In the end, Billy Cundiff made three straight field goals and finished with four touchbacks on six attempts in the Ravens’ 37-7 demolition of the St. Louis Rams Sunday.
But the Pro Bowl kicker’s day got off to a rough start when back-to-back field goal attempts of 51 yards strayed wide right. His first unsuccessful try snapped a streak of 18 consecutive field goals (22 including the postseason).
Cundiff, who hadn’t missed two field goals in a game since Jan. 3, 2010 when he went 0-for-2 against the Oakland Raiders, said the off-target attempts bothered him.
“For me, it was frustrating,” he said. “The first one from 51, I felt like I put a good hit on it, but I think I laid it out a little bit too far to the right. I really never play a draw. So it just tells me that when I go back, I must’ve aimed too far to the right because the ball just tracked on the same line. The second kick [was] probably the most frustrating because I didn’t get through it and I wasn’t aggressive, and it’s probably one of the first balls that I’ve hit since I’ve been here – it was a spinner, it was off to the right. So it tells me that I tried to baby it. And that’s very frustrating because I felt like for me and where I’m at in my career, I shouldn’t be hitting that kind of ball. Obviously, I got two other chances that were closer, but for me, it was a good chance for me to go out there and say, ‘Look, those last two kicks, they weren’t me,’ and then go out there and recommit to my fundamentals.”
Cundiff said after the two misses, he was eager for another shot.
“Coach [John] Harbaugh came up to me and said, ‘It looked you like you babied that one,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I did,’” Cundiff said. “He said, ‘Well, I’m going to throw you back out there,’ and I said, ‘I hope it’s for a long one.’ That’s the way I’ve viewed it. I want to make sure that I wanted my teammates to look at me and know they can depend on me.”