Shank-O-Potamus

The mere mention of the name Billy Cundiff immediately triggers a phrase that very well could be a Cundiff alias. Wide. Left.

Foxborough. January 2012. A 32-yarder that a Pro Bowl kicker makes in his sleep, sailing off into the New England night and taking a trip to the Super Bowl with it. Fourteen years later, the wound has scarred over, but let’s not kid ourselves — mention Billy Cundiff at any bar on O’Donnell Street and you’ll still hear an audible groan. Some pain just becomes part of the fabric of a fan base. That shank is ours, forever, whether we like it or not.

January 22, 2012

Billy Cundiff

Misses a 32-yard FG by a country mile with 15 seconds to go.

CB Sterling Moore breaks up a potential go ahead TD pass to Lee Evans as the Patriots defeat the despised Ravens (23-20) in the AFC Championship gamepic.twitter.com/5Be03J4aMO

— Rose (@UnknownModeX) January 22, 2023

But here’s the thing about Cundiff that gets lost in the heartbreak: the man’s story didn’t end that night, and frankly, the rest of it is worth telling.

The Ravens cut him loose on August 26, 2012, when some undrafted kid out of Texas named Justin Tucker won the job in camp. (How’d that work out, by the way?) Two days later, Cundiff landed in Washington, where things got bumpy in a hurry — including a game against Tampa Bay where he went 0-for-3 before drilling a 41-yarder on the final snap to steal the win. Vintage kicker chaos. Washington still showed him the door in October, bringing in Kai Forbath.

From there it was a January 2013 flier with the 49ers to push a wobbling David Akers — Akers kept the gig, Cundiff never kicked a ball that counted in red and gold. His last real run came where his career first took root: Cleveland. He rejoined the Browns in 2013, hit 80 percent of his field goals and every extra point, earned himself another year, and banged home game-winners against the Saints and Falcons in 2014 before a knee injury and a cold stretch ended it in December. One final cameo in Buffalo in 2015, mostly booting kickoffs, and that was that. Twelve seasons, six teams, 182-of-239 on field goals, one Pro Bowl. Say what you want — that’s a career most guys would kill for.

And the second act? This is where you must give the man his flowers. Cundiff is now the managing director of development for Greystar, running all ground-up development across Arizona and Southern Nevada. Commercial real estate, big-boy stuff. He calls himself “a coach of developers” these days and credits the adversity of pro football — and Lord knows he had adversity — for the problem-solving chops that got him there.

There’s something fitting about that, isn’t there? The guy whose Baltimore chapter ended in the cruelest way imaginable took the lesson every kicker must learn — you’re only as good as your next one — and built a life on it.

Doesn’t mean we forgive the miss, Flock. It comes with the territory and Cundiff must own it.

But maybe, all these years later, we can finally appreciate the man.

Right?

The post Shank-O-Potamus appeared first on Russell Street Report.