With time winding down and everything on the line, more often than not the game doesn’t come down to the star quarterback or the 1,000-yard rusher or even that gargantuan nose tackle that sometimes finds his way into goal-line packages like Mike Ditka and the Bears used to do with William “The Fridge” Perry.
More often than not, it all comes down to the kicker.
That was never more evident than it was last week when not only did the Baltimore Ravens eek out a 29-26 win over the Chargers thanks to a last-second field goal from Justin Tucker, but the Indian River High School football team edged Delmar 21-20 in similar fashion when kicker Andrew White tacked on an extra point after a George Martin touchdown had tied the game with less than a minute to go.
While to some people the point after may seem like just a formality, or even a given, its importance showed further in Friday night’s match up considering that the Wildcats had been leading by six instead of seven because of a botched attempt, allowing the Indians to take the lead with a successful one.
And it happens all the time. Legendary NFL kicker Morten Anderson recorded 35 game winning field goals during his career. Adam Vinatieri had 30. And I’m sure Ravens fans remember every single one of Matt Stover’s 17 game-winners, especially in 2000 when the Pro-Bowl kicker accounted for all of the offensive points after they failed to score a touchdown for five straight games. With Stover, however, they still managed to win a Super Bowl.
Now I might be a little partial towards kickers. When I was a kid my grandfather used to tell me about the time he kicked the first-ever televised field goal for the University of Vermont. But even though I’ve never seen the supposed footage, which even at the impressionable age of 7 caused me to have some doubts, after a week where the kickers rightfully got their due it still seemed like as good of a time as any to check out some of the most clutch kicks I’ve seen over the years (a list that still does not include the first-ever televised field goal for the University of Vermont).
Adam Vinatieri in the “Snow Bowl”
What would a list of clutch kicks be without the kicker dubbed “Mr. Clutch?” Anyone who’s ever read Tripple Overtime before knows that I’m not much for Patriot nicknames, but Vinatieri earned this one when he knocked through a 45-yarder against the Raiders in the infamous “Snow Bowl” back in 2001.
That Snow Bowl shot of course allowed Vinatieri to go on and kick a game-winning 48-yarder against the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, which for reasons unbeknownst to me, former Rams QB Kurt Warner claims to have his suspicions that Bill Belichick and those tricky Patriots may have cheated in.
Now I wonder what would have ever given him that idea?
Justin Tucker and the “Mile High Miracle”
Before Ravens’ kicker Justin Tucker was celebrating game-winning kicks with “Hotline Bling” dances (whatever that is) as a shoutout to Drake (whoever that is), this clutch kicker career was getting off the ground as an untested rookie, nailing a 47-yarder in double overtime game to eventually be known as the “Mile High Miracle” and send the Ravens to the AFC Championship game, where’d they’d eventually take on Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the rest of those tricky Patriots.
Auburn’s “Kick Six” to upset Alabama
As much as a successful field goal can impact a game, so can an unsuccessful one — even to the point of infamy.
Just ask the 2013 Alabama football team who lined for a 57-yard attempt with one second left on the clock in a 28-28 tie against rival Auburn, only to see Auburn’s Chris Davis return it 108-yards for a score to give the Tigers a 34-28 win when the kick fell short.
Good thing the SEC West title wasn’t on the line or anything.
Nigel “The Leg” Gruff goes all “Charlie Brown” on everyone
Gene Hackman and the rest of his Washington Sentinels team could count on their cigarette-smoking, loan-shark indebted, Brittish-accent-having kicker, Nigel “The Leg” Gruff in the movie “The Replacements.” Mostly however, they could count on him to screw up everything.
So when those loan sharks started eyeing Gruff before a 32-yard chip shot to potentially win the game, Sentinel quarterback Shane Falco (played by the incomparable Keanu Reeves) knew just what to do, pulling the ball on the hold and sending Gruff flying like Charlie Brown while he ran the ball in himself to give the Sentinels the win.
The only problem? There was a flag on the play. Also, the movie is fictional... just completely made up.
So there you have it. The best kicks and “not-kicks” that I can recall to the best of my ability, and all of them with significant video evidence to prove that they really happened. So the next time you go to make a kicker joke in your fantasy football league, just remember, he’ll probably be the guy you call in when you need a couple of points in the clutch.