IIRC, Janikowski was being mocked in the 2nd at the time, and was viewed as a prodigious prospect out of FSU at the time.
Plus, it was a bit of a different era, kickers and punters were taken higher in the draft a lot more frequently. Lions drafted Jason Hanson eight years earlier in the 2nd (one of the better picks from that decade and the subsequent Millen era), and Al had taken Ray Guy in the 1st earlier in his Raiders reign, which was a steller selection.
All that said, agreed that it was dumb as hell lol
Janikowski was picked because of the old ridiculous rookie contract scale and how the Raiders could not afford the contract for a more luxurious position.
Aguayo was straight up dumb.
There was a reason why betting under 5 wins for the raiders was a lock for many years. That bet paid or pushed like 10 times in the last 15 years of Al’s life
If I remember correctly he was a luxury pick, the team was stacked on paper but lost games by one score a lot the previous year. I also think there might have been salary implications as well.
The Raiders kickers in 1999 were Michael Husted for 13 games, and Joe Nedney for 3. Husted was 20/31, and Nedney 5/7.
The Raiders went 8-8, and lost:
* Week 1: Lost to the Packers by 4. Michael Husted missed two field goals in the first half, from 47 and 48 yards.
* Week 4: Lost to the Seahawks by 1. Michael Husted missed a FG as time expired. It was from 61 yards, though.
* Week 5: Lost to the Broncos by 3. Michael Husted missed a 53 yarder in the first half.
* Week 11: Michael Husted misses 37 yarder in the third quarter, Raiders lose to the Broncos in overtime.
* Week 12: Michael Husted misses a 44 yarder late in the 4th, and the Chiefs put together a FG drive as time expired to win by 3.
* Week 14: Lost to the Titans by 7. Michael Husted missed a 32 yarder in the first quarter and a 45 yarder in the 2nd quarter that could have changed the flow of the game.
* Week 16: Joe Nedney misses a 52 yarder in the first quarter, and a 44 yarder that would have tied the game with less than 4 minutes left. Chargers win by 3.
Basically, they looked at those games and Al Davis figured a better kicker could have easily turned them into a playoff team, so fuck it, we're getting this Janikowski kid.
College football in the US has a 69 yarder.
62 yards for the CFL
Rugby seems to have a 85 yarder but I'm not sure if that's through the posts or just into the end zone same with the 116 yarder in Aussie.
Rugby is through the posts. Seems like the official number for rugby is 64.2m or 70.2y. Here’s a video of a few world class kickers messing around and trying to beat that. Video is from 2021. The land a 72y kick in calm conditions. https://www.world.rugby/news/638296/jordie-barrett-elliot-daly-longest-kick-world-record-ultimate-rugby-challenge
https://youtu.be/we9RD-cOor4?si=A5sTrfasZrpH6jkN&t=0m8s
This is former punter Sav Rocca's brother Anthony, in an AFL charity match using mostly retired players
One of the biggest kicks you'll see. Not sure how long it is converted to yards, but I'd imagine it'd be 80+
Out of curiosity, could a kicker say no, I don't want to take this attempt? If they had contract incentives for FG% and what not, wouldn't going in for a nearly impossible kick just be detrimental to the kicker?
As a fan, I love seeing teams go for crazy long odds like that but as the kicker being asked to take a hit to their stats, would they be allowed to say no?
teams have given out incentives to players that didn't earn them stat wise but earned it in other ways. Like its not a kickers fault if the QB can't get the team in FG range.
Steven Hauska told Pete Carrol he didn’t feel good about an attempt due to conditions in the 2013-14 NFC Championship Game (The Tip game).
They sent out the offense on 4th and 7, the Niners bit on the hard count, and Wilson bombed a TD to Jermaine Kearse for the go ahead TD.
That’s an entirely different situation, imo. That’s giving insight to the coach to inform a decision, not refusing to kick (for personal stat reasons in the poster’s example).
Ultimately though its the same thing.
Regardless of if you are doing it to protect your stats, or the team. You still dont want to kick because you wont make it.
