Kicker Peterson Gives Seahawks A Leg To Stand On

The quality of the Seattle Seahawks’ placekicking, coach Dennis Erickson acknowledged before this season, was a matter of some concern.

The team had chosen not to fork over more than $600,000 to keep incumbent John Kasay, and it seemed that the new inductee would be merely some anonymous toe - the unknown foot soldier.

It certainly appeared that way, as Todd Peterson had kicked in the camps of the Giants, Patriots, Falcons and finally the Cardinals before showing up in Seattle this summer.

But Peterson has to rank as one of the Seahawks’ most pleasant surprises, and his personal-best four field goals Sunday helped the Hawks upset Philadelphia 26-14.

“Todd kicked the ball unbelievable; he made some crucial kicks,” Erickson said. “He’s done it all year.”

Peterson has now made 18 of 23 kicks and 10 of his last 11, with the lone miss being a 52-yarder.

Peterson actually got into two games with Arizona last year, kicking the game-winner in overtime against Washington and scoring 10 points (two field goals and four PATs) against Dallas.

His reward? Being waived the day after the Dallas game.

“That’s kind of how the kickers are in this league, sometimes they get recycled and sometimes all of a sudden they start kicking,” Erickson said. “You can’t ask for anything more than what he’s done for us. I mean, kicking it off and knocking it in the way he did today was a big reason why we won the football game.”

Peterson nailed boots of 47, 35, 37 and 45 yards, but he said after the game that “it wouldn’t bother me if I never kicked a field goal as long as we’re scoring touchdowns. If we scored 50 touchdowns a year, it wouldn’t bother me.”

The 180-pound Peterson has earned teammates’ respect for his toughness (tackling Herschel Walker in the open field on a kickoff against the Giants, for instance), and his hard work.

“He works harder than any kicker I’ve ever seen,” snapper Trey Junkin said.

In contrast to the hooked or sliced efforts many kickers produce, Peterson’s boots look like unwavering line drives.

“I hit a pretty true ball,” he said. “Some guys try to play it left to right or right to left, but mine usually stays pretty straight.”

Peterson, a graduate of the University of Georgia, as was Kasay, said he likes the idea of sticking around and kicking for the Seahawks inside the windless Kingdome.

“I’ll play here as long as the Behrings let me,” Peterson said of the Seahawks owners.

Quiet as a Monk

Art Monk, that is.

The future Hall of Fame receiver was signed this week by the Eagles, but spend the day on the bench.

Last year, with the Jets, Monk broke Steve Largent’s record of consecutive games with receptions and stretched it to 180 before the end of the season.

Monk was active, but did not play, leaving him uncertain if his streak ended or not.

“I guess it did end if I was active; I’m not sure of the details on that,” he said. “It would have been nice to keep it going, but all I can say about it is that I have the record now.”

Actually, he still has the record, as it only applies to games in which the athlete plays. Largent missed some games due to injury during his streak and it did not count against him.

Monk is the NFL’s all-time leader with 934 catches.

Notes

The loss was particularly untimely for the Eagles, who could have come within a game of Dallas in the NFC East standings since Dallas lost to Washington on Sunday.

“Today, we didn’t take care of what we’re supposed to take care of,” Eagles coach Ray Rhodes said. “It’s a shame because Dallas lost a game and we can’t make up any ground on them, so that’s even more frustrating for us.”

Dallas travels to Philadelphia this week.

The Seahawks’ worst injury was to receiver Ronnie Harris, who suffered a bruised back while making a tackle on kickoff coverage during the second period.

One might be able to assume the Eagles didn’t have the best defensive day when seeing that cornerback Mark McMillian led the team in tackles. McMillian stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 148 pounds.

The Eagles did little to harm their reputation as the league’s best band of sackers. They came into the game with a league-high 37 sacks and added five more for 20 yards.

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