THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250530
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Redskins Report
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD. LENGTH: 93 lines
Get out an NFL record book and find the game's all-time scoring leaders. There's Eddie Murray at No. 5 with 1,473 points, right after Lou ``The Toe'' Groza, right before Pat Leahy.
Now get a Washington Redskins press guide from 1995. Find the section on free-agent signings. It's no more than a fingerprint, but there's Scott Blanton, right after Patrise Alexander, right before Brad Bretz.
Got a Vancouver, British Columbia, phone book? Find the F's. Sean Fleming is there, somewhere.
Kicking competition? What kicking competition?
Yet, it's there. It would not be a total surprise if the Redskins enter the 1996 season with a kicker other than Murray, who led them in scoring last season with 114 points. After 12 seasons with Detroit, Murray has been with Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Dallas and the Redskins - all since 1992.
``I'd like to think it was my job to lose,'' Murray said. ``But I also know from experience there's no longevity in this business.''
Frostburg's rain has kept them from attempting more than a dozen kicks. The meat of the competition starts today in hot, steamy south Florida, when the Redskins and Miami Dolphins begin three days of practices and scrimmages.
Ask Redskins special-teams coach Pete Rodriguez to evaluate the three and he says, ``Scott's advantage is his kickoffs, Sean's advantage is his field goals, and Eddie's advantage is that he's Eddie.''
Tuesday's practice against the Steelers proved his point. Despite a stiff breeze at his back, Murray's lone kickoff attempt landed at the Pittsburgh 8. Blanton's sailed 9 yards into the end zone. Fleming's landed 5 yards deep.
Blanton hit field goals from 32, 38 and 45 yards. Fleming hit field goals from 32, 38 and 45 yards - the 45-yarder would have been good from 70. But Murray, who turns 40 Aug. 29, also hit from 32, 38 and 45 yards.
``There is a premium on accuracy in field-goal kicking because on a miss, the ball is placed back from where it was kicked,'' Murray said. ``Hopefully, they don't turn a blind eye to that rule. You're not going to find many 52- and 53-yard field goals. The longest will be in the 40s.''
During his career, Murray has converted 289 of 370 field goals from 49 yards or less. He also holds the modern record for consecutive extra points at 228 and counting. Murray's last miss was Dec. 11, 1988.
``He's a great kicker,'' Blanton said. ``I think Eddie's got the upper hand right now. He's got the experience. He's proven himself. He's got the record.''
Yet, the Redskins didn't sign Murray until just before camp started. For most of the off-season, Blanton was the only kicker on the roster.
They liked him enough last season to dump Chip Lohmiller and, had it not been for a serious groin injury that forced him onto injured reserve, Blanton would have been Washington's kicker.
``He had a helluva training camp last year and he's kicking about the same way so far this year,'' Rodriguez said. ``He's very accurate, very consistent.''
Blanton went months without kicking last season, focusing instead on a series of leg strengthening exercises he hopes will keep him on the field instead of in the trainer's room.
``It always comes back,'' Blanton said. ``I was never worried I'd get out of a groove. You've got to have that confidence that it'll come back, or else you've got no business being out here.''
Blanton says if he loses the job he once had to Murray or Fleming, he'll return to Oklahoma and begin training for next year's tryouts and summer camps. That's not the case for Fleming.
``This is my one-time shot,'' he said. ``I do not want to be a guy who goes to a different training camp every year. I'm 26, I'm still young enough to have a lot of good years, but I'm not joining the circuit.''
Fleming is so much an unknown that the Redskins's press guide lists him as a punter. But he has credentials. He is the University of Wyoming's and WAC's all-time leading scorer, and he spent four seasons with the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos, where he was MVP of the 1993 Grey Cup.
Fleming's biggest adjustment has been kicking extra points and field goals from off the ground rather than the one-inch tee the CFL allows. But at the same time, he figures he has a huge edge over Blanton in experience.
``I've tried 63 field goals each of my last two seasons alone,'' he said. ``I've played in a championship game. I've been in games where the ground was frozen on top, soft and muddy underneath. Some of the stadiums we played in are incredibly windy. That should help me.''
Rodriguez agrees, saying Fleming has a leg off which ``the ball just explodes when he kicks it right. It sounds like it was shot from a cannon. No amount of wind affects it.''
With division games in New York and Philadelphia, that kind of leg strength could be a major advantage.
``He's going to be evaluated,'' Rodriguez adds. ``Yes, the incumbent has to screw up and the competition has to be better. What's interesting is that Scott and Sean can both do that.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Virginian-Pilot file
Eddie Murray, fifth all-time in scoring with 1,473 points, has not
missed an extra point attempt since 1988. by CNB