Aug. 16, 2006
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) --- Michael Koenen never stops moving, even during all that idle time he spends away from the field.
While talking to someone in the hallway of the Atlanta Falcons training complex, he yanks his left knee toward his chest, then does the same with his right, as if he's about to take off running at any moment.
When standing in line for a meal, he puts his right foot on the wrong side of his left, then shifts his weight to the other side, unconcerned by what those around him might think of his pretzel-like contortions.
"I've got to stay loose," he said.
This season especially. Koenen is hoping to pull off a triple play that hasn't been done in the NFL since 1981: One guy handling the field goals, punts and kickoffs.
The Falcons still are trying to determine if they want to go down this path, but Koenen made a compelling argument last week when he kicked four field goals in the first preseason game. There wasn't a chip shot in the bunch - they ranged from 40 to 50 yards - and the last one sailed through the uprights on the final play of the game, giving Atlanta a 26-23 victory over the New England Patriots.
"If someone says you can't do something, then you want to do it," Koenen said. "You want to have a challenge."
Koenen's quest is hardly the norm in the increasingly specialized NFL. One must go back 25 seasons to find a player who handled all three jobs on a regular basis: Frank Corral of the Los Angeles Rams, who had 89 punts, kicked off 70 times and attempted 26 field goals.
Since then, no team has called on one kicker to do triple duty except on an emergency basis or other unusual circumstances. Most have one player who takes care of field goals and kickoffs (plus extra points), another who does the punting.
Last season, the Falcons split up the duties a little differently, using the strong-legged Koenen on kickoffs and punts. However, on a couple of long field goal attempts that were out of regular kicker Todd Peterson's range, Koenen got the call.
He gave a tantalizing glimpse of his potential by making one of them, a 58-yarder that was the longest field goal of the year in the NFL.
The Falcons cut ties with Peterson after the season and began the search for a young kicker who wouldn't count too much against the salary camp. They've been through four of them so far, cutting two over the summer and two more in the early days of training camp. For now, they're down to Koenen, who's going into his second pro season, and little-known Tony Yelk, who's never kicked in a regular-season game.
Atlanta coach Jim Mora hasn't decided if cutting down to one kicker would be the right thing to do. On the one hand, it would provide even more salary cap relief and allow the Falcons to suit up an extra position player on Sundays. Then again, the team would be in quite a bind if the 24-year-old Koenen got hurt during a game.
"I don't know if it's a good problem to have or a bad problem to have," Mora said. "I don't even know if it's a problem. It's just an issue. I don't want to say he proved that he can do all three yet. I think you have to do it for more than one game, but he certainly looks like he has the potential to do it."
Koenen will get to keep the two roles he held as a rookie. He averaged 42.3 yards per punt, dropping 23 of them inside the 20-yard line. Kicking off, he forced 14 touchbacks and was the major reason Atlanta led the league by forcing opponents to start out with an average field position just beyond the 24-yard line.
While most of the attention has been on Koenen's kicking, Mora is equally impressed with his development as a punter.
"He has really expanded his repertoire," the coach said. "He can do that backward one and drop it in there. He can do a forward one and get some backspin. He's got those screamers out of bounds that we're doing that guys can't return."
Koenen did all three jobs during his college days, but the Falcons never seriously considered him for the place-kicking duties in 2005 because of questions about his accuracy. He made only 58 percent of his field goal attempts and missed seven extra points at Western Washington.
Koenen pointed out, however, that his numbers were skewed by a large number of attempts from 50 yards and beyond, plus he had to cope with the often-stormy conditions of the Pacific Northwest.
"The weather could be very bad," he recalled. "It was always raining. I would bet that 30 percent of my kicks were in the rain with the wind blowing hard."
The Falcons play at the Georgia Dome, so that wouldn't be a problem at home. Koenen will get a chance in the next two preseason games to show what he can do outdoors on natural grass; Atlanta plays at Green Bay this Saturday, followed by a trip to Tennessee.
If Koenen proves he can handle all three positions, the Falcons will have to come up with a routine that ensures he gets enough practice during the week but doesn't tire out his valuable right leg.
"One of the things with young guys like him is they want to go out and pound 150 balls a day," special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillas said. "He won't be able to do so much if he's doing all three. He's got to have a routine where he's doing enough to get the technical stuff right, but is also getting enough rest."
If nothing else, Koenen is doing his best to dispel the notion that kickers are merely auxiliary members of the team.
"He's carrying his weight by doing all three jobs," receiver Roddy White said. "He was just a kicker before. Now, he's a football player."