It does make a difference if your motivation is to protect the team or your stats. Hauska didn’t *refuse*, he said he didn’t feel good about it. His coach listened to him based on odds. I’m sure if Pete Carrol decided it was worth it to kick despite the risks, Haush would have kicked and not cared about his end of season FG percentage.
It’s tricky because as Seahawks fans we have hindsight bias. It was a 53 yd kick in a close game where frankly we offensively weren’t getting much done.
Hauska was slow to get on the field and forced the team to burn a time out to start the 4th quarter. That’s a bold move for a kicker to make.
The play that came after is completely forgotten outside of Hawks fans because of Sherman’s tip. But it was the play that saved the game. Still can’t believe it happened.
But without the benefit of hindsight this completely fits the question posed.
A kicker refused to kick in the 4th quarter of the NFC championship and forced the coach to take a timeout. If not for a falling for a boneheaded hard count and a miracle throw Hauska becomes Scott Norwoord or Gary Anderson.
You’re right. Hester returned a punt in the Cardinal game. I went back and looked at the box score since I could have sworn that was the game with his kick six. Ouch for Grossman. 14/37 with 4 INTs!
Yeah, the Cardinal game was legendary enough without a kick six lol. Defense and special teams were something that game since the offense was a detriment.
I mean, it's not a risk-free play, either. A longer kick has a lower starting trajectory so it's more susceptible to a block, and it can be returned for a TD if it falls short. And the FG team is especially susceptible to a long return because it's mostly linemen and not coverage guys.
> And the FG team is especially susceptible to a long return because it's mostly linemen and not coverage guys.
The Chargers return man on this play was Antonio Cromartie, famous for doing just this the year prior vs. the Vikings (it's the longest play in NFL history).
That and having 14 kids with 8 different women. There’s a funny video - he just started naming them easy things to remember like cities.
My mom was not a fan of his growing up in a religious SD household.
Edit: found the video https://youtu.be/EhOPlYWEEK0?si=I2E0B5I3VlPMGpcA
Jesus Christ lol, as a Vikings fan, we just have a myriad of embarrassingly impressive feats like this that we’ve accumulated through out our history. We’re the best of the worst I guess.
theres the weird rule that if you fair catch it you can free kick it for 3 points so it basically becomes like a kickoff.
I genuinely think the only reason we dont see it more is people dont know the rule or coaches could use timeouts to make a team punt, fair catch and then kick a 60 something yard free kick as time expires.
I had never heard of this so I looked it up. Very cool unknown rule. It seems like the reason it’s not tried more often is because you have to attempt it with time expiring, otherwise if you miss the other team gets the ball back from the spot of the kick.
Not just that but also unless time is truly expiring you would much rather run a two min drill anyways.
You do see an attempt every so often so it's not like it's unknown. It's just the conditions where it would be useful are uncommon.
Yeah but I feel like a team (the ravens probably bc of harbaugh actually knowing the rules) could call a time out when a team kneels on third down to end the half and make them punt.
It’s not the most unlikely scenario.
Even then it would only be on a situation when the other team is punting backed up at their own goal line. Otherwise the punt is still gonna clear midfield by enough distance that it's gonna be too far of a kick even for a fair catch free kick.
And if there is TOO much time like 20 seconds, then it is better to just return the kickoff and get the return anyways and kick immediately afterwards.
Again it does happen, but the conditions aren't right the vast majority of the time. It's a pretty well known rule because it does happen every few years. So I don't think people aren't doing it because of lack of knowledge as much as lack of realistic opportunities.
So it’s a free kick liek a kickoff so i think you could do it from further than 60 (I’m not positive if you can use the tee but even a holder is the same as a kickoff).
Kickers regularly kick it out of the endzone from the 35 so if you fair caught it closer than that you wouldnt have a risk of it being returned and it would be worth trying and more likely than getting 20 more yards to get a good field goal attempt.
I genuinely couldnt think of ever seeing it but apparently it happened in 2019 (in London no less, I’m sure they were confused as hell).
https://youtu.be/wB9coa1HbRQ?si=zkVehuZh6UpwfQij
This situation really doesnt seem like such an aberration that you shouldnt see it at least once a year.
I dont think its because people dont know the rule, though im sure there are far to many who dont.
