Surveying The AFC North - The Kickers

by Michael Bean on Apr 21, 2009 3:09 AM EDT

Let's change it up a bit in our tour of the AFC North by position and take a look at who the place kickers on the four division rivals are. You can find previous entries on the QBs and the RBs.

Note: I apparently wasn't aware that Matt Stover finally was released by Baltimore. I'm not going to change the substance of this post too much after discovering this. They're kickers. This is their fifteen minutes of fame.

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First, the rankings:

t-1) Pittsburgh (Jeff Reed)

t-1) Matt Stover

t-1) Phil Dawson

t-1) Shayne Graham

Seems like a bit of a cop out on my part I suppose putting the four Ks for Pittsburgh Cleveland, Baltimore and Cincinnati in the same slot, but I don't think there's too much separation between any of these guys, and that probably includes Jeff Reed as well. One caveat worth noting is that Matt Stover has undeniably had the best career of any of these guys, certainly the longest. But at his age and with his leg, I'd say there's really not much difference between them all. An argument could be made in each's defense in fact. Phil Dawson for example is a Captain on the Browns and a fantastic locker room guy all the way back to his days at the University of Texas. Anyway, let's take a look at all four of their very solid numbers from 2008 as well as their career FG %s, all of which are some of the very best of in the history of the National Football League as you'll see after the fold.

I don't know about you, but I wasn't quite aware of just how impressive this crop of kickers has been for a number of years now. Good stuff.

Jeffreed01_medium

To the numbers:

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
2008 - Jeff Reed	17	1 - 1	9 - 9	8 - 9	8 - 10	1 - 2	27	31	87.1%	36	37	97.3%	117

Reed's Career FG %:162/196 (82.7%)

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		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
2008 - Matt Stover	16	0 - 0	11 - 11	11 - 12	5 - 9	0 - 1	27	33	81.8%	41	41	100.0%	122

Stover's Career FG %: 462/552 (83.7%)

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		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
2008 - Phil Dawson	15	0 - 0	10 - 10	12 - 14	5 - 6	3 - 6	30	36	83.3%	18	18	100.0%	108

Dawson's Career FG %: 212/256 (82.8%)

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		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
2008 - Shayne Graham	14	1 - 1	5 - 5	6 - 7	9 - 11	0 - 0	21	24	87.5%	15	15	100.0%	78

Graham's Career FG %: 173/202 (85.6%)

That's some impressive stuff from these guys. In terms of career FG %, Graham is 5th all time, Dawson is 8th, Stover 9th and Reed 10th. I might argue that Reed has been better the last two years, but I'll instead just pass and say that all four teams should feel very good about that particular roster spot. That's not something that can be said about any other position division wide I don't think.

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Comments

Tie breaker

All of the above mentioned are good kickers but skippy is the only one to make a kick that matters in years. In addition, only skippy can handle the fairway known as Heinz Field…..other kickers would rather be assigned to wedge busting on kickoffs rather than attempting a 40 plus yard game winning kick toward the open end of the stadium!

I wasn't hired for my disposition!

by Burgernazi on Apr 21, 2009 8:11 AM EDT reply actions

actually had Reed 1st

and the rest t-2nd but considering all three had better career %s I thought that was a bit homerific. But I don’t disagree, Reed’s numbers are all the more impressive due to his consistency at Heinz

by Michael Bean on Apr 21, 2009 8:29 AM EDT up reply actions

He’s also clearly got the best hair of the four.

by Chicago Steeler on Apr 21, 2009 8:38 AM EDT up reply actions

its funny

google image search for jeff reed – even just a simple search of his name with no other words brings up all his ridiculous pictures before getting to a few scattered normal ones.

by Michael Bean on Apr 21, 2009 8:42 AM EDT up reply actions