Sir Winston of the Newest of Yorks! (Actually, that sounds a bit like Churchill marrying into the Debartolo family, sorry.) Anyway, greetings of the new year.

Akers having death threats on Twitter. That's pretty bad. I feel bad for the guy. It's one thing if a player drops a pass or even fumbles, but you can lay the blame on so many players even in those situations or at least point to other plays made that counteract the screw up. I mean, when Craig fumbled against the Giants he had lots of good that could be pointed to that kept players by his side. But a kicker is completely isolated or, as Arnold posted yesterday, his unit is isolated. The only way a kicker is off the hook is if it's a bad snap or hold, so those guys are isolated, too. And of course, the snap and hold are nothing in terms of difficulty in comparison. Even blocked kicks get blamed on the kicker instead of a blocker, even though that is usually the reason for it. But if the blocker's name is mentioned, no one remembers it. Kickers have very few chances to help win games. So you have to feel bad for the guy if he misses. I just wish Akers could get his game back. Stat from last year: Akers provided the winning points in 4 of our games last year in the regular season and 9 points in the 4-point win over the Saints (not including the PATs).

So his failure this year is sad. But I just don't want him on the team anymore. At the same time, I certainly would prefer him to a weak-legged struggling kicker.