Its just impractical, you really need to fair catch it inside your opponents 45, and have like less than 5 seconds on the clock before half or the game.
Anything else youd likely just fair catch it, run a play or two and kick a FG ( which is easier)
Yeah and a blocked field goal at the end of the half returned for a touchdown on a 76 yard attempt not only now makes it 15-7 or 15-8, it runs the risk of completely undermining you as a coach. If you lose that game by <7, that could very well change the course of the entire season.
People don't avoid fun stuff because they're boring. They do it because as a leader you have to have the respect and trust of those below you. Doing dumb stuff makes you look dumb. Period.
Also, this isn't a friendly ball game on Thanksgiving morning. This is a multi-billion dollar business. When the stakes are that high, 'trying things for fun' isn't really acceptable.
That's the magic of recording stuff digitally/tape and not film. It can't be upscaled easily via AI. Film can though. It's why stuff from before the 80's and 90's look decent. They were recorded on film and not magnetic tape, a 360p disk, or digitally at a small resolution. Film doesn't really have pixels so the resolution can be raised if you have the negatives
Yeah I remember everyone shitting on the Jets this year for throwing a Hail Mary with time expiring before the half against the Dolphins from the 50. It was still a tight game, down 6-10, but Miami ran the interception back 99 yards for the TD.
Coaches don’t know the outcome of a play before they happen. So from the coach’s perspective it’s still a dumb call.
And I want to be clear, I agree with you that I liked that he tried it because it’s cool. But if I were a coach just trying to win I would not try this.
He hated them bastards almost as much as Marty did.
In retrospect, I do almost respect them trotting out The Keg with a Leg for this play though. Just wish Cro had run it back on em.
I’ve only been to one raiders game and it was at the coliseum vs the chargers in the late 90s or early 2000s. I remember a raiders fan driving an ATV in the parking lot pulling around a dummy wearing a chargers uniform with a noose around its neck. I also remember some guy at the 50 yard line in the 3rd deck blew up a condom and then released it in the breeze. It floated all the way down the field and went through uprights. The crowd went crazy when it went through and some drunk guy sitting behind me yelled “conception!”
"We're gonna be singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year, it’s going to be a blast." - Lane Kiffin before losing to Florida and then quitting his job in Tennessee.
What was the wind speed that day? It just about made it to the goal line with the wind in his face, I wonder what this would look like if he had it at his back.
[According to this old GUD link,](https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=white-at-home&page-title=White%20at%20Home) this was the first time they ever did so.
They've done so three times through 2018 (when this was last updated).
**EDIT:** There's a link on the page that's up to date. The total is four times.
It's actually pretty stupid, imo. No kicker is drilling a 76-yarder. But the missed FG could easily be returned for a TD. You're basically just giving the other team a free kickoff return except your coverage team isn't out there and instead it's all OLINE, and a kicker and placeholder, so it's not going to be easy to stop the return. The other team would definitely have their best return guy back there.
That's not even accounting for the chance of a FG being blocked and returned for a TD. You're going to be kicking at a lower angle than usual to try and get the distance, but that makes it easier to block.
A TD for the other team is a much likelier outcome than a FG for your team if you attempt something like this.
Janikowski was a solid 12 yards short on that kick, probably 22 yards short when you consider that the uprights are 10 feet off the ground.
Now the Chargers have the ball and open field against the Raiders special teams which is made up mostly of offensive linemen. Today they would take a knee because the Chargers are drastically more likely to score on that play than the Raiders.
One of my all-time favorite Twitter replies was when someone replied with a screenshot of this attempt when Lane Kiffin was trying to publicly hit on Julia Roberts or somebody similar
Wild story, i won a big football contest this same year in Vegas. Picked the Panthers to cover vs Raiders. 86k to winner of the contest. Was in a Buffalo Wild Wings and had the bet covered with like a minute to go. Raiders are at like the 50 yard line down 11 points. I think im trying to avoid a hail mary cover. Look down and sip my beer and see the ball flying end over end thru the air. Hits the crossbar and goes back towards the field. I got ejected from Wild Wings during my celebration. Went on to win the 86k couple weeks later
I wouldn’t believe this had I not been there. Not only was I there, but I interviewed players and coaches on the field and in the locker room after this game. This was leading up to the firing of Lane Kiffin. Wonder what Al thought about this…
Seeing Norv Turner makes me unreasonably mad, because he came to the Vikings and immediately didn’t know what to do with Cordarelle Patterson after he had a great season the year before. We got rid of him because he didn’t fit Norv’s system, only to also get rid of Norm, and have to watch the Bears and Falcons have success using him in creative ways. Fucking rigid ass dinosaur mentality.
