Breeze Perspectives: Fear Feagles, all you NFL fans
The NFL has really outdone itself by pitting the New England Patriots against the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, a game that will be full of great storylines. Items of interest include Tom Brady’s injured ankle, Bill Belichick’s scandalous tactics and the Patriots’ relentless pursuit of their fourth league championship of the decade. The Patriots are also gunning for an unprecedented 19-0 season, while the Giants will try to pull an upset for the ages.
Giants fans could witness the emergence of Eli Manning as an elite quarterback, along with Michael Strahan’s sack-filled swan song. Sports channels, radio shows, magazines and newspapers are in the process of hyping and dissecting these angles, but one story transcends the buzz: the epic tale of Jeff Feagles.
Who is Jeff Feagles? Not many know, but the Giants punter has easily the most intriguing story of the playoffs. The name Feagles—it rhymes with “eagles,” a reminder of his majestically soaring punts—strikes fear in enemy return teams. That’s because returners rarely get the chance to touch the ball before it crashes out of bounds, often in crippling field position. When the return man actually catches the ball, he has to deal with Feagles himself.
A terror on special teams, Feagles has 11 career tackles. As impressive as that number is, Feagles would surely have more if ball-carriers didn’t do everything in their power to avoid his vicious collisions.
It has even been humorously theorized that Madden NFL’s “Hit Stick” button exists not because of Ray Lewis, but so Giants fans can eliminate the other team’s return game with a bone-crunching hit from Feagles.
At 6’1” and 215 pounds, Feagles is the league’s most physically intimidating punter, giving a psychological edge to his game. He towers over many players, and is larger than three-fourths of New England’s starting defensive backfield.
Despite his impressive size, Feagles doesn’t have the most powerful leg—he leaves that to less-skilled punters. His game is one of finesse. Instead of the cannon leg found on inaccurate punters, Feagles wields a cleated sniper rifle.
Widely regarded as the most dominant directional punter of his era, Feagles has tuned his game over the course of 20 seasons. That’s right, Feagles has survived the grueling NFL for two decades. He has seen all-time greats like Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith and Troy Aikman blossom, dominate, wither and retire, all while Feagles’s leg keeps booming.
Consider this: Feagles is the all-time leader in punts, punt yardage and coffin-corner punts, so named because of their deadly effect on opposing offenses. Feagles also holds the record for consecutive games, with 320 yards.
He is the Brett Favre of punters, except without the interceptions. Some may claim that his leg has faded with age, but in reality it has only gotten hungrier for a Super Bowl win. Feagles is no stranger to success—his punting led the Miami Hurricanes to a national title in 1987—but he has not yet obtained the ultimate goal in the NFL.
Unfortunately, Feagles has never tasted a Super Bowl appearance. Though the Giants appeared in Super Bowl XXXV, Feagles was not yet with the team and missed out on the team’s record 11 punts (an honor instead bestowed upon the inferior Brad Maynard).
Feagles doesn’t live in the past, though. Since joining the Giants, he has been instrumental in the development of Eli Manning’s talent by always punting the ball away after poor offensive showings. And now, he has the opportunity to slay the undefeated Patriots, the team that brought him into the league.
Feagles has a chance to become an immortal legend in the punting world. Forget Brady, forget Manning and forget the halftime show, because on Feb.3 all of America will be watching one leg.
Martin Steger is a sophomore SMAD major.
