David Akers

In a job without guarantees, David Akers has become the closest thing to a sure thing for the Eagles. He has become a Pro Bowl kicker who has made 31 of 36 field goals this season, including the postseason. He has scored 137 points. When he has been called upon to make big kicks, he has made them. He has been nearly automatic. But kickers hate the word automatic. Nothing is automatic, nothing is guaranteed. Even for Akers. "Every game for me is crucial because I have to prove that I'm worthy of keeping a job," Akers said.

The San Francisco 49ers said Wednesday they have released six-time Pro Bowl kicker David Akers after two seasons filled with record-setting highs and crushing lows. In two seasons with the 49ers, Akers connected on 73 of 94 field-goal attempts and all 78 extra points. In 2011, he set NFL records with 44 field goals made and 52 attempted. And last season, he tied the league mark for the longest field goal, scoring from 63 yards in the opener at Green Bay. But Akers, the Eagles' placekicker from 1999 to 2010, made just 29 of 44 attempts last season.

It's been great to see our favorite ex-Eagle, kicker David Akers, mostly shine for the San Francisco 49ers, and we were looking forward to seeing him in the playoffs. Whoops - cue the vagaries of the kicker's life. The Niners signed former Ravens and Redskins toe Billy Cundiff Tuesday to compete with Akers, who has been struggling. San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday he might keep both kickers on the roster and open up a competition. The 38-year-old Akers is just 29 for 42 this season.

A QUARANTINE in Germany is a funny place to end a football career. And believe it, David Akers and football were finished. In his only NFL game in 1998, playing for the Redskins, he watched Seattle's Steve Broussard take his opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Lining up field goals from 9 yards out instead of 8, like he did in college, he had missed both attempts from 48 and 49 yards. His only onside kick gave the Seahawks great field position. "One of the old veteran guys said, 'They called him the Babe Ruth of kicking, and it looks like he struck out,' " Akers recalled recently.

David Akers spent his 34th birthday Tuesday visiting Children's Hospital as part of his Kicks for Kids Foundation, enjoying some rare free time with his family, and feeling pretty certain he wouldn't have to answer questions from the media suggesting his future as the Eagles' kicker was in jeopardy. "I've tried this year not to pay attention to what's in the media," Akers said the other day. "So the only way I knew people were saying things was by the questions I was being asked.

NEW ORLEANS - David Akers once set an NFL record for consecutive field goals made in the postseason. But the 49ers kicker's troubles in the playoffs over the last several years, compounded by his inefficiency this season, have placed the spotlight directly on the onetime Eagle as he prepares to play in his second Super Bowl. Akers' struggles this season have been well-documented. He has missed 15 of his last 38 field-goal attempts dating from Week 3, and clanked a routine 38-yarder off the left upright in the NFC championship game.

The Eagles' leading scorer pulled on his boots one foot at a time yesterday, methodically, slowly and generally undisturbed in a far corner of the visiting locker room. "I just try to stay as consistent as possible," kicker David Akers said, having just piled up exactly half of the team's points in a 36-3 win over Dallas. "Nobody's perfect. I miss kicks. " Not lately, he doesn't. Akers set a career record with five field goals yesterday, and added three extra points. He has now made 16 of 18 field-goal attempts this season, with the only misses being from 49 yards and 44 yards.

The Eagles' search for a second kicker ended in their own backyard. Rich Maston, a product of Camden Catholic High School and Temple University, agreed to a two-year contract yesterday. Maston, 27, has gone to camp with the Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins, but has been out of football the last two years. He will compete with David Akers for the Eagles' kicking job. The two kickers have worked out together in Florida in the past. Eagles coach Andy Reid has said he wanted to bring in a legitimate competitor for Akers, not just an "extra leg" to share practice time.

Eagles kicker David Akers has said that it would take something almost unimaginable to keep him out of a game. As insurance in case his hamstring injury does so Sunday, when the Eagles play the Oakland Raiders, the team signed kicker Todd France to the practice squad yesterday. The Eagles released wide receiver Michael Gasperson to make room for France. France, 25, a product of the University of Toledo and NFL Europe, was beaten out by Matt Bryant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' kicking job this summer.

There just aren't many NFL stadiums anymore where you can see silos and freshly cultivated fields beyond the grandstands. By the time the Eagles' buses rolled into the University of Illinois' horseshoe-shaped relic called Memorial Stadium early yesterday morning, David Akers could see snowflakes through rain-streaked windows. Those nearby farms, he noticed, were shrouded in mist. "I knew the field wouldn't be too great, either," the Pro Bowl placekicker said. "But that didn't bother me at all. " Akers' focus and consistency are always considerable assets for the Eagles and coach Andy Reid.

