Fans and media members weren’t the only ones shocked that Billy Cundiff wasn’t kicking in the Ravens preseason matchup against the Jaguars on Thursday. Cundiff himself was caught off guard by the team’s decision.
“I’m on a need to know basis,” Cundiff explained to The Baltimore Sun’s Aaron Wilson. “I found out before this game, which shocked me.”
22-year-old rookie Justin Tucker played the full 60 minutes, converting two field goals from 33 and 53 yards and six extra points. “I feel like it couldn’t have gone any better,” Tucker said after the game according to Garrett Downing of the Ravens official website. “It was nothing short of just an awesome time.”
While Tucker has out kicked Cundiff in training camp and most of Baltimore has been looking for a new kicker after last season’s AFC Championship, I still don’t see John Harbaugh and company making the switch. “We have to make some decisions here again next week,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll just have to see how that goes.”
Cundiff is just two seasons removed from the Pro Bowl and signed a five-year, $15 million deal with the Ravens after his 2010 campaign. “I feel as if that’s not good enough, then I’ll take my services elsewhere,” Cundiff told Wilson.
Despite his postgame frustrations, Harbaugh still hints that his confidence lies in Cundiff. “Billy has had a great camp,” Harbaugh told reporters after the game. “He’s done really well. I think we know Billy. Billy would have come in here and made every one of those kicks.”
Cundiff was a journeyman kicker up until 2 seasons ago, look at his numbers. He had a stellar season, they mistakenly gave him a big contract. All errors can be corrected. Go with the Kid!
Tell him fans are frustrated with him missing kicks in the playoffs. Look where Lee Evans is? Not on the team.
Time to move on from last year. Dump your past mistakes and correct for the future. It would save us a few bucks too that could be spent elsewhere.
Stay with the experience. Cuntdiff is better than the rookie.
Yeah, ole Harbaugh has a great track record with kickers… This is going to look like the Hauschka crap from a couple of years ago. I’m not a Cundiff fan but you don’t bring in an undrafted kicker on a “supposed” Super Bowl team. Now if it was another veteran kicker then I’m all for it but not a rookie who wasn’t drafted.
What the Ravens need is to bring in a new Head Coach…
Yea , he is great with those five year contracts too………..
Who cares if he wasn’t drafted, most kickers aren’t drafted! He is still 100 times better than Billy.
Everyone is a rookie at some point!
Ravens2488 and 9Incher are correct, you are an idiot Manny… Don’t comment on here if your going to throw stupid shit out like “He is still 100 times better than Billy”… Thats just plain asinine… And your facts come from where? Training camp? Practice? Guess you were one of the clowns who thought Hauschka was better than Stover?
can we not compare Cundiff to Stover please… Stover is a top 10-15 all time kicker, Cundiff is a journeyman with a 76% career average who has never been able to consistantly connect from long distance. Im not one of the people that is out to get Cundiff, but the Reality of the situation is that Cundiff kicked 75% last year and was 1-6 from 50+ yards. Tucker should be able to at least match those numbers and he has some potential to grow. Cundiff is at his ceiling as a pro. The choice is pretty clear here. and as for the rookie being “undrafted” who cares. Ryan Succup was the last pick in the draft and is now(and was his rookie year) one of the better kickers in the league. I dont have the numbers in front of me but i would be willing to bet that of the 32 starting Ks in the league week one, that at least 17 of them were undrafted.