Billy Cundiff's missed kick: Two different takes

In the wake of Billy Cundiff's missed kick yesterday for the Ravens, we found a couple of interesting takes: *First, from Cundiff himself. He did an interview via phone with the Des Moines Register after the game -- a pretty solid move for the former Drake player, especially considering how the game went. This quote from Cundiff stuck out:

"The timing seemed a little bit off. Just the dynamics of the play."

*That leads to this piece at Deadspin in which Slate write and occasional kicker Stefan Fatsis examines the play itself, which many people take for granted. Writes Fatsis:

Not to exonerate Cundiff, but the play itself looked threatened, if not doomed, from the outset. With the play clock at 10 seconds and ticking, I was stunned, like others, to see Cundiff racing onto the field. I haven't talked to him or seen an explanation for the delay. It's possible that Cundiff normally trots out a bit later than the rest of the field-goal unit. But this looked extreme. Cundiff was running pretty hard to get into position, and the ball was snapped as the play clock expired. You rarely see that on field goals. Then, unsurprisingly and definitely unconsciously, Cundiff rushed. When a kicker rushes, he rotates his hips too quickly, and when he rotates his hips too quickly his leg pushes the ball in the direction of the rotation. In this case, to the left.

Indeed, the play clock was running down. The ball was snapped with about one second left on it. Coach John Harbaugh didn't have a good explanation for it, other than to say "that's something we'll have to look at."

If Harbaugh calls a timeout and gives his kicker more time to prepare, does he make the kick? Quite possibly. If he still misses the kick, is Harbaugh berated by fans for icing his own kicker? Probably, even though as Fatsis points out there is no such thing.

The whole thing looked rushed. Cundiff himself seemed to be noting that, even if he said he should have made the kick anyway.

But hey, now we have two weeks of buildup to an New York/New England Super Bowl. Adjust your ESPN viewing accordingly.