Mike Vanderjagt

[zXe]

Not sure if this topic has been brought up or not, I appologize if it has already.

I just saw Payton Manning brand him an "idiot kicker"
It's never a great thing to publically critique your teammates and point fingers at certain individuals, but it seems to me like this guy is being lambasted because he's the "kicker" and not anyone deemed important in the game of American Football. Should he not be able to voice his concerns because he's the kicker?
I saw his interview and he said that his team was too lax and that they were not emotional enough, nothing that would justify him being called an idiot.

Interesting situation really, in comparison to when Keano says we've taken our foot of the pedal. Granted Keano *is* our captain, so he is at a certain level of authority, plus he doesn't mention names.

 

[kennyj]

It's very ususual for players, whether kickers or not, to name names when criticizing teammates. But kickers are regarded differently on a team because they are not usually expected to make tackles and are looked as lesser athletes. And when a kicker says that the coach isn't tough enough, it's not the kicker that will be doing extra windsprints. Saying that Manning can't play in big games was pretty bad too. He was really out of line to say what he said.