Ah, the life of an NFL kicker. It’s the position no one cares about on an NFL team — that is, as long as said kicker is not missing. Just ask Washington Redskins kicker Shaun Suisham. Against the New Orleans Saints, Suisham was doing what kickers should: making the short field goals and hitting the extra points; in other words, he wasn’t in a position to be recognized. He was simply doing what he was signed to do, and doing it successfully.

That is, until there were under two minutes left to play in the game — 1:56 to be exact.

At that precise moment, Suisham went from the pages of “unknown” to “infamous,” thanks to an errant kick of the leg, leading to an ugly, ugly miss of chip-shot field goal that would’ve given the Redskins a 10-point lead, and would’ve directly contributed to the Saints, in all likelihood, losing their first game of the season.

And what did Suisham do with the opportunity he was given? He failed. Instead of splitting the uprights, Suisham simply missed. His miss was so surprising, even Tony Dungy — considered one of the NFL’s nicer guys — absolutely threw Washington’s kicker directly under the bus. When asked how he’d deal with such failings, Dungy simply responded:

“I’d have to cut him before he cost me my job.”

Keep in mind that, up until his tremendous gaffe against the Saints, Suisham had been incredibly accurate. In fact, prior to the Saints failure, Suisham had only missed two field goals all season, and both of those came against the Dallas Cowboys during the Redskins’ 7-6 loss.

If you are going to miss field goals, Suisham’s lesson is obvious: make sure they are important ones that drastically alter the outcome of the game.

Tags: Field Goals, Kickers, Shane Suisham, Tony Dungy, Washington Redskins

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