A Vote of No Confidence

In the NFL, kicking an extra point is pretty much automatic, and it usually is. You can even hear in the announcer's voice the lack of interest in the extra point kick. They're busy talking about the touchdown that was just scored, and the extra point feels like just an inconvenience, something that gets in the way of all of the instant replays of the TD and the images of the offensive player who scored celebrating on the sidelines.

Maybe once or twice a year an extra point gets missed, and when it does you can hear the surprise--nay, horror almost--in the voices of the announcers: "Oh my God! He missed that kick!"

Enter the 2009 Cincinnati Bengals...

Somehow, they have managed to turn extra point kicking (and short field goal kicking) completely around. Now the announcers seemed shocked when the Bengals DO get an extra point down!

And yesterday, when the Bengals and the Browns went into overtime, I was certain that the only way the Bengals were going to win was if they scored a touchdown. There's no way they'll make a field goal, I told myself. And even when they DID kick the game winning field goal, I didn't believe it. My first reaction was, "He kicked it wide right! The loser!" Then I saw the referees signal a score and realized I'd been wrong.

But that's how much confidence I have in the Bengals kicking game right now.

Oh, well. They're 3-1, and one weird play from 4-0. But they need to fix their special teams.