Kicker Fight!

Skins set up a faux battle

Last season, the Redskins special teams were atrocious.  The punters couldn't get the ball down the field.  Antwaan Randle El never met a punt he couldn't fair catch.  And the kicker... oh the kicker.

Shaun Suisham had a poor year.  On kickoffs, when they needed it deep, it came up short.  When they needed it to the side, it went down the middle.  On field goals?  Well, he missed 10 of his 36 attempts, usually leaving the ball short.  Good Ol' Short Legs.

So the Skins figured he needed a challenge, setting him up for a kicker battle in training camp.  Woohoo!  Fight!

Yet, the guy they brought in to challenge him: Dave Rayner.  Yeah, that Dave Rayner.  You might remember him from such teams as...  umm... OK, you probably dont' remember him.

With as tight as many of the Redskins games were, the importance of the kicking game is magnified.  Like the 40-yard bomb that the receiver drops -- who are we kidding, the Skins never lobbed it 40 downfield! -- a missed field goal is one of those single plays you can point back to at the end of the game.

Last year, four games were decided by a field goal or less, so that's why it's odd that the Skins seem so committed to Suisham.  Rayner might be a nice guy, but there's nothing in his track record that indicates he's any better than Short Leg Suisham.  Where's the competition in that?

Still, one mediocrity against another mediocrity is certainly a form of open competition.  It's just not one that drives the Skins forward.

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