This according to Ray Didinger, who ranked the top five punters in Eagles history for his ongoing series listing the club's greatest players position by position. Punter not exactly the most glamourous job, sheer morbid curiosity led me to give the story a read, and it did not disappoint.
5. Randall Cunningham (1985-95)
– This will strike some people as a frivolous selection. How could I
pick someone with a career total of 12 punts? Well, when one of those
punts is the longest in team history (91 yards) and another is the
third longest (80), it doesn’t seem quite so far fetched.
The
91-yard punt came on a brutally cold December day in the Meadowlands.
With the score tied 17-17 and the Eagles pinned deep in their end,
Buddy Ryan kept punter Max Runager on the bench and told Cunningham to
kick the ball. The quarterback punted it from eight yards deep in his
end zone and it traveled 70 yards in the air. It skipped past the
Giants’ Dave Meggett and rolled to the seven yard line, the third
longest punt in NFL history.
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Two plays later, the Eagles forced
a Phil Simms fumble and Keith Byars punched over the winning touchdown.
Everyone agreed Cunningham’s punt – and the dramatic shift in field
position – was the turning point of the game.
People often asked
why Cunningham was not the Eagles primary punter. The answer is the
coaches wanted him to concentrate on playing quarterback. Remember,
Randall led the team in passing and rushing four years in a row, so he
already had a lot on his plate. When he did practice punting, he was
inconsistent. He’d boom a few, then shank one so that was a worry.
“Randall has no form,” special teams coach Al Roberts said. “He just gets his foot on the football and God does the rest.”
Joe Muha took the top spot; that guy was a beast!
Next week, Diddy tackles the top five safeties. I wonder who could be number one...