Colts 'idiot' kicker gives bulletin board material to Super Bowl champs

[WilliamPitt]

As they say in my town, not smaht.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs04/news/story?id=1964813

Vanderjagt kicks off motivational melee

FOXBORO, Mass. -- Mike Vanderjagt's mouth is still causing trouble, even though he's criticizing his opponents and not his coach and quarterback.

On Tuesday, New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison fired back at the Indianapolis kicker.

"He has to be a jerk, Vanderjerk," Harrison said.

Many of Harrison's teammates brushed off Vanderjagt's remark, made shortly after Indianapolis dominated Denver 49-24 in the first round of the AFC playoffs. Speaking about the Patriots, he said "I think they're ripe for the picking" in Sunday's playoff matchup with the Colts.

Vanderjagt also said on WISH-TV in Indianapolis that, "I think they're not as good as the beginning of the year and not as good as last year."

Those comments stirred little controversy in Indianapolis, where his outspoken nature is well known. That's a sharp contrast to his comments two years ago when he said after the Super Bowl that Peyton Manning should show more emotion and coach Tony Dungy is too mild-mannered to be effective.

Manning then called Vanderjagt an "idiot kicker" and Dungy said Vanderjagt should have come to him with his complaints instead of airing them on a Canadian cable television show. Manning and Vanderjagt later apologized to each other and Vanderjagt met with Dungy.

Now Vanderjagt has provided material that coach Bill Belichick might use to provide extra motivation for a team seeking its third Super Bowl title in four years.

"Have I ever done it?" he said with a tiny smile. "Yeah, probably I have."

...more...

Yeah. Piss off the Patriots, who have beaten the Colts three times in the last year. That's wicked smaht.

[ugarte]

1. Go Pats!

I hate the Colts and their scumbag owner ever since they skulked out of Baltimore under cover of darkness. They're a no-class organization, whereas the Pats are the best.

[Ekirh]

2. Aren't the Colts....

Like 1-5 or 0-6 against the Patriots in recent match ups...

Good idea.. to piss off the team that has pretty much owned your ass in recent history "mockingly applauds"


I still have no idea which team I'm going with to win this game.. I'll know when game day comes I suppose.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. If the Pats get all fired up on this...

They are gonna find this guy's badly beaten body in a burlap bag in the showers.

In the Colt's locker room. ;-)

[nickgutierrez]

4. I think this sort of thing is overrated.

If the Patriots need something like this to be motivated for a playoff game, Bill Belichick should be sacked on the spot. Games like this one are their own motivation, and this sort of thing simply exists to give the media something to do in the week between games.

[sportndandy]

5. Who cares what a kicker says?

The only thing that matters is Peyton Manning. If they can't force him into throwing picks they can't beat him. It was like the bizarro manning at the previous colts/pats games. If the real Manning shows up it will be a very long day for the patriots. Should be a lot of first half points by both teams and a lot of defense in the second half. The game should come down to a late turnover or field goal. Sorry pats fans, no crush this week.

[ChairOne]

11. Zactly what I was gonna say... /eom

And the only question in the game is how much pressure the Pats can bring. The Colts' success will be inversely proportional to that.

[joeybee12]

12. I think you underestimate how much "trash talk" is used for motivation...

...all coaches use it, especially when it disparages the other team.

1991 NFC Championship Game--night before, Bill Parcells told his Giants that SF had already booked their rooms in Tampa. Really pissed them off.

15-13, NY victory. Great game, too.

[ChairOne]

13. I understand coaching motivation perfectly well.......

... and I'm sayin that a kickers aren't even football players, and that football players don't care what kickers think or say.

kickers.

LOL

There's plenty of demonize-the-other-team stuff that they can use. And the kicker'll prolly be used too. I'm just sayin that no one much cares about what kickers say.... Hell - it's prolly news to the players that the kicker spoke English - LOL

[underpants]

6. The team looks pretty "soft" when the kicker is your mouthpiece

and I was a kicker in high school. Not a smart move for anyone to say something like that let alone the kicker....now the punter is another story.

[HuckleB]

7. Blah! Blah! Blah!

Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.

If these guys need "motivation" of any kind at this tiime of year, they're not earning their paychecks.

Sometimes I think this smack talk is encouraged to keep sports fans wanking away through the week. Wouldn't want 'em to get distracted by, uh, life, after all.

:)

[Tafiti]

8. Yes, Vanderjagt is an idiot...

...for broadcasting his thoughts to the media. However, I think he's right. I think the Colts will beat the Pats this time around, although it should be a spectacular game. There is one scenario I could imagine: Vanderjagt's performance this year has been sub-par, especially in light of what he did last year -- I've seen him miss some gimmies. So, if it comes to him having to make a kick late in the game for a win or tie, I could see him choking hardcore. You know in the back of his mind, he'd be thinking, "Shit, I gotta make this, I gotta make this." He'll be psyching HIMSELF out.

[FlyByNight]

9. Go Pats!

Can't wait for the game.

[davidinalameda]

10. I cringed when I saw this

mainly because he's played his college ball at WVU