Boy is Nick Folk bad. Just a few weeks after witnessing Shaun Suisham blow the Washington Redskins upset bid against Dallas, the Cowboys deemed him better than their kicker and hired him -- just a week before the rematch with the Skins.
Some Redskins fans may rejoice. If the team can just keep the game close, Suisham will blow it for the Cowboys.
But the football gods don't seem to work like that. They seem to prefer playing "see if you can top this one" with the Redskins. So instead, we're predicting Sunday night's game will be won on Suisham's foot, and in dramatic fashion. Maybe 6-for-6 including a last-second game winner from 55-plus yards. Cowboys 18, Redskins 16.
Redskins fans who watched Folk plunk that late-game chip shot off the right upright Saturday night, giving New Orleans a chance to tie the game, must have thought immediately of Suisham and his blown chip shot that could have iced a win over the same Saints two weeks ago. And even his 2-for-4 performance against the Cowboys in a 7-6 Redskins loss.
Soon after Folk's Saturday night miss, the Cowboys announced they were looking for kickers to give him competition. In Redskins land, jokes that our hated rival should sign the available Suisham quickly circulated.
But we were only kidding.
Folk is 18-for-28 on the season, having missed seven of his last 11. His 10 misses lead the NFL.
Sports
Suisham is 85 of 107 (79.4 percent) for his career. He originally signed with Pittsburgh out of Bowling Green in 2005, went to the Cowboys' practice squad and was signed to the active roster on Oct. 24 of that year. Suisham played in three games and was 3 of 4 on field goals before being released.
Back with Dallas in 2006, he played in three games and was 1 for 2 before again being cut. He finished the year with the Redskins, appearing in five games and converting 8 of 9 field goals. Suisham played in 16 games for the Redskins in 2007 (29 of 35) and 2008 (26 of 36) and 12 games in 2009. He was perfect on field goals (12 attempts) heading into the Dallas game, but he missed those two in that game and a third against New Orleans and left the Skins 18 for 21 on field goals and 20 for 21 on extra points for 74 points on the season.
Prior to cutting Folk, Dallas tried changing holders, using starting quarterback Tony Romo instead of Mat McBriar. The team also gave kickoff specialist David Buehler a shot at Folk's job, but he couldn't win it.
In his first two seasons in the league, Folk had missed just 10 field goals.
