Steelers must re-sign Reed

Tuesday, January 19, 2010
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

As the CBS television cameras showed San Diego Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding making the long, slow, agonizing walk toward the team's locker room Sunday night and the premature start of another difficult offseason, one thought kept coming to mind:

Somewhere, Jeff Reed must be smiling.

Like a butcher's dog, actually.

It's not as if Reed takes pleasure from Kaeding's pain. NFL kickers make up a small, close-knit fraternity. When one has a rotten day -- as Kaeding did in the Chargers' shocking 17-14 playoff loss to the touchdown-underdog New York Jets -- they all share in the hurt. Each man knows if he kicks long enough, there's a good chance he's going to be in those cleats one day.


Peter Diana/Post-Gazette

Steelers kicker Jeff Reed is scheduled to become a free agent this offseason.

But Reed's value as a kicker never seemed greater than when the All-Pro Kaeding missed a 40-yard field-goal attempt with 4:38 left and the Chargers trailing, 17-7. It was Kaeding's third miss of the day. The man who is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, had missed just three kicks all season and had made 69 in a row from 40 yards-and-in also missed from 36 and 57 yards earlier in the game. It might have been the biggest postseason collapse by a kicker since former Steeler Gary Anderson missed for the Minnesota Vikings from 38 yards in the Metrodome in the 1998 NFC championship game, denying the Vikings a trip to Super Bowl XXXIII. Anderson had been 39 for 39 to that point.

"I'm not gonna feel sorry for myself," Kaeding said. "I feel sorry for my teammates, coaches and support staff here. I feel like I let everybody down."

It wasn't just Kaeding, who had a rough time in these playoffs. Arizona's Neil Rackers missed from 34 yards at the end of regulation against the Green Bay Packers Jan. 10 in a game the Cardinals were fortunate to win in overtime. Cincinnati's Shayne Graham missed from 42 and 28 yards in the second half of the Bengals' 24-14 loss to the Jets a day earlier, prompting Bengals coach Marvin Lewis to say, "It is a shame, and it killed us."

I'm thinking Reed would have made all of those kicks. He's that good. He's that dependable.

I'm also thinking the Steelers need to do whatever it takes to keep Reed before he can become an unrestricted free agent March 1. Putting the franchise or transition tag on him are options. Doing a long-term contract with him is a better choice.

Yes, Reed comes with baggage. He has had two highly publicized, alcohol-related incidents in the past year. He faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 11 in Allegheny County Municipal Court for misdemeanor charges of simple assault and resisting arrest and summary charges of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct after an incident Oct. 18 outside McFadden's Bar on the North Side after the Steelers' game with the Cleveland Browns. Last February, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and criminal mischief charges after police said he beat up a towel dispenser and harassed employees at the Sheetz store in New Alexandria.

Reed and his agent have disputed the charges in the more recent incident, agent Don Henderson saying that Reed "basically got attacked by the police." No matter what happened that night, it's nice to think it sobered up Reed and made him realize he has to do a better job watching his behavior under the bright public spotlight. It's nice to think he won't be an embarrassment to himself, his family and his team again.

As despicable as the two incidents might have been, they shouldn't stop the Steelers from doing a new deal with Reed if they are convinced he has matured. Certainly, the incidents won't stop other NFL teams from approaching him. A great kicker isn't easy to find, especially one who has proved he can kick in poor weather conditions and on less-than-perfect turf at Heinz Field. Ten of the 32 NFL clubs used at least two kickers this season.

Reed had his Kaeding moment -- on a much lesser scale -- when he missed from 38 and 43 yards in the Steelers' 17-14 loss Sept. 20 to the Chicago Bears. There's no reason to think he'll have another any time soon. After that game in Chicago, he finished the season by making 25 of 27 field-goal tries, the misses from 52 and 53 yards. He also has made 16 consecutive postseason kicks, going back to his rookie season in 2002.

What the Chargers and Bengals would have given to have Reed in these playoffs.

The Steelers must find a way to keep him.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.

First published on January 19, 2010 at 12:00 am