Slamming the Door on the Jeff Reed Era

It’s taken nearly two years but this blog has officially reached uncharted territory. I’m about to focus an entire entry on a kicker. More specifically, a former kicker, given the abrupt ending to Jeff Reed’s Steeler career this week.

Reed’s career in black and gold veered wide right this season through a perfect storm of bad performance, bad attitude and bad behavior. Before 2010, he had solid standing in the Steeler Nation, notwithstanding his eccentric tendencies and his well established position on the Pittsburgh party scene. His rapid fire decent is thus nothing short of stunning.

I counted myself a solid Jeff Reef fan before 2010. Good kickers are hard to find and Reed was a consistently good, especially working in the place kicker’s graveyard that is Heinz Field.

Well, consistently good with some caveats. Reed’s range was five or so yards shorter than most NFL kickers and his kick offs rarely reached the goal line. It’s also fair to say that he lacked Daniel Sepulveda’s affinity for making special teams’ tackles. The Steelers accepted these flaws because Reed was remarkably accurate inside of 48 yards. Before this season.

And therein lies the rub.

Jeff Reed is unemployed today primarily because he stopped making field goals. No matter how obnoxious and ignorant he’s acted in the last 12 months (or seven days), he would still be wearing number 3 for the Steelers today if he were making his kicks. His petulant whining and excuses, not to mention his various off season escapades simply greased the skids.

Reed’s limitations, which became more apparent in 2009, reduced his collateral with the Steelers’ organization. His moronic behavior over the last year or so burned up whatever he had left. Reed could have learned a thing or two from his good buddy Marc-Andre Fleury about how to handle a slump with grace. Clearly he did not.

That being said, I maintain that on the field performance, or lack thereof, is what did in Reed.

NFL teams do not keep back-up kickers. There is no Brent Johnson in reserve when the kicker struggles. When kickers stop making kicks they lose their jobs, even under the best of circumstances. And to state the obvious, Jeff Reed circa 2010 has hardly been the best of circumstances.

Under the NFL’s unofficial code of conduct, kickers are to be seen and not heard. It is an odd idiosyncrasy that this vicious, hard hitting game, played by large angry men, puts so much emphasis on kickers. They are a necessary evil in the sport, tolerated when they succeed and hated when they fail.

When kickers open their mouth or make a spectacle of themselves, bad things happen. See Vanderjagt, Mike, aka “the idiot kicker” who got liquored up and ran his mouth about how Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy were not clutch performers. We last saw him choking a game tying field goal about ten yards wide right against the Steelers in the 2006 playoffs.

Clearly Reed did not learn any lessons from the man affectionately known as VanderJerk in Indianapolis. Clearly he did not see how fast Vanderjagt was run out of the NFL when his game slumped. And he clearly did not learn from his former teammate Tommy Maddox who prior to Reed was standard bearer for fastest alienation of the Steeler Nation in 2005.

Over three seasons, Maddox became immensely popular in Pittsburgh. He resurrected a failed NFL career and for a brief period looked like the star QB Steeler fans were waiting on for two decades He blew it all in one game against Jacksonville, Maddox might have survived his horrendous performance on the field had he not gone Roger Clemens in the post game press conference, throwing everyone and everything under the bus.

Pittsburgh fans demand accountability from their athletes. We can live with a bad game or two if you are willing to take responsibility for it. Just don’t insult our intelligence by blaming the wind, the turf, your wife, or Bruce Arians for your failure. In summary, don’t blame the bad turf when you miss a chip shot 26 yard field goal; the same bad turf you’ve been kicking on for nine years.

Getting beyond the obvious issue of poor performance, I think there are three fatal blows to the relationship between an athlete and a fan base. Lack of accountability is at the top of the list. The other two are publically complaining about your salary and ripping the fans. Given that Reed is a well known Penguin fan, its fair to say he’s had a hat trick of moronic behavior in about four months.

My issues with Reed started when he spouted off in training camp about his contract. I have no idea if the Rooney’s promised Reed a long-term deal or not. I suspect they said something like, we’ll discuss it in the future. Regardless, I don’t care. The guy was getting paid $2 Million, to kick a football. We should all have such problems.

Look, I am generally not one who complains about the exorbitant salaries of athletes. Yes they are outrageous and ridiculously disproportionate to the rest of society. Yes I think a good teacher provides more value than a good offensive linemen. Regardless, it’s irrelevant. Athlete salaries are what they are and I’ve accepted it.

All I ask is don’t complain about it. Modern athletes love the term “disrespect.” Do not disrespect me by complaining about your seven or eight figure salaries. Maybe I can’t kick a football in an NFL game but I’m pretty sure Jeff Reed can’t debit and credit. And he makes a heck of a lot more money than I do.

Seriously, does Reed expect sympathy from hard working fans because the Steelers are making him earn his next contract? Did he sleep through Sports Center the day they explained that NFL teams focus on other positions before they lock down kickers who can’t get kickoffs inside the ten yard line?

So that’s two grievous violations of the athlete/fan covenant. And to complete the trifecta, Reed blasted the fans. Showing a frighteningly ignorant and exaggerated view of his own importance, Reed suggested that Steeler fans come to games just to boo him. Newsflash Jeff, nobody and I mean nobody pays $200 for an NFL ticket to jeer you and Sepulveda (who to my knowledge was not being jeered anyway). If we boo you Jeff, it’s because you keeping missing kicks.

Ok, let me expand on that. We also boo you after you say, “I’m not one to complain to the media,” right before you complain to the media about your contract. We boo you because you say, “I’m not one to make excuses,” right before you make ridiculous excuses. But I covered that already.

I’m not even bringing Mr. Reed’s various drunken escapades in to the equation (a google search on him is quite enlightening), because it’s not relevant. Jeff Reed is not the first person, athlete or not, to get soused and take out his aggressions on an inanimate object. Just the same, I’m not bringing Reed’s charitable work in to the equation. All are irrelevant to me if he produces on the field and keeps his mouth shut.

That’s not to say these things are not important to his employers. If the Steelers were willing to Blue Light Special Santonio Holmes for bad behavior, they would certainly jettison a non performing kicker for the same reasons. I know the Steelers held on to Big Ben after his less than stellar offseason. Rest assured they would not have done that if Ben were Derek Anderson. And whatever you think of Ben as a person, he has always demonstrated accountability on the field.

In summary, Reed’s poor performance is why he was cut. His bad attitude and moronic behavior is why we are so happy about it. At least most of us.

I know some Steeler fans are upset about this. They see cutting Reed as a knee “jerk” reaction by the organization. I’ve heard credible arguments that Jeff Reed has a far better track record than Shaun Suisham. Those arguments may be true but they are also irrelevant. Suisham may or may not be good enough this season, Reed definitely was not.

I’m sure there will be plenty of second guessing if Suisham misses a key field goal. Such second guessing is based on the flawed assumption that Reed would have made the kick. Nothing about his performance this season suggests that to be true.

Combine a season’s worth of poor performance with embarrassing and mocking the entire Steeler Nation and I simply say this. Goodbye Jeff Reed, and good riddance.