Kicked Out, He Was a Fair Catch : Charger Opponent: Traded from San Diego to Washington, Ralf Mojsiejenko leads the National Football League in punting average.
Ralf Mojsiejenko isn’t gloating. He is too nice a guy to do that.
Still, the punter who was no longer wanted by the Chargers can’t help but feel a special sense of satisfaction as he awaits his first meeting with his former team as a member of the Washington Redskins. He will go into Sunday’s game in Washington with the best punting average in the National Football League.
While the Chargers have tried two punters in a vain effort to find a replacement, Mojsiejenko, 26, has averaged 44.3 yards on 53 punts, including a 74-yarder that ranks second only to the 91-yard bomb by Philadelphia quarterback Randall Cunningham last Sunday.
Lewis Colbert, who beat Mojsiejenko for the Charger job, was such a dismal failure that he was released after two games. He averaged 33.3 on eight punts. Hank Ilesic then was imported from Canada and has made some spectacular kicks but has been inconsistent. He ranks 13th in the league with a 41-yard average.
The Chargers raised many an eyebrow by trading Mojsiejenko to the Redskins on Aug. 29 for a seventh-round draft choice. He had averaged a career-high 44.1 yards last year and gone to the Pro Bowl the year before, but the Chargers’ new coaching regime wasn’t happy with him.
The reason public consumption was that Dan Henning, who had succeeded Al Saunders as head coach, and Joe Madden, who had taken over as special teams coach after Wayne Sevier went to the Redskins, preferred a different type of punter.
Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, said after trading Mojsiejenko that Colbert’s style--angling the ball away from the returner as opposed to kicking it as far as possible--would fit in better with the Chargers’ scheme.
“We feel that Colbert will give our defense a chance to operate many times inside our opponent’s 15-yard line,” Ortmayer said.
Henning added, “We’re looking for position and coverage. Not that we didn’t think the other guy (Mojsiejenko) could do it, but Colbert is more accurate.”
As it turned out, Colbert’s punts were neither long nor accurate. And since Ilesic arrived, he has put the ball inside the 20 only nine times--an AFC low--compared to 17 for Mojsiejenko on eight fewer punts.
But whatever the importance of the accuracy factor, it was only part of the story behind Mojsiejenko’s departure. He passed up the Chargers’ minicamp, saying that Ortmayer had reneged on a promise to renegotiate his contract.
Not surprisingly, both Ortmayer and Henning denied that this had anything to do with their decision to trade Mojsiejenko.
When Ortmayer was asked about its impact, he said, “Absolutely zero.”
When the same question was put to Henning, he said, “There is no hassle. He has a contract.”
Mojsiejenko didn’t buy those denials, and he still doesn’t. He talked about the reasons behind the trade in a telephone interview.
“A lot of it stems from the dispute, or disagreement, with Mr. Ortmayer,” Mojsiejenko said. “I held out at minicamp, and that offended him. When I came into the regular camp, I still thought we’d get something done, but he didn’t go for it.
“That was disappointing, since he had pushed for it in ‘87, when I had my Pro Bowl year. He mentioned that he wanted to redo my contract, and I was happy.
“Then he never did anything. It was like giving me candy and taking it back.”
Mojsiejenko said his agent, Steve Weinberg, had attempted for months before minicamp to strike a deal with Ortmayer but had gotten nowhere.
“Steve tried weekly,” Mojsiejenko said. “But Mr. Ortmayer didn’t return phone calls, and he didn’t return letters. We were talking to nobody.
“We felt that we were being treated unjustly, and that’s why I skipped minicamp. We felt that they were ignoring me, so I ignored them for a week. By that time, they weren’t sure I was going to show up at the regular camp.
“But I did show up, and when they told me I was traded, I was shocked. In spite of the contract business, I didn’t expect anything at all. It took me a couple of weeks to adjust to the change.”
As for management’s criticism of his type of punting, Mojsiejenko said he had argued the point without success.
