EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — In Australia, Brad Wing explained recently, kickers are a big deal. They are not called kickers; they are called scorers. In Australian rules football, the nation’s most popular sport, the men who kick the ball typically play full-forward, a focal position, where they call the plays, direct the offense and become sort of like, well, a quarterback.
“Kids there don’t grow up wanting to be Peyton Manning or Eli Manning,” Wing said. “They grow up wanting to kick.”
This is to say that Wing, who was raised in Melbourne, is used to being the center of attention, and in his two years at Louisiana State and two years in the N.