Billy Cundiff appreciation thread

[JAB1985]

I don't understand all the ball washing in this thread.

Plenty of players come and go. I feel worse for Emanuel Cook, a borderline player who lost his season with a broken leg. Or wide receiver Devin Goda, a UDFA from "Slippery Rock University" whose career as an NFL player is now over before it even began, and he never even made a catch in a preseason game. Hell with Billy Cundiff, and hell with you if you think that sentiment is inappropriate.

Billy Cundiff isn't special. He was a mediocre placekicker who lost his job when a rookie came along who could do it better. That's what happens.

Tell me he treated the fans well like JO. Tell me he was active in the community like Matt Birk. Tell me if you bumped into the street he would treat you with kindness and humility like Joe Flacco.

The *only* story I have ever heard about Billy Cundiff "off the field" involves him acting like a jerk.

Why should I give a crap he's gone?

you dont have to... but this is an "appreciation" thread, not a Billy Cundiff sucks thread.

[AirFlacco]

"Harbs" didn't drop passes or miss kicks. And he didn't sign those players.

No and neither did Andy Reid but he sure coached them. He should have coached Evans on how to protect the ball. Maybe he should have at least called a timeout with Billy. In Piss it was a player
getting a unsportsman like conduct 15 yards out of bounds that took the ball back deep
instead of the 50 yard line when the rookie Joe was driving for a TD. It's always something and even Billick said the fish stinks from the head down.

I said Ozzie needs to stop signing guys that choke.

It's like the refs said to Earl Weaver when he was arguing with them once and said I'm
the only one here going to the HOF to which the ump replied, what for Earl, for f*cking
up all those world series.

He only won once in 18 years with all that talent and the Os won it the first year he
retired. Palmer said the team just wanted to prove to Earl that they could win the
series w/o him.

ILMAO.

[Kevlar]

I love our front office and think it's the best in the NFL but signing Cundiff to a long deal was one of the few circumstances they really screwed the pooch.

huh?

Cundiff's deal is small potatos. There have been a lot worse...like everyone at QB before Joe, letting Priest walk for peanuts, then having no backup for Jamal.

Cundiff won't even be a footnote in Ravens history thank goodness, except for his starring role in the '11 season AFCCG. I'm sure that will be on Patriot highlight films for years on NFLN.

[LukeDaniel]

Tom Matte always said kickers are not football players. ILMAO.

In fairness to Billy though, there's always someone on the team keeping Ray from gaining another ring.

We waisted all those great Ds with McCreary and Goose still here with Ray, then Reed and Suggs with Ray then Ngata with Reed, Suggs and Ray.

Billick should have won a SB in 03 and 06 and blew it. Shannan Sharpe always said we should have repeated in 01 but the team lost its swagger from SB 35.

HARBs has blown it every year he's been here just like his mentor did in Philly and I called this when he came.

Every year since his rookie year with a rookie QB he has just missed the SB going from missing it by 4 mins in Piss that year to 2 mins 2 seasons ago on the 3rd and 19 play and with Bolden and TJ dropping TDs,
and got to within 25 secs this year with
Evans dropping the big TD.

Ozzie has to stop signing players that choke. It's not just Billy but the coach
too.

Maybe HARBs gets it down to 1 sec from
the SB this year but Eagles fans have
been complaining about this for years
and while HARBs was up there as
ST coach under Reid.

When HARBs came here I said welcome to the new Eagles.

I'm just saying, it's not all Billy and,
not just this year.

All that said, it's a helluve of a lot better than being in Cinci, Buff, Det,
Charlotte or a dozen other cities the last 12 years. It's always been interesting.

This one of the more incoherent, jumbled, poorly-structured, nonsensical posts we've ever seen here. It's bad enough that it's virtually unreadable due to a lack of spelling and punctuation, but there are some serious factual flaws too.


I almost stopped reading it when I saw that Billick cost the Ravens a chance to win the 03 Super Bowl. That's such an outrageous premise. If the Ravens couldn't win a home game in wild card weekend, what makes you think they could have gone on the road and won the next two weeks? Utter nonsense.

TJ didn't drop a TD pass in the game two years in Pittsburgh. Boldin did, TJ did not. TJ dropped a 4th down pass that would still have left us 30-40 yards from a game-tying TD.

You mention Harbs "blowing it" every year. How did he blow it in the 09/10 postseason? That Raven team just wasn't very good, going 9-7 and was dominated 20-3 in the AFC semi. There was no blowing it that year. Another factual error.

I'm sure one of the questions that Ozzie asks incoming free agents is "are you gonna choke in a big moment in the playoffs?" Cmon. Ozzie's job is to bring in players who help put us in a spot to win, and he's done that quite well. Blaming the GM for a 30 year old, accomplished WR dropping a key pass is childish and inane.

It seems like the whole point of this drivel is to toot your own horn by saying that "I told you that Harbaugh couldn't close the big game" based on some unconnected coincidence that the team he arrived from had the same problem. Harbaugh was a special teams coach and a darn good one. One of the reasons the Eagles went that far every year with limited talent was due to their good special teams play. Utterly irrelevant comparison.

You are stooping to the lowest level of being a "fan". You form an opinion from day one about someone based on a stupid, 5th grade caliber rationale and casually remind people of it time and again. You realize that 19 out of 20 NFL coaches who are hired will never win a Super Bowl right? Way to step out on a limb there.