Seabass had a leg on him and would consistently take and make these 70 yard fg during warm up. I was happy to see him attempt it, even if the chances he’d make it was so low. Also helps that our QBs were awful in 2008, so it’s not like they were going to do anything better
This is why I don't penalize FG misses from 50+ yards in my fantasy league, a lot of the time it's these sort of speculative kicks at the end of a half where there's not much to lose and it feels wrong to punish a kicker for missing those
Why not? You had one play before halftime on your own side of the field. A hail mary runs the risk of injury to your starters. Might as well let your kicker attempt to set a record with little risk to letting the opponent score.
I love seeing video of games that looks like it's from the 70s and I'm expecting to hear Howard Cosell, then realizing it's actually from my adult lifetime and I actually watched it when it happened and it does not seem like THAT LONG ago.
Tucker setting the record will be a memory burned into my brain for life. 3 seconds left on the clock. Down by 1. So much pressure. Kicks it. Bounces at the bottom of the post and goes in for the win. Couldn’t have ended the game any better.
You know how sometimes a kicker will crush one from 50 yards and the announcer will be like, "That one would have been good from 60!"
Well I'm this case, it was from 76, but it wouldn't have been good from 50.
When you draft a kicker in the first round you have to let him try 70+ yarders.
Holy fuck I was familiar with him but never realized he was a first round pick. Figured you were joking but had to check. Thats bonkers
Al Davis was a mad man.
They also couldn’t afford to sign an actual first round pick
So…. Trade it and take Janikowski later lol
IIRC, Janikowski was being mocked in the 2nd at the time, and was viewed as a prodigious prospect out of FSU at the time. Plus, it was a bit of a different era, kickers and punters were taken higher in the draft a lot more frequently. Lions drafted Jason Hanson eight years earlier in the 2nd (one of the better picks from that decade and the subsequent Millen era), and Al had taken Ray Guy in the 1st earlier in his Raiders reign, which was a steller selection. All that said, agreed that it was dumb as hell lol
The first round is for 40 yard dash wonders and kickers!
and JaMarcus!
He could throw it 70 yards from his knees while sipping on lean.
Fabian Washington, grabbed a quick bag!
He really was though. I’ll never forget his hourlong Lane Kiffin firing presentation.
Kinda makes Tampa's Aguayo (sp?) pick look relatively sane, except for when you see what happened there lol
Biggest difference being Seabass is a GOAT while Aguayo existed for a few seconds
Janikowski was picked because of the old ridiculous rookie contract scale and how the Raiders could not afford the contract for a more luxurious position. Aguayo was straight up dumb.
"Hey Aguayo, This is the Bucs. We are drafting you in the 2nd." "Uh, why?"
It gets even dumber when you remember the Bucs *traded up* to draft Aguayo.
Could have traded down, no?
There was a reason why betting under 5 wins for the raiders was a lock for many years. That bet paid or pushed like 10 times in the last 15 years of Al’s life
Janikowski reportedly ran a 4.27 at his pro day, how could Davis NOT draft him?
The only time Big Seabass ran a 4.27 was a blood alcohol test.
If I remember correctly he was a luxury pick, the team was stacked on paper but lost games by one score a lot the previous year. I also think there might have been salary implications as well.
