What goes through a kicker's mind as he lines up to play against the team that first gave him a shot in this League? Does he think about how they nurtured him as a rookie and doesn't follow through on what should be a normal chip shot, or does he come out of the game's warmups with the tenacity of a field goal kicking mercenary? These questions were in the air Monday night as Ryan Longwell took the field against his old team, the Green Bay Packers.
And the answer everyone received was that Ryan Longwell is the Ghengis Khan of place kickers; a trail of blood could be followed from the hash marks on the field to the infamous number eight's locker and on out to the souped up moped he rages to work on every morning.
When asked if the great Mongol place kicker's intimidating presence affected his in game decisions, Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy responded, "Look, anyone who knows anything about the NFL knows that on any given night number eight can pull some magic out of that old leg. It's what he does. We went for that fourth and goal because it was the right thing to do, not because we were afraid to get into a kicking duel with the freakin' Minnesota Vikings."
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers stood by Longwell's replacement Mason Crosby, saying, "We all support Mason. He's our guy. I mean, he made what two extra points and a field goal tonight. I think he's proved that he's more than capable of replacing a legend like Longwell."
Many in the associated press felt that Rodgers specifically pointed out that Crosby accounted for five of the Packers' points, or, in other words, one more point than the place kicking berserker Ryan Longwell.
When pressed to compare his young kicker to Longwell, McCarthy bluntly stated, "Mason's our guy. He's going to take us where we need to go. Ryan's just got a better holder right now, that's all." Many believe that Longwell's having a better holder is the equivalent of a quarterback playing with a great running back and behind a stellar offensive line--it just makes everything easier.
Still, Viking quarterback Brett Favre appreciated Longwell's turning back the clock to a day when the kicker mesmerized people with his kickoffs and extra points, pontificating deeply on the matter, "Ryan's a good guy. Without him, the final score would have been us 26 them 23. I don't know, maybe I could have gone out there and hit a couple extra points. So without Ryan, maybe it's 28 to 23 at worst."
What is for certain is that there are people in Wisconsin tonight, burning their number eight jerseys.
2 comments:
that was excellent
October 7, 2009 at 11:01 AMthanks, it was basically my way of coping with one of the worst nights I've ever had watching sports
October 9, 2009 at 9:14 PMPost a Comment