These are situations that pro kickers dream of.  A chance to keep your team in a game, but not just any game, this was a playoff game. As a matter of fact, the Bengals first playoff game in five years.  The Bengals needed Shayne Graham to come up big on Saturday, and all Shayne Graham could produce as the Bengals franchise player was failure.

Graham’s first kick of the game was from 35 yards out and the kick sailed wide left.  His second kick from 28 went right of the goal post.  Each kick seemed to take the steam out of the Bengals, and they certainly took the cold frigid wind out of the Bengals fans sails.   

For a franchise player Shayne Graham certainly did not appear to be the guy you wanted to put on the field in a tight situation.  Graham not only missed one field goal but two.  These were chip shots for any Kicker in the NFL.  Bengals fans were not kind when it came to thoughts about Graham during the game.  Needless to say they were  even less kind after the game.  NFLfanhouse.com called Graham one of the most unpopular people in Cincinnati.    Marvin Lewis after the game said about Shayne Graham’s performance “it was a shame, and it killed us ”.

Some Bengals fans went as far as hacking Grahams Wikipedia account and changing it to read “Shayne Graham helped give away a playoff game to the New York Jets in 2009."

Shayne Graham’s contract is up with the Cincinnati Bengals now.  He is off to test the free agent market.  I would imagine those two kicks cost him dearly in the financial world of pro football.  Teams want kickers that make plays when the game is on the line, not shank kicks and blow them wide left and wide right.

Franchise players make plays when they need to.  I think Bengals fans would agree that the Bengals tagging a kicker as their franchise player is not something they want to see again for a long time, and I have a feeling Shayne Graham’s position as the Bengals kicker may have sailed left last night just like one of the two field goals he missed did.