FanHouse Mike Vanderjagt

Earlier this week, Ryan Wilson passed along the information that former New York Giants head coach, Jim Fassel, was in such dire need to get back into coaching that he would be willing to take on the task of leading the Oakland Raiders. He even, reportedly, wrote Al Davis a hand-written letter expressing his desire to coach the silver and black.

Frankly, if there's any truth to that report, Davis should probably strike while the iron is hot and hire somebody, anybody, that is willing to work for him. If he doesn't, Fassel has another potential option, one that's familiar to guys who can't find work in the National Football League.

Canada.

On Sunday, MDS pointed out that Canadian national treasure, Mike Vanderjagt, had accepted a full-time job to play professional football in the motherland, and in his very first game honked three field goals. Not to worry, though; Vanderjagt managed to convert two attempts, and also had a fine day punting.

And come to find out, the three misses weren't even his fault. Vanderjagt's Toronto Argonauts coach even says so.

[Rookie head coach Rich] Stubler believes the Argos have done Vanderjagt a disservice by not practising on a field fitted with uprights, an oversight that will be addressed.

"We had two days all of camp where we went some place that had goalposts," Stubler said. "That's a coaching fault and I'll take that."

Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty big oversight. Luckily, the Argonauts appear to be in very capable hands; Stubler not only takes the blame, but the situation will be rectified. That's leadership, people.

I guess the sight of Vanderjagt taking a nap in the stands during every training camp practice didn't seem unusual to Stubler. Of course, this is the same guy who said of Vanderjagt's three misses (two "wide rights", and one "woefully short"): "In the NFL, those kicks are right down the middle", based solely on the fact that the CFL hashmarks are six yards wider than NFL hashmarks.

Made-up laws of physics aside, Bill Parcells vehemently disagrees.

Hat tip: Hashmarks. Naturally.

Former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt was finally back on a football field Saturday after a nearly two-year absence. It took him some time to shake off the rust.

Playing for the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Vanderjagt missed his first three field goals. He did, however, finally straighten out and hit a 49-yarder and a 44-yarder in the game's last four minutes to help the Argos to a 23-16 win.

Vanderjagt also punted for the Argonauts, and he did it well, averaging 48 yards and at one point uncorking a 60-yarder after his protection broke down and he was nearly tackled.

All things considered, it wasn't a disastrous outcome for Vanderjagt, who previously played in the CFL in the 1990. But it also wasn't particularly impressive, and it was a reminder that Vanderjagt, who was once among the NFL's best field goal kickers, will never be that kind of player again.

Hat tip: PFT.

Mike Vanderjagt, the ex-Indianapolis Colt whom Peyton Manning famously referred to as "our idiot kicker," has signed a free-agent contract with the Toronto Argonauts.

And just as Vanderjagt was among the NFL's least popular players, he's already got a nemesis up in Canada: The kicker he's supplanting, Noel Prefontaine, who tells the Toronto Star:

"It hurts, really," he said. "I made my life here in Toronto. I wanted to retire as an Argo. This disrupts a lot with my family."

Vanderjagt was once among the NFL's most accurate field goal kickers, but he has a weak leg for kickoffs and hasn't played anywhere in 18 months. I'd like to give the Argos' front office the benefit of the doubt and assume they know what they're doing in bringing him back to the CFL, but I wouldn't be surprised if Prefontaine has a better season than Vanderjagt.

Jason Elam's move to Atlanta hasn't generated as many headlines as other offseason movement in the NFL but it will have a great impact on the Broncos all the same. His departure erases one of the last on-field links to the Elway-Davis glory days gone by. Elam was a Bronco through and through, he even married a former cheerleader, so while seeing him in a Falcon uniform won't be a Joe Namath in Rams duds-level eye-gouger, it will be odd.

Elam was also busy off the field the last few years. He wrote a book called Monday Night Jihad which, as you may have guessed from the title, combines football and terrorism. It's rare that a kicker spends so long in one place with so much success and rarer still that they write fiction in the offseason, so replacing him calls for another guy who operates outside the usual box.

The kind of guy who gets drunk and insults his team's quarterback as not being a winner, perhaps? The Broncos will have Mike Vanderjagt, the idiot kicker himself, in town for a workout this week. He hasn't kicked a ball in anger since 2006 when the Cowboys released him mid-season. There's not much in the way of competition so if Vanderjagt can shake off the moss, he's got a good shot at the job. If he gets it, Jay Cutler should be wary of the mix alcohol and thin air can have on the human brain.

So it's come to this: things are so desperate in Kansas City that the team worked out Mike Vanderjagt yesterday. Worse, they might consider signing him. I know the draft is a crap shoot, particularly when you're talking about place kickers, but the Chiefs probably wish they could have 2007 draft do-over.

They selected Justin Medlock with the 160th pick, and Nick Folk and Mason Crosby were still available. You certainly can't blame Kansas City for taking Medlock, arguably college's best kicker in 2006, but it didn't work out and things have kind of snowballed from there.

