{Kic K ing a nd Screaming}
Back in 1971, when you were with the
Oilers, you kicked two field goals against my Redskins at RFK Stadium in a rain- storm, Mosley remembers Allen saying. “I need a kicker I can depend on, in any kind of conditions. I think you’re the man for the job. Now, all you have to do is beat out those other 12 kickers we’ve put on the roster, and the job is yours.” The 62-year-old Mosley leans back
in an office, where he works as a Five Guys Burgers & Fries director of fran- chising, and sighs with amazement over all he survived. By the time he was finished in Washington, he was recog- nized as the Redskins’ greatest kicker ever, renowned for game-winning field goals and streaks of flawlessness. Dur- ing the strike-shortened season of 1982, he made 21 consecutive field goal at- tempts, then an NFL record, en route to winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award, the only time a kicker has taken home the prize. Several of the Redskins’ victories that year re- sulted from critical Moseley field goals, making possible a playoff run that cul- minated with a Super Bowl victory over the Miami Dolphins. Still, Moseley’s career was not de-
void of slumps. “In 1980, I think I missed 10 of my first 14 kicks,” he re- calls. “Nowadays, I’d been gone with those misses. Gone. … But I tell people: That’s kicking.”
training camp, when the club re-signed its regular kicker. New Orleans signed him late that year but turned to him to handle kickoff chores only. By the end of the season, New Or-
A
leans had said goodbye to him, too. Over the next two years, he had 15 un- successful tryouts with NFL teams. Eventually, he couldn’t even bring him- self to watch games on TV. He and Nicole had moved to Phoe-
nix, and Cundiff occupied himself by taking MBA courses at Arizona State and working for a venture capital firm. Only in his late 20s, he wondered whether he had already been pegged
fter Cundiff ’s release by the Cowboys, suitors were fick- le. Tampa Bay signed him before the 2006 preseason but cut him long before
as washed up. Then while working out on a football field at a community col- lege in 2008, he exchanged hellos with a well-known local kicking instructor named Gary Zauner. A former special teams coordinator
for the Vikings, Ravens and Arizona Car- dinals, Zauner had built his reputation as a kicking consultant for a half-dozen teams. As he puts it: “Golfers have swing coaches — kickers need swing coaches, too; they get out of whack sometimes, all of ’em, even the best.” The Wisconsin transplant had de-
clared an end to his coaching days, happy to bask with his wife in the Ari- zona heat and to give lessons to young dreamers and struggling veterans alike. On the side, Zauner ran annual kicking combines, or showcases, for NFL rook- ie and free agent kickers, who paid him for the privilege of competing. The com- bines gave the kickers a chance to show off their skills and provided scouts an op- portunity to size up new and old talent. Cundiff told Zauner that he needed
another pair of eyes to study his form. “Billy’s swing was off — I could
see that in a hurry during our les- son,” Zauner said. Cundiff ’s biggest flaw was his “crunching,” said Zaun- er, who demonstrated, looking like a man doing a sit-up. “At impact with the ball, Billy was keeping his head too much down and back. It had him bending and crunching his body a lot, which made him push the ball to the right. Then, when he tried compensat- ing, he hooked the ball badly to the left. We worked to get him to … develop a nice relaxed upright torso. It made him
{ 18 The WashingTon PosT Magazine | december 12, 2010
others from football’s minor leagues, the lower-profile, unglamorous Unit- ed Football League and the Canadian Football League. Cundiff resisted. “They already know
who I am,” he said. A blunt man, Zauner replied, “People
aren’t beating down your door, Billy.” After his agent pushed, Cundiff
relented. He performed well at the combine. Five months later, during the 2009 preseason, the Detroit Lions called, and Cundiff briefly filled in for their hurt place kicker, Jason Han- son. Cut upon Hanson’s return, Cundiff was off to Cleveland to temporarily re- place the Browns’ injured veteran, Phil
“In 1980, I think I missed 10 of my first 14 kicks,” former Redskin Mark Moseley says. “Nowadays, I’d been gone with those misses. Gone.”
straighter on the target line.” But Zauner’s most important contri-
bution to Cundiff ’s career came at the end of their two lessons together. Zaun- er suggested that Cundiff join about 30 other kickers at his March 2009 free- agent kicking combine. Scouts from 26 NFL teams would be present, as well as
Dawson. His short, successful stint in Cleveland earned him a call from Ra- vens officials, who, discouraged by the struggles of the team’s new place kicker, Steve Hauschka, soon signed him. In hopes of enhancing his concen-
tration and confidence under pressure, Cundiff had long before turned for help
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