Rayner: I should be with Packers
By Rob Demovsky
rdemovsk@greenbaypressgazette.com
By the time the regular season opened, the bitterness — at least most of it — was gone.
It was time for Dave Rayner to get down to business. A week after the Green Bay Packers released him in their final cuts, there was Rayner, locked in his condo in Howard, watching every NFL game he could and hoping for someone to miss.
Such is life for an unemployed kicker.
Sure enough, Kansas City's Justin Medlock botched a 30-yard field goal and before the first Sunday of the NFL season had been completed, Rayner was back in the game. After losing the Packers' kicking job after one year to rookie Mason Crosby in a heated training-camp battle, Rayner signed a two-year contract with the Chiefs, has made 10-of-13 field goals and this week will face his old team at his new home, Arrowhead Stadium.
At some point, he plans to sell his condo and buy a place in Kansas City — if that becomes his long-term home. But then again, he hasn't given that much thought, especially considering he always figured he'd be in Green Bay for the long haul.
"I thought I had done enough to deserve to be there longer," Rayner said in a telephone interview. "They drafted Mason, but I was told from Day 1, 'It's your job to lose.' Then, I kicked well in the preseason, led the league in kickoffs and made all my field goals. With the crap they were doing in practice and how much they kicked us, I don't think there's a reason why I should have lost that job. It's not like I was a problem in the community. It's not like I had issues with any of the coaches or anything. I was just really disappointed in the way they handled it, and if it's a performance business, then I guess they looked at the performance different than I did."
In what was as intense a head-to-head position battle as there's been in recent Packers' training camps, Rayner tried 114 field goals (making 91) during practice, and Crosby attempted 115 (with 98 made). Neither one missed in the four preseason games.
"That's the most I've ever kicked in my entire life," said Rayner, who made 26-of-35 field goals (74.3 percent) for the Packers in 2006. "I have never kicked that many field goals in my life. We were kicking almost every single practice, and it's not like we were doing two, three or four kicks. We were doing six, eight, 10, 12 kicks at a time. I knew that was going to happen. They kept saying it was so close, and they kept kicking the heck out of us. It was one of those things where I look back now, I wish they wouldn't have kicked us so, but it was not my decision."
So far, Crosby and Rayner have posted similar numbers. Crosby has made 12-of-15 field goals and ranks fifth in the NFL with nine touchbacks. In one fewer game, Rayner has three touchbacks but has placed 13 of 24 kickoffs in the end zone.
After a shaky start — he had a field goal blocked thanks to a blown assignment in his first game and had one kickoff go out of bounds — Rayner has settled in with the Chiefs. He was named the AFC's special teams player of the week after making three field goals in a Week 4 upset over the San Diego Chargers.
"Obviously, he's got a great leg," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "Sometimes, he overkicks a little bit, but he's a mentally tough guy, which is what you like in kickers. He can kind of let it go and get back to the next kick. That was a good get for us."
Rayner landed with the Chiefs in part because they passed on Crosby and took Medlock in the fifth round of the April draft. The Packers took Crosby in the sixth round. The Chiefs didn't have another kicker on their roster in training camp but brought several kickers in for workouts after Medlock missed half of his kicks in the preseason games. The Chiefs picked Rayner over John Carney, Josh Huston, Nick Novak, Shane Andrus, Kevin Lovell and Conner Hughes — all of whom worked out in Kansas City on the Monday after the final cuts.
"I had a really good workout out there," said Rayner, who also worked out for the Giants. "I went 11-for-12 on field goals and had six touchbacks on eight kickoffs. They said they were going to give our guy (Medlock) the first week and see what he does in a game. He missed a chip shot, and they signed me the next day."
Rayner said he still keeps in touch with several of his former teammates — injured running back Noah Herron, backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers and punter Jon Ryan. Though he hasn't talked to Crosby, he said he has no hard feelings toward him and is happy for his success.
"I was fired up that he got a shot at a game-winner so quickly," Rayner said of Crosby's Week 1 kick that beat the Philadelphia Eagles. "He seems to be doing well, and the team seems to be doing well. I wish them the best. I'm excited to play them this week, and I'm excited to see those guys."
As for whether Rayner thinks he's found a long-term home with the Chiefs, he's not sure. After all, he thought that was going to be the case with the Packers, which was the reason he bought his condo in Howard, which now is being rented by Packers offensive lineman Tony Palmer (who is on injured reserve).
"I've been told by the special teams coach and the head coach that if I kick well, this can be a long-term deal," Rayner said. "I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and keep focused and see if I can get a long-term deal."
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This is why real NFL players hate kickers. He had to kick 10-12 FGs at a time. Oh no!!!! Cry my a fucking river Rayner! I go to a lot of training camp practices and saw Rayner standing around on the sideline an awful lot. Just like every other kicker in the league does. Anyone can tell that Crosby has a special leg and Rayner was good, but not great. Don't get me wrong, I would be okay if Rayner was still our kicker but believe TT made the right choice in picking Crosby. One more thing, this is the NFL Rayner! Players get cut all the time, get over it!
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Originally Posted by 3irty1
