Cardinals’ kicker Rackers racking up some big numbers

TEMPE, Ariz. – For all their failed blocking assignments, missed tackles, sacks allowed, interceptions thrown and passes dropped, the Arizona Cardinals can claim one superlative. They have the best place-kicker in the NFL.

A perfect one, in fact.

Twenty-six times Neil Rackers has tried field goals this season, and 26 times the ball sailed through the uprights.

“It’s like a baseball hitter that gets into one of those hitting streaks and you don’t want to do anything to change it,” special teams coach Kevin O’Dea said.

With eight games still to play, Rackers is easily in reach of the NFL record for field goals in a season, 39 (in 46 attempts) set by Olindo Mare of Miami in 1999 and matched by Jeff Wilkins of St. Louis (in 42 attempts) in 2003.

“I’ll be honest with you, I don’t even know what it is and I have no desire to know what it is,” Rackers said of the record. “What would it mean? I guess someday it would be great, but right now I’m worried about winning football games. It really wouldn’t mean anything right now.”

The record for consecutive field goals is 42 by Mike Vanderjagt of Indianapolis from 2002 to 2004.

Rackers has, by his own admission, a hyper personality. As a youngster in St. Louis, he played baseball, soccer and football.

“When you’re a Ritalin poster child, your parents have to wear you out somehow,” he said.

At Illinois, Rackers set a single-season scoring record with 110 points in 1999 and more than half of his kickoffs were touchbacks. Cincinnati made him a sixth-round draft choice, beginning a tumultuous three-year relationship with the Bengals.

Paul Brown Stadium, he said, was like kicking “in a kitty litter box.”

“They have field turf now, but when I was there, it was not fit for an NFL football team,” he said. “They tried to plant Bermuda grass and it turned into a beach – green-colored sand, basically.”

He was 12 for 21 on field goals in 2000 and 17 for 28 in 2001. But he improved to 15 for 18 in 2002, including a 54-yarder. The team tendered him an offer for 2003, and Rackers was optimistic. But the Bengals cut him before the regular season started, setting off a grievance that led to a settlement.

“My first two years there I thought there was a good chance that we would get fired,” Rackers said. “Then we had a good year the third year, sign a tender, so we’re like ‘All right, we’re ready to go.’ Then the one year we were comfortable, we got hurt and fired in an 18-hour span. Then we were kind of sitting there with our head spinning a little bit.”

Rackers often uses “we” when talking about himself. He says it’s a reference to his wife, Rachel, and 2 1/2 -year-old son, Jacob.

“I’m not an ‘I’ type of guy,” he said.

“We” still carry bitterness from those days along the Ohio River.

“You know you can ask just about anyone who played in Cincinnati when I was there, they can go 16-0, they still got to live there,” Rackers said. “That’s the way I look at it, and you can quote that one.”

Visits to two teams drew differing conclusions on the condition of Rackers’ health, and he eventually underwent left knee surgery, only to be told by the doctor that the procedure wasn’t necessary.

“They were saying there was a significant tear and there wasn’t,” Rackers said. “There was a false positive on the MRI.”

Unemployed and still healing, Rackers worried about getting a job. The chance came in Arizona, where his long snapper from college, Nathan Hodel, and another former Illinois teammate, Fred Wakefield, put in a good word for him.

Midway through the 2003 season, Rackers signed with the Cardinals. He survived the coaching change at the end of that season, then had a solid 2004 campaign. He converted 22 of 29 field goals, including 5 of 9 from 50 yards and beyond. He also set a franchise record with 23 touchbacks.

Good enough, but nothing like this season.

Half of Rackers’ 26 field goals have been beyond 40 yards, four of them beyond 50. He also leads the league in touchbacks with 20. In the thin air of Mexico City, where Arizona played San Francisco, Rackers kicked six field goals and had six of seven kickoffs go for touchbacks. One kickoff hit the crossbar and bounced over.

Kickers are usually second-class citizens on the team, considered a necessary wimp. Not Rackers.

The ultimate compliment came from linebacker James Darling.

“He’s officially a member of the team now,” Darling said with a smile.

Rackers was chosen NFL special teams player of the month for October, and this week signed a four-year contract extension.