AMANDA KESSEL scored the winner early in the third period and the United States beat Canada, 3-2, in the gold-medal game of the women's world hockey championship on Tuesday in Ottawa. The sister of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel moved in on a two-on-one and roofed a shot over goalie Shannon Szabados at 3:09 of the third. Brianna Decker and Megan Bozek had the other goals for the U.S. team, which got two assists from Kendall Coyne . Courtney Birchard and Caroline Ouellette scored for Canada.

Top-ranked Serena Williams ended a long and successful day for the Williams family as she and sister Venus both won twice Friday in Charleston, S.C., to reach the Family Circle Cup semifinals and set up their first sibling showdown since 2009. Serena won her 13th straight match by defeating sixth-seeded Lucie Safarova , 6-4, 6-1. Earlier, she topped two-time NCAA doubles champ Mallory Burdette in a third-round match moved due to Thursday's 71/2-hour rain delay. Venus also had double duty, rallying past Varvara Lepchenko in three sets before ousting 18-year-old Madison Keys later on Billie Jean King Court.

The San Francisco 49ers said Wednesday they have released six-time Pro Bowl kicker David Akers after two seasons filled with record-setting highs and crushing lows. In two seasons with the 49ers, Akers connected on 73 of 94 field-goal attempts and all 78 extra points. In 2011, he set NFL records with 44 field goals made and 52 attempted. And last season, he tied the league mark for the longest field goal, scoring from 63 yards in the opener at Green Bay. But Akers, the Eagles' placekicker from 1999 to 2010, made just 29 of 44 attempts last season.

SIX-TIME Pro Bowl kicker David Akers was released by the San Francisco 49ers Wednesday after two seasons filled with record-breaking highs and incredible lows. General manager Trent Baalke thanked Akers in a statement, calling the kicker a "true professional who represented himself and this organization with class. " Akers appeared in all 32 regular-season games and five playoff contests the past two seasons. He connected on 73 of 94 field-goal attempts and all 78 extra points.

NEW ORLEANS - The last Super Bowl that David Akers played in, his evening ended in desperation, Akers blooping an onside kick that was easily recovered by the Patriots' Christian Fauria late on a breezy night in Jacksonville, after the Eagles took way too long to score a crucial touchdown. Akers, one of five San Francisco 49ers who has played in a Super Bowl, professes not to remember much of that. He certainly doesn't want to chew it over. Asked about that game ending in controversy, he smiles.

NEW ORLEANS - David Akers once set an NFL record for consecutive field goals made in the postseason. But the 49ers kicker's troubles in the playoffs over the last several years, compounded by his inefficiency this season, have placed the spotlight directly on the onetime Eagle as he prepares to play in his second Super Bowl. Akers' struggles this season have been well-documented. He has missed 15 of his last 38 field-goal attempts dating from Week 3, and clanked a routine 38-yarder off the left upright in the NFC championship game.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Coach Jim Harbaugh isn't the only one endorsing David Akers as the 49ers' kicker for Super Bowl XLVII, even if Harbaugh's vote counts most. All three kickers from the 49ers' five Super Bowl-winning teams are pledging support, too, for the former Eagle. "No way they should make a change. Dave's a great kicker," Ray Wersching said earlier this week by phone from his San Carlos home. "If I had an opportunity to talk to him, I'd tell him he's not just good but great.

While Lee Evans awaits another chance in the NFL, he'll be rooting for the Baltimore Ravens in Sunday's AFC championship rematch with New England. The wide receiver who couldn't hold onto a pass in the end zone a year ago - which likely would have sent the Ravens into the Super Bowl - has no regrets. Except, maybe, that he's not part of the Ravens this time around. Evans said in an e-mail that he "wishes he made the touchdown catch, but is thankful for the overall journey. You play the game to win and celebrate the joy with your teammates.

It's been great to see our favorite ex-Eagle, kicker David Akers, mostly shine for the San Francisco 49ers, and we were looking forward to seeing him in the playoffs. Whoops - cue the vagaries of the kicker's life. The Niners signed former Ravens and Redskins toe Billy Cundiff Tuesday to compete with Akers, who has been struggling. San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday he might keep both kickers on the roster and open up a competition. The 38-year-old Akers is just 29 for 42 this season.

THE 49ERS SIGNED kicker Billy Cundiff on Tuesday to compete with struggling veteran David Akers. "He's thrilled with the opportunity to be in a position to help the team in any way he can this postseason," said Cundiff's agent, Paul Sheehy. "It's a great opportunity, with a great organization. " The team announced the move a day after coach Jim Harbaugh said that the NFC West champion Niners (11-4-1) - off this week as the NFC's No. 2 seed - planned to try out kickers because of Akers' prolonged funk.