Billy Cundiff

There was no need to ask Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff how missing a potential game-tying field goal Sunday in the final seconds against New England with a Super Bowl trip on the line gnawed at him. The disappointment already resonated -- a mix of remorse and resolve -- in his voice. "The timing seemed a little bit off. Just the dynamics of the play," said Cundiff, in hushed tones, during a telephone interview with The Des Moines Register after a 23-20 loss to the Patriots in the AFC championship game.

Sunday afternoon, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was asked if he planned to bring in another punter to press incumbent Sam Koch, who has been Baltimore's primary punter since the Ravens drafted him back in 2006. Harbaugh defended Koch, saying it would be “ pretty tough to find competition ” for Koch and also kicker Justin Tucker. After all, the Ravens had one of the NFL's best special teams units after a subpar 2011 season. "There aren't too many guys that want to come here and kick or punt,” Harbaugh said.

Before Sunday's 24-10 win over the Cleveland Browns, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff hadn't missed a field goal at Cleveland Browns Stadium. He had made all five attempts there, including three as a member of the Browns. But on Sunday, Cundiff was wide right on two of his three attempts . His misses were from 34 and 41 yards. He could have easily blamed them on wind gusts or sloppy footing on the grass field, but he took responsibility. “For one game a year, playing in the AFC North, you've got to learn how to kick in Cleveland,” Cundiff said in the locker room after the win. “You have to kick differently here.

There isn't any word yet on whether the 49ers intend to stick with kicker David Akers for the Super Bowl. However, it's clear that they can't turn to Billy Cundiff again if they opt for a change. League rules stipulate that players cut during the postseason are ineligible to sign with another team until after the Super Bowl. The 49ers waived Cundiff on Friday, the day they departed for Atlanta, where they played the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game two days later.

In so many words, Billy Cundiff says he's not thinking about redemption. The game plan now is simple. Move on. Don't look back. What else can the Ravens kicker say? What else can he do? Shrivel up and die? Sit in the house with the blinds drawn and brood about that big miss? Re-play it over and over again in his head until it drives him crazy? You saw it. Hell, the whole world saw it. Cundiff sees it still, you can be sure. Closes his eyes and there it is: his pushed 32-yard field goal attempt that went wide left in the final seconds of January's AFC Championship, leading to the New England Patriots' shocking 23-20 win over the Ravens in the madhouse that was Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

Reaching the NFL record for touchbacks was important to Billy Cundiff , but the Ravens kicker was shocked that fans were also aware of the accomplishment. "It's really strange to put the ball on the tee and have everybody go, 'OK, we want this touchback,'" Cundiff said after the team's 13-7 win against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday. "I think they wanted it more than I did. " With two touchbacks, Cundiff posted 40, tying the Minnesota Vikings' Mitch Berger 's single-season record set in 1994.

Four days after limping out of M&T Bank Stadium with a 20-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns, the Ravens had starting cornerback Cary Williams , starting defensive end Cory Redding and kicker Billy Cundiff in practice Wednesday. However, right guard Marshal Yanda , a first-time Pro Bowl selection, remained sidelined by the rib contusion he suffered Saturday. Inside linebacker Dannell Ellerbe (concussion), defensive end Arthur Jones (illness) and wide receiver Anquan Boldin (knee)

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday that with kicker Billy Cundiff returning to the lineup in Sunday's 24-16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Shayne Graham's stint with the Ravens may be nearing its end. Harbaugh said he would like to keep both kickers on the 53-man roster, but if the team needs to add a player for its playoff run, Graham will likely be the odd man out. “As long as Billy's healthy, he'll be our kicker,” Harbaugh said....

Ravens 30, Chiefs 7 Fourth quarter: 4:26 Baltimore Touchdown - Willis McGahee up the middle for 25 yards. (Billy Cundiff extra point is good). Ravens 23, Chiefs 7 Third quarter: 0:27 Baltimore Touchdown - 4-yard pass from Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin. (Billy Cundiff extra point is good). Ravens 16, Chiefs 7 Third quarter: 4:20 Baltimore Field Goal - 29-yarder by Billy Cundiff. Ravens 13, Chiefs 7 Third quarter: 6:36 Baltimore Field Goal - 29-yarder by Billy Cundiff.

