jan 24, 2012 5:38 PM EST up reply actions

They couldn't get the lawnsprinklers going

They had to do something.

anyone trying to contact me via my yahoo account should be aware it has been hacked

by Cold_Old_Steelers_Fan on Jan 24, 2012 11:54 PM EST up reply actions

The kick

I re-watched the game last night -

Cundiff was shown, a few plays before the fieldgoal attempt, trotting along the sideline looking as if he was going to the practice kicking area. Next time you see him, he’s hustling onto the field with appx. 14 seconds left on the play clock – the team quickly set up for the try, the snap was good enough – the hold was fine – the kick was pulled severely to the left – it completely missed the backup-net and ended up in the crowd. The overall scene did look somewhat “rushed”.

If I’m coach Harbaugh – I use my last timeout to settle the team down. The kick wasn’t going to win the game but, a trip to the Super Bowl was on the line. Gotta make that kick.

by profootballfan on Jan 24, 2012 12:38 PM EST reply actions

Especially since,

ALL of Billy’s misses this year were wide-right… that was just a weird kick

by fedfan64 on Jan 24, 2012 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

Of course,

if Harbaugh had called a timeout to settle the team down and Cundiff missed, then he would have gotten blamed for icing his own kicker.

by DoofusOfErasmus on Jan 24, 2012 3:10 PM EST up reply actions

Can't win that argument either way

But why save the timeout with 11 seconds on the gameclock? It was a slow developing kick setup. That excuse works just fine. Clock management a problem all season long? Yup. Here too. Arguably yes.

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 3:51 PM EST up reply actions

Very convincing argument

Tuesday Morning Quarterback has harped on coaches who, looking to their own approval ratings/job security, fail to go for it on 4th and short even when sabermetrics shows that in many cases that is the best course of action.

But in many cases Harbs has proved himself the opposite of this cowardly coaching tendency, including going for it on 4th against Houston, etc. (It’s not his fault that Cam has the most predictable 4th-down calling, another of TMQ/Easterbrook’s pet peeves)

I just so wish he’d called that timeout. Calling it before the kicker takes the field is definitely not “icing him” either.

by dimik on Jan 24, 2012 7:27 PM EST up reply actions

Hard to understand...

why Harbaugh didn’t call a time out under the circumstances.

"If you know how to cheat, start now." - Earl Weaver

by rebop on Jan 24, 2012 12:53 PM EST reply actions

does this maybe explain

that shot of Harbaugh shoving a coach – not sure who it was – on the sidelines in the chest?

by RavensfaninTX on Jan 24, 2012 1:09 PM EST reply actions

That was on the 4th and 6 play earlier in the game. That was whether we were kicking a FG or going for it.

We go for it and don’t send a single WR into the middle of the field. Why the eff wasn’t Pitta sent on a little hook right and sit in the middle of the zone. Awful play call in that situation. Fire Cam.

daytime commentator. night time ninja.

by El.Dude on Jan 24, 2012 2:24 PM EST up reply actions

I never felt like 'fire cam'

but i’m on board now, I dont see any other reason for shit like that.

god this is gonna be a painful offseason, the last few playoff losses were understandable, this one was OURS TO WIN. ughhhhh

by handlogten on Jan 24, 2012 2:46 PM EST reply actions

consider the source

Lakers and Patriots forever.

by D.S.T. on Jan 24, 2012 4:39 PM EST reply actions

Hey!

TMZ gets great shots of hot women. So that makes them legit, okay?

aka 'Rexx'

by Bruce Raffel on Jan 24, 2012 4:49 PM EST up reply actions

legit for covering Ravens football. Totally.

Lakers and Patriots forever.

by D.S.T. on Jan 24, 2012 6:58 PM EST up reply actions

Harbs screwed up. He gets so flustered in the rush of the moment. See him push one of his coaches like a baby. Call the time out and get everyones head in the game. Ounce there was doubt about Cundiffs frame of mind simply call the damn TO.

Don’t start me about Cam. Get rid of the guy. Calling 75% of a good game doesn’t get it done playoffs. He can thank his D, the Chiefs, a rookie Texans QB, a bye…..

by raven on Jan 24, 2012 5:42 PM EST reply actions

I honestly find both explanations plausible (zoning out vs down/timing confusion

Cundiff is justly being criticized with the reasoning “This is the ONE thing he does—he NEEDS to be able to do it” but
My response would be that yes—that is the only thing in the entire world that he needs to focus on. A kicker should tune out almost EVERYTHING else, as much as possible. I want a kicker with antifreeze in his veins, who can’t be bothered to worry about things like Evans dropping the game winner, etc. He checks in with the game via something neutral, like the scoreboard, and otherwise he stays in his own zone and doesn’t let anything else enter his world.

Don’t get me wrong, I am as angry and upset as any of us with Cundiff, BELIEVE THAT. But I try to think about things from the player’s perspective in cases like these, and one person’s “distracted” vis a vis the flow of the game is another person’s “staying in the zone.”

I’m with the commenter who wrote that Harbs was outcoached here—Bellichick knew Harbs thought he would ice the kicker, but as ESPN stats pointed out after the Dallas incident, icing a kicker actually INCREASES the success %age of kickers.

by dimik on Jan 24, 2012 7:20 PM EST reply actions

alI i can say is

“Un-Billy-vable”.

by section117 on Jan 24, 2012 7:38 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

didn't anybody see about Arizona kicker Jay Feely

where he said you can’t blame the coach; if the kicker feels rushed, it’s his responsibility to call the timeout, and he’s done it himself various times?

by Brian Adams on Jan 24, 2012 11:40 PM EST reply actions