Kicker

The kick knifed through the thick fog and split the uprights at Memorial Stadium, giving the Colts a 10-7 victory in sudden-death overtime. In a flash, fans swarmed the field. Down came the goal posts. Up went Toni Linhart, on someone's shoulders. Linhart's 31-yard field goal defeated the rival Miami Dolphins late in 1975 and all but clinched Baltimore's first of three straight AFC East titles. It was the kick of a lifetime for Linhart, who died Sunday morning of cancer, at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium . He was 70. One of only six Austrian-born NFL players, Anton Hans Jorg Linhart signed with the Colts in 1974 after one season with the New Orleans Saints and an 11-year soccer career in Europe.

The kick knifed through the thick fog and split the uprights at Memorial Stadium, giving the Colts a 10-7 victory in sudden-death overtime. In a flash, fans swarmed the field. Down came the goal posts. Up went Toni Linhart, on someone's shoulders. Linhart's 31-yard field goal defeated the rival Miami Dolphins late in 1975 and all but clinched Baltimore's first of three straight AFC East titles. It was the kick of a lifetime for Linhart, who died Sunday morning of cancer, at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium . He was 70. One of only six Austrian-born NFL players, Anton Hans Jorg Linhart signed with the Colts in 1974 after one season with the New Orleans Saints and an 11-year soccer career in Europe.

Justin Tucker, a rookie kicker from Texas, has pressed incumbent Billy Cundiff by splitting upright after upright during Ravens training camp, whether it was a chip shot field goal at the team's facility in Owings Mills or a 63-yarder in front of 20,324 screaming fans at M&T Bank Stadium. Though the competition to determine who will be Baltimore's kicker in Week 1 is far from over, special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg said after Tuesday's practice that, hypothetically, he would feel comfortable relying on the rookie kicker for the season opener on September 10. “He'll be in there Friday night, he'll be right out there in front of everybody and kicking, and I won't have any apprehension,” he said.

The season may be over and they may be former Ravens, but excitement for all things purple and black still drew a crowd on Saturday to the Giant Food store in Perry Hall for an event with former Baltimore Ravens Matt Stover and Kyle Richardson. The two Super Bowl champions came to the store, 8905 Belair Road, Perry Hall, on Saturday, Feb. 16, to meet with residents, sign autographs and perform a little kicking demonstration in the Giant parking lot. Stover was the place kicker, and Richardson was the punter, on the Ravens' 2000-2001 Super Bowl champion team.

The Ravens signed former Texas kicker Justin Tucker, an undrafted free agent, to a contract Tuesday. Tucker, who earlier this month attended the team's rookie minicamp on a tryout basis, was not signed as of last week when the Ravens held their first week of voluntary organized team activity (OTA) workouts. But the Ravens have made it official, meaning there will be another kicker around to kick it with Billy Cundiff. The Ravens wanted to have another kicker signed for these offseason workouts to spell Cundiff and punter Sam Koch, but they might also want to put a little heat on Cundiff after he missed that field goal in January.

Broadneck All-Metro kicker Adam Greene, who holds the state record for most field goals in a career and kicked a 55-yard field goal last fall, has committed to play football for Maryland. The senior, who had narrowed his list to Maryland, Navy and Wake Forest, orally committed last week after he was offered a preferred walk-on spot. He said said he made his decision before news broke of Maryland's impending move to the Big Ten. Green said the Terrapins coaches told him he has a good chance to earn a merit scholarship based on his 4.45 weighted GPA. He has never gotten anything but an A in high school and said academics drove his decision to go to Maryland.

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...

The battle for Maryland's starting punter and kicker positions got significantly more competitive today. Brad Craddock , a 6-foot-1, 190-pound specialist from Tabor Christian College in Adelaide, Australia, has signed a financial-aid agreement with Maryland, coach Randy Edsall announced today. "Brad is an extremely talented kicker and punter with a very strong leg and excellent hang time and distance with his kicks,” Edsall said in a news release. “We are excited that Brad has decided to come to the University of Maryland to continue his academic and athletic career.