“They wanted me to angle the ball to the sidelines, like Lewis (Colbert) was doing,” he said. “I told them that doesn’t work in the NFL anymore. I told them sometimes you do that and you don’t even get it inside the 20.
“The fans want long punts, not punts that go to the sidelines all the time. You can’t have good stats that way. If I’d had a 38-yard gross average and a 34 net, I wouldn’t be here. I would have ended up doing what Lewis Colbert ended up doing and gotten cut.”
Mojsiejenko pointed out that punting for distance creates the possibility of big plays that can turn a game around.
“I’ve had at least three plays this year that wound up with big net yardage,” he said.
Sevier, a San Diego State alumnus who had coached the Redskins’ special teams from 1981 through 1986 before spending two seasons with the Chargers, is strongly in favor of Mojsiejenko’s style.
“I was happy with Mojo in San Diego,” Sevier said. “He’ll line drive a little more than go for hang time, but that’s OK with me. In most cases, I prefer driving the ball to getting it higher. I like the fact that he might get you a 70-yarder and back up your opponent.
“He has kicked over the top (past the return men) three times this year, and all three return men ran it out of the end zone. I never had that happen before.”
Sevier did admit that Mojsiejenko could improve his position punting.
“It’s not one of his strong points,” Sevier said. “He has a ways to go, but he’s improving every year. His ratio of 20s (punting inside the 20) to touchbacks gets better every year.
“He was very consistent in San Diego. He drives the ball once in a while and allows the opposition to get into a return, but that doesn’t happen often. And there’s always the chance that he’ll get off a real long one.
“I think it’s unfair to criticize him. In clutch situations he comes up with some great punts, and that’s really what you’re looking for.”
In returning to the Redskins for a second term, Sevier, 48, has been reunited with Coach Joe Gibbs, who was a teammate at San Diego State in 1961 and 1962. Sevier also had two hitches on the Chargers’ staff, the first having been in 1979 and 1980.
Sevier’s wife is Gibbs’ secretary.
“I grew up in San Diego,” Sevier said. “My four kids and six grandkids have grown up there. I miss it. I thought I had a chance to be the head coach (after Saunders was fired), but Joe (Gibbs) talked to me right after they made the change. He allowed me to pursue the opportunity to be the head coach, but said if I didn’t get it, I could go back to the Redskins.”
The play of the Chargers’ special teams has deteriorated since Madden moved into Sevier’s old job, but Sevier had kind words for Madden.
“Madden is a good coach,” Sevier said. “I went against him head-to-head for five years when he was with the Detroit Lions, and it was always a great matchup.
“What happens is, your special teams can play great for 16 plays, and if they have one bad one, that’s all anybody remembers.”
Sevier pointed out that Madden needed time for his system to work.
“It took me two years,” Sevier said. “I look for the Chargers’ special teams to be great. They scare me to death. The kickoff that Anthony Miller ran back a few weeks ago was a thing of beauty. He’s scary.”
Sevier’s input helped the Redskins decide to deal for Mojsiejenko.
“I thought if he was ever available, I’d like to get him,” Sevier said. “I never thought that would come up, and when it did, I was excited. We didn’t really have a punter, and we were looking.”
Mojsiejenko considers rejoining Sevier a big break.
“If I was going to be traded, this was the best scenario,” Mojsiejenko said. “I know his system and he knows what to expect of me.”
Another trip to the Pro Bowl is a strong possibility, but Mojsiejenko said he wasn’t counting on it. He noted that three other NFC punters were also having big seasons--Sean Landeta of the New York Giants, Rich Camarillo of the Phoenix Cardinals and Jim Arnold of the Lions.
Turning his thoughts to his four-year stay with the Chargers, Mojsiejenko said, “If you see Mr. Ortmayer, tell him Mojo says ‘Hi.’ “Give my best to the fans out there. I didn’t have a chance to thank them for all their support.”