More to struggle of Eagles' Akers than missed kicks

KAPOLEI, Hawaii - During his 12 seasons as the Eagles' placekicker, David Akers has been a frequent, if not weekly, visitor to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and he has learned one truth. As a parent, the last place you ever want to be with your child is the oncology floor.

The cancer-stricken children there are like "warriors," Akers said. The parents, stronger than he could ever be.

Yet on the Friday before the Eagles faced Green Bay in the playoffs three weeks ago, Akers was at Children's with his 6-year-old daughter, Halley, snaking through a course of tests that led them, unexpectedly, to the oncology floor. The doctors told Akers that a cyst in his daughter's left ovary had to be removed. They did not say the word, but Akers knew the possibility: cancer.

"It was just kind of a smack of reality," Akers said.

There has been a lot of speculation over the last several weeks about what was going on with Akers in the Eagles' 21-16 playoff lost to the Packers, when he uncharacteristically missed two field goals, one from 41 yards and the other from 34. Was he preoccupied with his finances, which took a major hit two years ago when he was defrauded of most of his savings by a Texas investment firm? Was he irritated by what he perceived to be a lowball contract-extension offer from the Eagles? Did he simply misjudge the wind inside the stadium, or was the footing too choppy?

One of the most reliable kickers of the last decade, Akers did not miss from those distances. For him to leave six points on the field and the Eagles to lose by five was more than he, or fans, could bear.

Since that night, the 36-year-old Akers has kept his personal plight within his family, not using it as an excuse for his poor performance. But it is an explanation, and while football is just a game, Halley is real life, and Akers cannot deny that his daughter was on his mind that night. He was stunned and scared and worried.

The next day, as the Eagles players cleaned out their lockers and Andy Reid tried to explain another season's abrupt end, Akers and his wife, Erika, were back at Children's Hospital with Halley, leaning on their faith and their family and thinking nothing about football.

'The stuff that gets you'