[festivus]

you dont have to... but this is an "appreciation" thread, not a Billy Cundiff sucks thread.

Yeah, well.

I "appreciate" the ones who contribute significantly on the field, or off the field, and Cundiff was a marginal on the field and, in my sample of one out of one stories about his treatment of fans, nothing special off the field, either.

Ronnie Prude was also a marginal player with the Ravens for a little while. I felt a twinge of sadness when he left, because at least he was nice the one time I met him. I've got nothin' for Cundiff.

You guys carry on with your party; it just doesn't make sense to me.

[LukeDaniel]

He should have coached Evans on how to protect the ball. In Piss it was a player
getting a unsportsman like conduct 15 yards out of bounds that took the ball back deep
instead of the 50 yard line when the rookie Joe was driving for a TD.

ILMAO.

The player with the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was Darren Stone. Any real Raven fan would know this.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of seeing a head coach at practice showing a 30 year old wide receiver with multiple 1000 yard receiving seasons how to secure the ball after it's caught. That's what positional coaches are for, and if your head coach started showing up veterans like that on simple fundamentals, I doubt they would attract too many more of them.

[LukeDaniel]

One last thing....

People talk about how much Cundiff cost this team last year, which is true. However, it's doubtful we would have been in the AFC Championship game last year if not for Cundiff's 51 yard FG through the wind at Heinz Field in the closing seconds of the 1st half. Without that incredible kick, Torrey Smith's TD only ties the game for us. Without that kick, we would have had to win games in Denver and Pittsburgh to even get back to having a chance at the AFC championship in Foxboro.

Funny how so many forget that.

[Ravens420]

This thread personifies how america has gone soft. You evidently cant hold millionaires accountable for doing their jobs. I know I have personally gone above and beyond in a few posts but honestly, billy cundiff got his appreciation from that big ass contract. If I screw the pooch at work and cost the company the big account, i am not going to think i deserve a pat on the back. He cashed the checks. The downside to being an NFL player when you cash in the millions of dollars means you have to face the music to the public when you don't do your job. He screwed the pooch badly and was paid millions to do it. ZERO SYMPATHY.

[LukeDaniel]

This thread personifies how america has gone soft. You evidently cant hold millionaires accountable for doing their jobs. I know I have personally gone above and beyond in a few posts but honestly, billy cundiff got his appreciation from that big ass contract. If I screw the pooch at work and cost the company the big account, i am not going to think i deserve a pat on the back. He cashed the checks. The downside to being an NFL player when you cash in the millions of dollars means you have to face the music to the public when you don't do your job. He screwed the pooch badly and was paid millions to do it. ZERO SYMPATHY.

Comparing success or failure in a sports event to corporate America falls way short, IMO. Not apples to apples IMO. If you "screw the pooch at work and cost the company a big account", that is a byproduct of far more failure than mis-kicking a football by a quarter of an inch.

If you fail to deliver a good sales pitch to a potential customer, that is not only a failure in execution, but also a failure in preperation. In Cundiff's case, when you practice the same thing hundreds of times per week, there is no failure in preperation. However, it is a physical event, and there is nobody who can execute a physical event with absolute perfection every time. Even Rick Barry missed free throws.

[Kevlar]

Comparing success or failure in a sports event to corporate America falls way short, IMO. Not apples to apples IMO. If you "screw the pooch at work and cost the company a big account", that is a byproduct of far more failure than mis-kicking a football by a quarter of an inch.

If you fail to deliver a good sales pitch to a potential customer, that is not only a failure in execution, but also a failure in preperation. In Cundiff's case, when you practice the same thing hundreds of times per week, there is no failure in preperation. However, it is a physical event, and there is nobody who can execute a physical event with absolute perfection every time. Even Rick Barry missed free throws.

There still isn't much there deserving appreciation.

It isn't like Matt Stover. Stover missed a few kicks too, but made enough that he earned a very solid reputation. Fans were sad to see Stover leave because he was a fine player that age had caught up with.

Cundiff on the other hand is just a bad football player. He never instilled any confidence in the fans and after shanking the game tying field goal in NE is practically being run out of town. Rightfully so.

He should be the one showing appreciation for all that guaranteed money he stole from the Ravens when he signed that contract that he never deserved.

[Paintballguy]

There still isn't much there deserving appreciation.

It isn't like Matt Stover. Stover missed a few kicks too, but made enough that he earned a very solid reputation. Fans were sad to see Stover leave because he was a fine player that age had caught up with.

Cundiff on the other hand is just a bad football player. He never instilled any confidence in the fans and after shanking the game tying field goal in NE is practically being run out of town. Rightfully so.

He should be the one showing appreciation for all that guaranteed money he stole from the Ravens when he signed that contract that he never deserved.

A lot of people keep saying Cundiff was a good kicker. I'll admit he had a great probowl 2010 season converting 89% of his attempts, but he is a career 76% kicker. Also, keep in mind the longest fieldgoal he made in 2010 was 49 yards. The 2010 season was a statistical outlier, as many other posters have pointed out.

[AirFlacco]

Vinny said on radio that the only reason Billy made the pro bowl
wa because of all those kicks that boomed thru the end zone. It
had nothing to do with his great FG average which has been proven elsewhere in this forum not to be amongst the best in the NFL.

Ravens found someone who can kick farther than Billy.

The title of the thread should be changed. There's not much
appreciation here or anywhere in the town for Billy. It's a
shame but that's the way it is.