Redskins' Suisham on tenuous footing

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By Bob Cohn

Shaun Suisham's 48-yard field goal against Jacksonville last week was an insignificant footnote to an insignificant preseason game, at least concerning the score. Get it over with, make the final cuts and let's start the real season.

For Suisham, however, the implications were highly significant. If the kick did not allow him to keep his job with the Washington Redskins, it gave him, as Joe Theismann noted on the telecast, "a leg up" in his competition with Dave Rayner. (Theismann quickly apologized for the pun.)

Both had few chances. Suisham made a 20-yarder and missed a 52-yard attempt before his kick against the Jaguars. Rayner made his only attempt, from 25 yards. Their kickoffs were close, as were their practice kicks.

"I would say the field goal last week was pretty important," Suisham said the other day. "I'm glad I had an opportunity to make it."

Now he has an opportunity to establish longevity with a team that lately hasn't had much at the position. If he ends a fourth straight season as the Redskins' kicker, it would be the longest streak since Chip Lohmiller kicked from 1988 to 1994.

For the better part of two decades, the Redskins knew who their kicker would be. Mark Moseley, the only kicker to be named NFL MVP, held the job from 1974 to 1985. After a few years came Lohmiller, who twice led the league in field goals.

Since then, the Redskins have held more auditions than "American Idol." They used six kickers in the five seasons after the departure of Lohmiller, who signed with New Orleans in 1995. Since 2000, the team has used 12 kickers - a list that includes Ola Kimrin and James Tuthill, Kris Heppner and Jose Cortez. Ethan Albright, the long snapper since 2001, said he cannot remember them all.

"It was a nightmare," he said of the constant turnover.

Ever since Suisham made eight of nine field goals to win the job from an injured John Hall and replacement Nick Novak in 2006, the turnover among kickers has calmed down (although Hunter Smith is the fourth punter in three years), at least for now.

But who knows what the season will bring?