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.

Here are notes as the Terps practice for Saturday's opener against William & Mary. I will have a full-length story on another topic later in the day. ** You were wondering about senior kicker Nick Ferrara? He was omitted from the depth chart on Monday, and freshman Brad Craddock, the Punter (and kicker) from Down Under, was awarded the kicking job. Coach Randy Edsall said Ferrara, who had hip surgery during the offseason, is experiencing soreness and is day-to-day. Ferrara had been kicking during the preseason, but Edsall said the kicker “had some issues.” Ferrara surely wants to finish his career as well as he started it. You remember him as a freshman?

Justin Tucker and David Akers may be members of a very small NFL fraternity, but they represent opposing ends of the spectrum. Tucker, the undrafted rookie kicker for the Ravens, is a baby-faced 23-year-old who can do a mean impersonation of Christopher Walken while rocking out to a Kings of Leon tune. Akers, the 14-year veteran who kicks for the San Francisco 49ers, is a wizened 38-year-old who was once booed by Philadelphia Eagles fans for missing two field goals in a playoff game the day after doctors found a tumor on the ovary of his then-six-year-old daughter.

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.

Memo to pro scouts watching Saturday's NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Los Angeles: As for Adam Yates, what you see is what you get. There's not much video of the strong-legged kicker from Sparks. Yates, 22, will strut his stuff in a game that features lesser-known prospects for April's NFL draft. He fits the bill, having kicked field goals for just two years - as a senior in both college and high school. Each time, he shined. In the fall, Yates helped South Carolina to a No. 8 national ranking after earning an athletic scholarship in his final season.

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.

In a playoff upset for the ages, the Ravens thrilled fans who had embraced their underdog status by defeating the Denver Broncos in double overtime Saturday on a lengthy field goal by their rookie kicker. The Ravens will move on to either Houston or Foxboro, Mass., for the AFC Championship Game next Sunday evening. And linebacker Ray Lewis, who plans to retire at the end of the season, will continue his 17-year career for at least another week. Ravens cornerback Corey Graham intercepted Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning late in the first overtime to set up the game-winning 47-yard field goal by Justin Tucker.

Despite being a rookie, Justin Tucker ranks third in the NFL in field-goal percentage (93.5) and seventh in points (127). It wasn't enough, however, for the Ravens kicker to earn a Pro Bowl invitation. The Cleveland Browns' Phil Dawson, who leads the league in field-goal percentage (96.6), got was selected as the AFC's kicker. Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg said Tucker could become a regular Pro Bowler if he maintains his consistency and productivity. “I really don't know how the Pro Bowl voting goes.

Memo to pro scouts watching Saturday's NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Los Angeles: As for Adam Yates, what you see is what you get. There's not much video of the strong-legged kicker from Sparks. Yates, 22, will strut his stuff in a game that features lesser-known prospects for April's NFL draft. He fits the bill, having kicked field goals for just two years - as a senior in both college and high school. Each time, he shined. In the fall, Yates helped South Carolina to a No. 8 national ranking after earning an athletic scholarship in his final season.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Scott Norwood is back for another shot at Super Bowl history.The Buffalo Bills place-kicker muffed his chance a year ago when he missed a 47-yard field goal that would have beaten the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXV. That missed kick -- wide right -- has haunted Norwood all season.And it was especially haunting in a regular-season game in Los Angeles against the Raiders. He missed field goals of 49, 32 and 42 yards, and an extra point, but salvaged a 30-27 victory with a 42-yard kick in overtime.

The chant began the instant the Colts' placekicker set foot on the field. From deep within Memorial Stadium, football fans growled his name in near-ritualistic delight. RAAAOOOOL ... RAAAOOOOL. Raul Allegre would save the day, they swore. Often, he did. Four times as a rookie in 1983, Allegre booted game-winning field goals for the Colts (7-9), who boasted his right leg and little else on offense. The Mexico-born kicker accounted for 112 points, or nearly half of the team's output that year, its last in Baltimore.

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.