Ravens 29, Texans 14 Fourth quarter: 1:55 Baltimore Field Goal - 40-yarder by Billy Cundiff. Ravens 26, Texans 14 Fourth quarter: 4:01 Baltimore Touchdown - Ricky Williams rushed for 4 yards. (Billy Cundiff extra point is good). Ravens 19, Texans 14 Fourth quarter: 14:44 Baltimore Field Goal - 33-yarder by Billy Cundiff. Ravens 16, Texans 14 Third quarter: 3:30 Baltimore Field Goal - 25-yarder by Billy Cundiff.

The painting is hung prominently in the private office of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Titled "Wide Left," it shows an oversized football, a tiny goal post and the final score of 23-20, collectively representing the end of last year's AFC championship game won by the Patriots on former Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff's botched 32-yard field goal attempt in the waning seconds. The artist who created the colorful 4-foot-by-4-foot painting laughs at some of the irony of what transpired since he gave it to Kraft last summer.

In this town, it remains a sepia-toned nightmare: Billy Cundiff's 32-yard field-goal attempt in the chill of Gillette Stadium drifting left, left, left - so far left you thought it would smack one of the cheerleaders. Cundiff has never recovered from that miss in last year's AFC championship, the one that left the Ravens in stunned disbelief and the New England Patriots headed to the Super Bowl with a 23-20 win. Funny thing is, Justin Tucker can't get away from that miss, either.

When the Ravens cut incumbent Billy Cundiff in favor of undrafted rookie Justin Tucker, the Washington Redskins swooped in and signed Cundiff. But after five games during which Cundiff missed five of 12 field-goal attempts, Washington went with an unknown in Kai Forbath. That decision is paying huge dividends for the Redskins, who edged the Ravens, 31-28, in overtime Sunday on the strength of three Forbath field goals, including the 34-yard game winner. Forbath tried to downplay his heroics, chalking up his performance as a simple matter of doing his job. “I'm here to put some points on the board for our team to help us win,” he said.

OK, I was wrong about Billy Cundiff. Really, really wrong. Sharp readers of this newspaper - do we have any other kind? -- may recall that right before the season started, I wrote that the Ravens had made a mistake cutting Biilly Cundiff and going with rookie Justin Tucker as their kicker. I wrote that a team with serious designs on a Super Bowl berth needed an experienced kicker who had been through the NFL wars. And I wrote that Cundiff would bounce back from that disastrous 32-yard miss in the AFC title game last January against the New England Patriots and be dependable kicker again.

Billy Cundiff didn't have to wait long, nor did he have to travel far, to get another kicking job. Cundiff, whose contract was terminated by the Ravens on Sunday after he lost his job to undrafted rookie Justin Tucker, has agreed to sign with the Washington Redskins. The news was first reported by ESPN. Washington reportedly has cut Graham Gano, who was believed to have won the kicking job when the Redskins cut Neil Rackers yesterday. Gano was in competition for the Ravens' kicking job before the 2009 season, but he was ultimately beaten out by Steven Hauschka.

To some Ravens fans, the thought of Billy Cundiff continuing to be the team's kicker - after he hooked wide left a 32-yard attempt in January's 23-20 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFCchampionship game - was an unappealing possibility that demanded action. So Sunday's news that the organization had terminated Cundiff's contract was a satisfying outcome to those same fans. And history shows that Cundiff isn't the first kicker to lose his job after faltering in the postseason.

In the span of about four weeks, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff had gone from incumbent to former employee. On Sunday night, the eight-year veteran reacted via email to the organization's decision to terminate his contract earlier in the day. Here is the text: “I'm disappointed in the decision, but I'm excited about what lies ahead.  On a professional level, I had my best training camp to date and feel that I am kicking with more power...

Billy Cundiff won't get his chance for redemption, at least not in a Ravens uniform. A little more than seven months after he missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt that thwarted the Ravens' Super Bowl hopes and just three days after he was benched for an undrafted rookie in the third preseason game, Cundiff had his contract terminated by the Ravens on Sunday as the team trimmed its roster to 81. The move, which was extremely unexpected when training...