Ok, our new kicker isn't actually Moses, but at 46 Morton Anderson probably cheated off his paper on spelling tests in the second grade. We needed a kicker, desperately. I just never dreamed we'd find one so old. Anderson hasn't taken the field in the NFL since 2004 when he was with the Vikings. At one time Anderson was great. He holds the franchise scoring records in New Orleans and Atlanta. Not surprising since he is only 76 points short of the all time NFL scoring record. (Gary Anderson holds that distinction with 2,358 points. No word yet on if the two are related.) Anderson is from Denmark and his career highlights include kicking 3 50+ yard field goals in the same game. I can't say that wouldn't be nice, but it happened in 1995 so I wouldn't hold out hope. It's possible he won't have the opportunity to do that for the Falcons again. Koenen has a strong leg and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't get a shot at everything over 40 or 45 yards. Plus Anderson is OLD. A 50 yard kick might be enough to put him in the old folk's home. He holds a handful of records related to kicks over 50 yards and his pro bowl appearances. Record highlights from his
wikipedia entry:
- Most points ever in Pro Bowl history - 45 (15 points after touchdown, 10 field goals)
- Most points after touchdown ever in Pro Bowl history - 15
- Most field goal attempts ever in Pro Bowl history - 18
- Most field goals in Pro Bowl history - 10
- Most field goals (50 or more yards) in NFL history - 40
- Most field goals (50 or more yards) in a season - 8
- Most field goals (50 or more yards) in a game - 3
- Most games played in NFL history - 354
He's also a member of the Danish American Football Federations Hall of Fame (Who even knew such a thing existed?) and the NFL's all decade team for the 1980s AND the 1990s. The annoucement on the
Falcon's site is filled with career accomplishments as well. It's clear that he was clutch at one time, I just hope he still has it.
The question this really holds for me is what exactly did Todd Peterson do? I know we have cap issues but he had to have really ticked someone in our player personnel department off to not get the call. Maybe Peterson is sore about us not renewing him earlier and is demanding unreasonable pay....but he was pretty good for us and I can't believe we didn't try to work something out. I wish Anderson the best of luck but I'd rather have a younger proven commodity. Maybe some friendly staffer up at Flowery Branch will email me an explanation because this really baffles me.
Oh, one other note about Morton Anderson....he last wore #7. Hope someone told him was have a fellow on our team who is already pretty attached to that number. Thankfully his old #5 Falcon's jersey is still available.
Falcons StoryESPN ArticleAnderson's Career Statistics