Cundiff's the guy (updated)
The Ravens have announced that they have signed kicker Billy Cundiff to replace Steve Hauschka.
Cundiff is in his sixth NFL season and has previously kicked with the Cowboys, Saints and Browns. He was cut by Cleveland after going 6-for-6 on field goals in five games this season.
"We've been working kickers out for a couple weeks here, and [Cundiff] did a nice job, so he'll be our guy," head coach John Harbaugh said.
His signing comes a day after the Ravens released Hauschka, who had missed three of his last seven field goals (including two big fourth quarter attempts). Hauschka also had an extra point blocked.
The Ravens tried out Cundiff and Mike Nugent last week, and chose to go with the 29-year-old Cundiff as Hauschka's replacement.
"They were very close," head coach John Harbaugh said of the battle between Cundiff and Nugent. "Probably the kickoff difference [was the deciding factor]. They both have similar stats, they both looked very similar in the workouts as far as making field goals...but Billy is probably a little further along in the kickoffs. It was close; they're both good kickers."
Cundiff is a career 74 percent kicker who has a career long of 56 yards. Check out his career numbers here.
"He's been up and down, but if you look back at his history, and Cleveland is a good part of that, he had one kickoff nine yards deep [in the end zone], he looked good on field goals. We watched him hard in pregame [in the Week 3 game between the Ravens and Browns], and he looked good.
"He's been a talented guy through his whole career. So you start with that foundational talent - that means a lot. He's had success. I think he's career numbers are pretty good, so we'll just see how it goes. There's no way to accurately foresee exactly what's going to happen, but he's a veteran kicker who's been in these situations before and we think that'll help us."
 |
Categories (click for archive)Dan Kolko | Ravens News |
He went 6-6, and was cut by the Browns? What was the story there?
-------
Sam,
He was filling in for Phil Dawson while the longtime Brown was out with an injury. When Dawson returned, Cundiff was no longer needed.
-Dan
If Cundiff strugles and we are in a playoff race at the end of the year I think we may bring back Stover when ne gets cut by the Colts.
Dan- Any idea on when Vinaterri will be back with the Colts?
-------
Brad,
I'm not sure. I think I had heard the team expected him to be out somewhere around five weeks when he first got injured, but I haven't looked into how he's been doing since. I'd check the Indy papers/websites; they probably have an update.
-Dan
Cundiff looks solid.
Dan, any way to look at your blog from a mobile phone? MASN should invest in a mobile version of all the blogs on here.
-------
Christopher,
It works just fine from my BlackBerry, but I'll pass along your request to the appropriate people and see what they say.
-Dan
Before this season, why was Cundiff out of the NFL for 3 years? Was he hurt?
Is he capable of still hitting 50 + kicks? How long did he hit in tryouts.
-------
Richard,
No clue how he did in the tryout; we weren't allowed to watch and didn't get specific details other than that he hit around 85-90 percent of his kicks and did well on kickoffs. As for the layoff, Cundiff was simply without a long-term kicking job for a couple years. He had short stints with a handful of teams, but did not appear in any games. He has a strong leg and should still be OK around the 50-yard range.
-Dan
And the snap is good. The kick is up. It's good. A game winning 42 yard field goal by........Matt Stover to win the games for the Colts. I hope I don't hear that Sunday.