Kicking your way out of the playoffs

They're the smallest, slowest and weakest players on most football teams. They're on the field for no more than a minute each game and they rarely take a hit, but this year's NFL playoffs have been a testament to the vital importance of place kickers.

There's something about the postseason that brings out the worst in the NFL's kicking contingent. Some of the best booters in the league have missed more than their share of kicks during the playoffs, which has sent the league's best teams to the golf course to show off their own version of the dead hook.

So far this postseason, kickers have been about as reliable as local weathermen. They have converted on only 20 of 33 field goal attempts, good for a paltry 61 percent.

The longest field goal made was 48 yards and all four kickers who attempted field goals of 50 yards or more could not connect. Not exactly championship-caliber statistics.

And in the playoffs, when every game is a must-win, three points off the board can mean a plane ticket home.

That was the case for the Cincinnati Bengals during the first round, when Shayne Graham missed both field goals he attempted, including a 28-yarder that would have cut the Bengal deficit during the fourth quarter. The New York Jets reveled in the Bengal bungle and moved on to San Diego for another game.

Jets coach Rex Ryan must have had deja vu when the Mean Green got the same break the following week. Nate Kaeding, the Chargers kicker whose 87.2 percent field goal percentage is an NFL record, missed all three field goals he tried. Nine points off the board. Chargers headed to the beach.

Then the curse of the cold-footed kicker continued into the AFC Championship game, but this time changed sidelines. New York kicker Jay Feely missed two of his three field goal attempts and Peyton Manning didn't let him get away with it. The Indianapolis Colts and place kicker Matt Stover, who hasn't missed a field goal all playoffs, are 60 minutes from a title.

Kicking percentage in the NFL went down for the first time in a while during this regular season, moving from 84.5 percent during 2008 to 81.3 percent this season. Multiple teams cut kickers midseason and tried to pick up scraps from the discount kicker pool, but few found success.

The Dallas Cowboys, who picked up former Washington Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham on Dec. 21, 2009, watched Suisham fall victim to the playoff curse as well, missing two of three kicks against the Minnesota Vikings.

When you think about it, field goals are like the free throws of football. Snap the ball, put it on the ground and kick through the uprights. It's that easy. Sure, defenses get a block every once in a while, but just like a clutch foul shooter, if the kicker executes, there isn't much that can stop it.

The problem is, clutch kickers are a lot harder to find than good foul shooters. Even the best kickers in the NFL hiccup when playoff time comes around. Why?

Well, the answer is simple: you can't practice pressure. No matter how many 60-yarders Kaeding may have drilled during warm-ups, none of them had his team's playoff life hanging in the balance. No matter how many times Graham told himself to pretend it was just another game, it wasn't.

Nerves happen to everyone, from the 11-year-old shortstop to the lucky fan shooting a half court shot at halftime, and they make things just plain uncomfortable. Add to that 80,000 fans, plus millions more on the couch, watching your every move and the fate of an entire organization resting on your right leg, and it becomes a little easier to see why so many hopes and dreams sailed wide left.

So with the most coveted title in all of sports on the line next Sunday, remember the little guys. After 18 grueling games of linemen dueling in the trenches and running backs trading punishment with linebackers, the guys who rarely even get their uniforms dirty may be the difference between glory and grief.

Don't worry, guys. No pressure.

Contact staff writer Reilly Moore at reilly.moore@richmond.edu