Last month, the Chiefs lost out on Josh Brown because, well, they followed the rules against tampering with soon-to-be free agents, apparently. And that, people, is how you end up giving Vanderjagt a tryout, who after being released by the Cowboys in November 2006, was out of football last season.

But, oddly, he's in demand now (I'm guessing his agent has something to do with the perceived sudden interest):

Working on conditioning and kicking, Vanderjagt, 38, didn't give up on his hopes of getting back into the NFL. The Broncos, who lost Jason Elam to Atlanta, are debating whether to bring him in for a workout. First, though, Vanderjagt will see if he gets an offer from the Chiefs.

I suppose the kicking game is important enough to actually have someone on the roster designated to do it full time, I'm just not convinced Vanderjagt's that guy. That said, the Chiefs aren't really in a position to be picky.

At various points this season, kicker Adam Vinatieri looked washed up. No moment embodied the four-time Super Bowl winner's struggles more than the Week 10 game against the Chargers. With the Colts trailing 23-21 with just under two minutes to go, Vinatieri honked a 29-yard field-goal attempt.

And for a guy who was money from, well, anywhere on the field during his 10-year New England career, Vinatieri has been just a shade better than the guy he replaced last season, Mike Vanderjagt. Good news, though: after going 0-for-2007 on field-goal attempts of at least 40 yards (he was 0 for 3 in '07), Vinatieri striped a 46-yarder with 5:14 to go in the second quarter to give the Colts a 10-7 lead.

It's amazing that it's come to this -- praising a sure-to-be Hall of Famer for making a kick that should be automatic in the RCA Dome -- but here we are. During the previous three meetings against the Patriots, Vinatieri's been inconsistent, but assuming the Colts beat the Chargers (not a foregone conclusion by any means), he will be critical to Indianapolis' chances next week. Maybe the 46-yarder is the jump-start he needed ... or maybe it means nothing at all.

Let's just make sure we all understand something: Adam Vinatieri is not a good kicker. He used to be, a few years ago, although even then he was overrated because he was on a good team that gave him lots of opportunities to kick in big games.

But now he's not good. He's not average, either. he's bad.

It's not just the fact that he missed two field goals in tonight's 23-21 loss to the Chargers, including a 29-yarder that would have given the Colts the lead with less than two minutes to play. It's the fact that he's horrible on kickoffs. It's the fact that he hasn't made a 50-yard field goal in five years. It's the fact that the Colts have no more reason to be confident in Vinatieri right now than they would have if they brought back -- gasp -- Mike Vanderjagt.

Throw in the fact that Vinatieri is the highest-paid kicker in the league, and there isn't a single team in the league getting less bang for the buck out of the kicker position than the Colts. Please, football media of the world. Stop pretending Adam Vinatieri is a good kicker.

It looks like Lawrence Tynes will have to cost the New York Giants a game before Tom Coughlin decides to pull the plug on the veteran kicker.

"We're sticking with him," Coughlin said.

The former Kansas City Chief missed an easy 29-yarder yesterday, bringing his miss count up to three field goals and two extra points on the season. And while people may be inclined to blame the weather for the miss, as Tynes did himself, Coughlin admits that's no excuse.

"It just looked like he really, really overcompensated for the right hashmark and also for his footing and yanked it," the coach said.

Fans don't trust this guy anymore, opposing teams love seeing him on the field and even his teammates have to be slightly rattled. Thankfully, none of the 11 points Tynes has left on the board this season have come back to hurt the Giants, but it's only a matter of time.

Would it really kill New York to look at Mike Vanderjagt? I realize the league-wide consensus is that he's "lost it," but could he really be more unreliable than Tynes? He may miss a 29-yard field goal or two, but at least he'll hit the extra points!

Here's some fun news for all the Colts fans out there: You might get to see the idiot kicker twice this year.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network is reporting that the Jaguars will bring in Mike Vanderjagt for a workout this week and may sign him to the active roster in time to kick on Sunday against the Falcons.

The Jaguars, who lost kicker Josh Scobee to a pregame injury Sunday, are also considering the usual names you hear when a team is looking for a kicker, including Billy Cundiff and John Carney.

But I sure hope they sign Vanderjagt, and that he stays on the roster until Dec. 2, when the Jags visit the Colts. Vanderjagt, of course, is among the most hated men in Indianapolis for the way he choked in high-pressure situations (most notably the last kick of his Indianapolis career, which would have tied a playoff game against the Steelers) and for the way he criticized Peyton Manning, who responded by giving him the "idiot kicker" moniker.

Vanderjagt was an accurate kicker, although that's often overstated because he kicked in a dome and was rarely asked to kick from long range. His leg strength is suspect, and the Jags would probably be wise to sign either Cundiff or Carney instead. But it sure would be fun to see him play against the Colts.