PITTSBURGH — If Jeff Reed really is on his way out of Pittsburgh, he’s going out kicking and screaming.

Or at least complaining.

Reed, who missed a 26-yard field goal in Sunday night’s

39-26 loss to New England, took aim at fans, the media and the condition of the turf at Heinz Field during a postgame interview that went on for

51/2 minutes before a Steelers staff member cut it off.

Reed is 15 for 22 on field-goal attempts this season, and ESPN.com reported Monday that the Steelers are contemplating cutting him.

They certainly should be.

Reed has been a distraction off the field in the past. His legal issues – he said the NFL ordered him to undergo an evaluation after he was cited for beating up a paper towel dispenser in Westmoreland County and for public intoxication on separate occasions in 2009 – have been relatively minor, but still problematic. His unhappiness with his contract has also been easily overlooked, as long as he performed on the field.

But he’s no longer doing that.

He entered the season as one the most accurate kickers in NFL history, having hit 83.3 percent of his kicks. He’s struggled so much this season that after making an extra point on Sunday night he got a mock cheer from Steelers fans at Heinz Field.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” he said of the reaction, which he claimed not to have heard. “If you’re not perfect in this city, you’re going to hear about it.

“It’s been like that for nine years. Why would they stop now? Like I said, there’s 95 percent of the fans that have got my back totally. It’s the 5 percent you always hear. They’re right by the kicking net. They were bashing me, but that’s life, man. You’ve got to move on. The worst thing for me to do would be to fight back at them.”

Reed, who was wearing a

T-shirt that with the words “haters gonna hate” on it, went on to say that Steelers fans heckle him, punter Daniel Sepulveda and long snapper Greg Warren on a regular basis.

“It started before the game even started,” Reed said. “Like I said, it’s like they buy tickets just to bash me, Dan and Greg. It’s more me because points come off of my foot.”

Reed apparently knew about the hecklers long before he joined the Steelers, saying that he heard former kicker Kris Brown take abuse from fans on TV broadcasts nearly a decade ago.

“If you’re not perfect, you’re going to hear about it. It’s other players, too,” Reed said. “It’s not just me. I talk about myself, because I don’t want to comment on other people’s business.

“But, like I said, it’s the 5 percent you always hear. The ones that truly have your back, that’s the 95 percent in my eyes.”

Newspaper and radio reporters are apparently part of the offending 5 percent.

“It doesn’t help that everything you read or hear on the radio is negative, too, and that comes from you guys,” Reed told reporters. “People calling in, they have the right to say what they want to say, and I don’t listen to the stuff. I just come across it sometimes and happen to catch my name, and so I want to read about it.”

H won’t want to read this: Reed is becoming more of a headache than he’s worth, especially if he continues to go public with his dislike for the turf at Heinz Field, which the Steelers ownership group has insisted should be natural.

“I’m not one to make excuses,” Reed said Sunday before blasting the playing surface. “I’ll take credit for the miss. It was a great snap, great hold, great protection. It’s kind of hard when you plant your foot and the whole piece of ground moves where the ball is under the holder. I almost missed the whole ball completely.”

He didn’t stop there.

“If you’ve played any kind of sports in your life, you realize that what we play on is not very good turf. It happens.”

And he said he’s complained to team management about the surface “for nine years. It doesn’t matter. I’ve done well here, recently in the past. My numbers don’t look great this year, but I’m capable of making every kick. I can’t help when the turf moves when you miss a kick.

“Normally I’m super depressed and down in the dumps when I miss a kick, whether its 22 or 50 (yards). But I’m not like that today, because I know it’s just meant to be.”

His return to Pittsburgh next season might not be meant to be. Reed has been designated the team’s franchise player for this season and signed a one-year contract for $2.8 million.

It’s hard to imagine him coming back – even though he said he’d like to, no matter what problems he has with some of the fans and the stadium.

“I love this team, I love this town,” Reed said. “I do stuff away from this team that has a lot to do with Pittsburgh. Like I said, the last nine years of my life have been focused around Pittsburgh, and I don’t want it to change. But I do think that there needs to be a consideration of field arrangements.”

There also needs to be a serious consideration of whether or not Reed makes still makes sense for the Steelers.



Eric Knopsnyder is the sports editor of The Tribune-Democrat.