It looked strange enough seeing perennially-awful Cleveland slapping the New England Patriots silly in every aspect of the game in the Pats' 34-14 loss to the Browns on Sunday. But it looked even stranger to see kickoffs and extra points being kicked by none other than the Patriots' leading receiver Wes Welker.
If you weren't too drunk or depressed over losing to Cleveland to notice, the Patriots were forced to employ Welker as their emergency kicker in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game. Regular kicker Stephen Gostkowski had to leave the game with a thigh injury to his kicking leg.
To his credit, Welker successfully kicked the extra point that cut the Patriots' deficit to 27-14. He then kicked the ensuing kickoff 45 yards, about 23 yards less than Gostkowski's average.
This is not a good long-term solution.
"I can't remember the last time I kicked a ball," Welker told ESPN Boston after the game. "It's been a while."
Welker played soccer at Texas Tech when he was considered too small to have a future in pro football. He has actually kicked and made both an NFL extra point and field goal when he played for the Miami Dolphins in 2004.
The ever-useful Welker also fielded two punts in the first half. He called for a fair catch on both.
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Fun statistics aside, the Patriots are royally screwed because they don't have a real kicker now. Also over at ESPN Boston, Mike Reiss reports that the Patriots worked out Shayne Graham and Shaun Suisham last month as possible emergency kickers.
You think having wide receiver Wes Welker's extra points was the most bizarre PAT attempt Sunday? Incorrect.
The Detroit Lions employed their 307-pound defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh as an emergency kicker on an extra point attempt. Suh missed the attempt, and the Lions lost in overtime.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who thinks at least this might help Cleveland people get over the whole LeBron thing.
