Courtesy of Ryan Mink, Baltimore Ravens
BALTIMORE, MD. -- Billy Cundiff's Baltimore debut had a little bit of everything on Sunday.
There was a long kick, a record-setting kick, a botched kick and a kick that never was for the former Drake standout.
In the end, Cundiff's first game as a Raven was a success and a letdown all wrapped into one. And thus his feelings afterwards were completely twisted and tied.
“I'm obviously a little disappointed it didn't turn out exactly the way I would have liked,” said Cundiff following the Ravens 17-15 loss to unbeaten Indianapolis. “But I think there's a lot of people around this locker room that have that same feeling where there was one thing that went wrong that could have turned the tide.
“I think it is definitely a good foundation. It's not the best foundation, but you take it for what it is.”
Cundiff tied a Ravens franchise record with five converted field goals. It's the most since Matt Stover – who, ironically, stood on the opposing sideline – booted five in 2007. Cundiff notched field goals from 46, 44, 38, 36 and 20 yards, in that order.
But there was also a glaring stain. With four minutes, 55 seconds left in the third quarter, Cundiff badly pushed a 30-yard attempt wide right. Considering the final score of 17-15, a 6-for-6 day instead of 5-for-5 would have made the Ravens winners.
Matt Katula's snap on the missed field goal was high, making the hold a little late getting down. Cundiff should have slowed his steps to the ball but instead he rushed it and had to adjust in front of the ball.
“He should be able to make that with a high snap like that,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said.
Cundiff agreed.
“I just felt the timing was a little off,” said Cundiff, who had four days to practice with the Ravens. “I didn't frame it up very well, so I didn't see it visually as long as I normally would. But again, it's a 30-yarder. I'm not a rookie. It's one of those things where I've been around long enough. Even if Sam [Koch] held the ball with his helmet, I should still be able to put it through.”
Cundiff, a six-year veteran, replaced the embattled Steve Hauschka Wednesday after Hauschka missed his fourth field goal of the season against the Browns on Monday night. Hauschka had missed all three of his high-pressure kicks this season.
Cundiff didn't have to wait long for his first pressure-cooker. Less than 10 minutes into the game, he lined up a 46-yarder and squeaked it just inside the right post.
“It was fun to go out there and have a couple long kicks to start out with,” Cundiff said. “I think that the best way to prove yourself is trial by fire.”
Ravens fans cheered ecstatically and longer than normal, as if to say, “Finally!”. Cundiff said he actually laughed when he heard the fans' jubilation.
“They seem to be very opinionated about kickers, which is absolutely fascinating to me because everywhere you go it's kind of like, 'Just make it and stay in the back,'” Cundiff said. “Here it's like, 'Well we really liked the guy we had before.' And it was this big break-up and almost a soap opera type of thing. But the fans were really positive to me.”
Stover's presence added even more drama to Sunday's kicking situation. Cundiff said he didn't put any thought into a kicking competition between he and Stover -- who was not resigned this offseason -- and said that like any other game he hoped the opposing kicker would do well just as long as he didn't hit the game-winner.
The problem was that after Cundiff's 20-yarder gave the Ravens a short-lived 15-14 fourth-quarter lead, Stover booted a 25-yarder straight down the middle with 7:06 left in regulation. Just as Baltimore fans dreaded most, it proved to be the game-winner.
“I figured it was probably going to come down to a game-winner,” Stover said. “I didn't know how, I didn't know in what aspect, but when it came down to a fourth-quarter kick that put us up by two, you don't know if that's going to be the difference or not."
Still, it looked like Cundiff was going to have a chance to be the hero. With the Ravens driving inside the Colts' 20-yard line, Cundiff was excited and already had a 33-yard, game-sealing attempt played out in his mind.
But Cundiff never got his opportunity as quarterback Joe Flacco's third-down pass was intercepted and Ed Reed fumbled away any opportunity at a long attempt in the closing seconds.
“Would I love to have that kick to win the game? Of course,” Cundiff said. “If you don't want that kick then you better step off the field."
The Harlan, Iowa, native signed as a free agent with Dallas in 2002 and tied a NFL record by making seven field goals in a 2003 Monday Night Football game at the New York Giants, including a 52-yarder on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime, followed by a 25-yard kick that gave the Cowboys a 35-32 victory.
Cundiff set a Dallas Cowboys record for the longest field goal -- at 56 yards -- ironically, in a 2005 game against Detroit.
During that span, he connected on 60 of 82 field goals (73.1 percent) with a long of 56 yards.
Since then, Cundiff has spent time with multiple teams.
Cundiff closed out his career at Drake in 2001 owning 15 school and five Pioneer Football League records, including Drake career marks for points (284), field goals (49-of-79) and PATs (137-of-151).
He also ranks 14th in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision career field goal list, connecting on 49.
Cundiff made eight field goals over 50 yards during his career at Drake, including a Pioneer Football League record 62-yard field goal as a junior in 2000 against San Diego.
