The Big Board: Stover Shout-Out

The return address said ESPN. “Cool,” I thought. Nice way to start a day.

Anyway, it ended up being a gift from the venerable Sal Paolantonio, NFL correspondent for The Worldwide Leader. “Sal Pal” had recently written a book appropriately titles The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches and Moments in NFL History.

He even signed the inside cover for me. “Really cool,” I thought.

The reason he sent it to me began two weekends ago, when Paolantonio was at Ravens headquarters reporting live for the draft. Sal brought a few copies for members of our public relations staff, and we began chatting about some of his arguments in the book.

He makes some pretty bold claims - like the 1985 Bears were overrated for a Super Bowl winner, or that Terrell Owens is an overrated receiver - but there is one that particularly stuck out to me as I flipped through the 271 pages.

In the “specialists” section, Paolantonio calls Matt Stover the most underrated kicker in league history.

He cites a kicker’s ability to consistently convert outdoor attempts, and Stover is one of the best.

Over his 18-year kicking career, he’s played for the Browns and the Ravens, both with stadiums exposed to the elements.

“He’s never played a home game in a dome or even in a warm-weather city,” Paolantonio wrote. “Yet through 2006, he has made 85.1 percent of his outdoor field goals, the highest percentage in NFL history.”

Actually, Stover’s percentage is even more eye-opening, because he has kicked 483 outdoor field goals since he entered the league in 1991, making 411 of them. The next-best on Paolantonio’s list?

Mike Vandejagt, who is 101-of-119 (84.9 percent).

Stover is the only Ravens representative in Sal’s book, but there are still many other interesting stats, observations and stories that are definitely worth reading.