The End of the Reed

Today marked the end of the road for Jeff Reed with the Steelers. Reed who has kicked numerous game winning field goals for the Steelers in his career was waived by the Steelers today. The reasons may be obvious. He's had quite a bit of trouble kicking from longer than 40 yards this year. But, Pittsburgh Sports Buzz thinks there's also something else going on behind the scenes.

Reed has had his off field incidents including the altercation with police having something to do with Public urination. Then there's the public intoxication incident. These were not highlights in his time with the Steelers.

He did not gain any favor during training camp also when he was openly critical of giving Daniel Sepulveda a chance to win the kickoff duties and before that being more than a little upset about getting the franchise tag.

Despite all this, Reed has been a fan favorite. Maybe that has something to do with his game winning field goals. He has been clutch for the Steelers until this season. He seemed to have an ability to figure out how to kick in the notoriously tricky Heinz Field crosswinds and the sloppy field. Monday night he struggled as has been the case this year. His attempt at a field goal looked like one of my drives off the number 1 fairway at Worthington Golf Club in West Virginia. He hit about 6 inches behind it and was lucky to get it off the ground.

In my keys for the off season and season the last few years when it looked like his tenure was coming to the end because of his misadventures I listed the resigning of Reed amongst the top priorities. The reasons are listed above: he has had success at Heinz Field and has been clutch in game winning situations.

I think Mike Tomlin and probably the Rooney became tired of his off season show and when his performances onfield started costing them points that spelled the end.

To his credit also I have read that he is a very charitable person. That's more than a lot of people can say and enough for me to wish him well. I'm sure he'll be picked up by another team, possibly the Bengals who just lost their kicker to a knee injury.