Bires: Janikowski hardly money

[mesaSteeler]

Bires: Janikowski hardly money
By: Mike Bires
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sp...81844b7f244b86

Oakland Raiders placekicker Sebastian Janikowski smiles after he kicked the winning field goal in overtime to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 23-20 in an NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

PITTSBURGH — Before the transactions the Steelers made Tuesday that still remain a hot topic in town, the stage was set for a showdown.

Imagine the drama.

On one side would have been Jeff Reed, the struggling and disgruntled Steeler who went to camp last summer believing he deserved to be among the NFL’s highest-paid kickers. On the other side would have been Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski, the highest-paid kicker in NFL history.

Surely, kicking against Janikowski would have given Reed incentive to snap out of his funk. But the Steelers nixed the Reed/ Janikowski face-off by changing kickers in mid-stream.



Reed got the boot. Shaun Suisham got a new lease on life.



The Steelers picked Suisman up off the scrap heap and brought him in to provide the consistency Reed had for years.



For that to happen with the Steelers about to face Janikowski and the Raiders is quite the coincidence.

For it was Janikowski who Reed alluded to when, during the off-season, argued his case for a lucrative, long-term contract that would keep him in Pittsburgh for years to come.

Granted, Reed doesn’t come close to matching Janikowski when it comes to launching kickoffs deep in the end zone for touchbacks. Reed only had five touchbacks this year before he was cut. Janikowski has 24.

But when it comes to kicking field goals, and that’s where kickers are ultimately judged, Janikowski is no match for Reed.

Even with his disappointing stats this year, Reed has a lifetime success rate of 81.9 percent (204 of 249). In the playoffs, where so many kickers have succumbed to pressure and choked in recent years, Reed was a sizzling 88.9 percent (16 of 18).

Janikowski is 78.2 percent in his career (251 of 321).

In the first three years of the Mike Tomlin era, Reed was accurate on 88.7 percent of his kicks. During that same pan, Janikowski was true on 80.5 percent of his kicks.

Reed has two Super Bowl rings. Janikowski doesn’t have any.

Yet, during the past off-season, Janikowski got his new deal — four years, $16 million including $9 million guaranteed.

Reed didn’t get the deal he wanted. He was tagged as the Steelers’ franchise player and got $2.8 million. That’s among the highest salaries in the league.

Still, Reed wasn’t satisfied, and complained about it to the media. He went as far as insinuating that the Rooneys and Steelers lied to him by not failing to deliver a new deal Reed said he was promised.

That was strike 1.

Then he went out and made only 15 of 22 kicks this season.

Strike 2.

And after what turned out to be his final miss with the Steelers — that 26-yard shank last Sunday against the Patriots — Reed criticized the field conditions at Heinz Field, the media and even the fans.

Strike 3.

So today, the kicking match-up we get is Suisham vs. Janikowski.

During his 11-year po career, Janikowski never quite has lived up to his expectations. He was the 17th pick of the 2000 Draft. He’s only the third kicker to ever get drafted in the first round (the others were Charlie Gogolak by the Redskins in 1966 and Russell Erxleben by the Saints in ‘79).

Janikowski does hold the Raiders’ record for longest field goal at 61 yards. And he once attempted a 76-yarder. But he’s never gone to the Pro Bowl. He’s been known to miss chip-shot kicks, too. For example, he’s 22-of-29 this season (75.9 percent) and among his misses were two 41-yarders and a 32-yarder.

So all things considered, Sebastian Janikowski is no better a kicker than Jeff Reed. But he has a job right now and Reed does not.

Mike Bires can be reached at mbires@timesonline.com

[tony hipchest]

He was the 17th pick of the 2000 Draft.]

russell... huff.... heyward-bey...that long haired lineman LT flop...mcfadden...

where does the comedy end?

[MasterOfPuppets]

Even with his disappointing stats this year, Reed has a lifetime success rate of 81.9 percent (204 of 249). In the playoffs, where so many kickers have succumbed to pressure and choked in recent years, Reed was a sizzling 88.9 percent (16 of 18).

Janikowski is 78.2 percent in his career (251 of 321).

In the first three years of the Mike Tomlin era, Reed was accurate on 88.7 percent of his kicks. During that same pan, Janikowski was true on 80.5 percent of his kicks.

what these stats / percentages fail to show is the distances of the kicks that were made / missed , that make up those percentages. by that i mean if janikowski has attempted 100 kicks from 50+ yards and reed has attempted 25 from 50 + yards , naturally its going to play a huge factor in the stats. i mean when the steelers have a 55 yarder staring them in the face and zero confidence of reed making it, they punt. the raiders on the other hand might figure they have a 50 / 50 chance with janny and go for the FG ...

[silver & black]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

russell... huff.... heyward-bey...that long haired lineman LT flop...mcfadden...

where does the comedy end?

It seems the last two games against the Steelers, the comedy ended with a Raiders victory.

[wootawnee]

Originally Posted by silver & black

It seems the last two games against the Steelers, the comedy ended with a Raiders victory.

Yea....Now we have a homer writer making us try to feel superior..........