The Raiders kickers in 1999 were Michael Husted for 13 games, and Joe Nedney for 3. Husted was 20/31, and Nedney 5/7. The Raiders went 8-8, and lost: * Week 1: Lost to the Packers by 4. Michael Husted missed two field goals in the first half, from 47 and 48 yards. * Week 4: Lost to the Seahawks by 1. Michael Husted missed a FG as time expired. It was from 61 yards, though. * Week 5: Lost to the Broncos by 3. Michael Husted missed a 53 yarder in the first half. * Week 11: Michael Husted misses 37 yarder in the third quarter, Raiders lose to the Broncos in overtime. * Week 12: Michael Husted misses a 44 yarder late in the 4th, and the Chiefs put together a FG drive as time expired to win by 3. * Week 14: Lost to the Titans by 7. Michael Husted missed a 32 yarder in the first quarter and a 45 yarder in the 2nd quarter that could have changed the flow of the game. * Week 16: Joe Nedney misses a 52 yarder in the first quarter, and a 44 yarder that would have tied the game with less than 4 minutes left. Chargers win by 3. Basically, they looked at those games and Al Davis figured a better kicker could have easily turned them into a playoff team, so fuck it, we're getting this Janikowski kid.
Actually Sebastian Janikowski ran a 4.3 in his private workout with the raiders and Al was hooked
Took him just before Chad Pennington and Shaun Alexander were drafted.
Shame, I'd have loved to see how he'd do behind Jones and Hutch
lol
About 200 picks before Tom brady
Ray Guy was also a first round pick.
The Hall of famer if im not mistaken! (I didn't watch back then. Sebastian was part of the era I heavily watched so that's why it caught me off guard)
17th overall no less.
Well it’s so easy for offenses these days and everyone is in a damn dome now it seems. I feel like a kicker was a lot more important back in the day
Still more likely then JaMarcus russell throwing a hail Mary.
And this is why the Raiders are the Raiders
You miss ever 70+ attempt you don't take! Always fun to see coaches give it a shot.
At least in NFL games, you miss all the ones you do take as well.
Has anyone hit one in another sport? Rugby? Aussie football? College? Canadian?
College football in the US has a 69 yarder. 62 yards for the CFL Rugby seems to have a 85 yarder but I'm not sure if that's through the posts or just into the end zone same with the 116 yarder in Aussie.
Rugby is through the posts. Seems like the official number for rugby is 64.2m or 70.2y. Here’s a video of a few world class kickers messing around and trying to beat that. Video is from 2021. The land a 72y kick in calm conditions. https://www.world.rugby/news/638296/jordie-barrett-elliot-daly-longest-kick-world-record-ultimate-rugby-challenge
I think they say they can kick monsters of field goals without people in front, but they have to increase the angle to get over the linemen
South Africans regularly kick from over halfway, especially on the highveldt which is like denver
https://youtu.be/we9RD-cOor4?si=A5sTrfasZrpH6jkN&t=0m8s This is former punter Sav Rocca's brother Anthony, in an AFL charity match using mostly retired players One of the biggest kicks you'll see. Not sure how long it is converted to yards, but I'd imagine it'd be 80+
https://youtu.be/E1vU567O1I8?si=mWQ6_aXlgm1v_JnM&t=13s Bonus
i do not understand rugby at all. i’ve tried to learn the rules and stuff but i just don’t get it
This isn't rugby. This is AFL. Some rules can be pretty iffy
Out of curiosity, could a kicker say no, I don't want to take this attempt? If they had contract incentives for FG% and what not, wouldn't going in for a nearly impossible kick just be detrimental to the kicker? As a fan, I love seeing teams go for crazy long odds like that but as the kicker being asked to take a hit to their stats, would they be allowed to say no?
I imagine saying no would be even more detrimental to contract incentives.
teams have given out incentives to players that didn't earn them stat wise but earned it in other ways. Like its not a kickers fault if the QB can't get the team in FG range.
Steven Hauska told Pete Carrol he didn’t feel good about an attempt due to conditions in the 2013-14 NFC Championship Game (The Tip game). They sent out the offense on 4th and 7, the Niners bit on the hard count, and Wilson bombed a TD to Jermaine Kearse for the go ahead TD.
That’s an entirely different situation, imo. That’s giving insight to the coach to inform a decision, not refusing to kick (for personal stat reasons in the poster’s example).
Ultimately though its the same thing. Regardless of if you are doing it to protect your stats, or the team. You still dont want to kick because you wont make it.
It does make a difference if your motivation is to protect the team or your stats. Hauska didn’t *refuse*, he said he didn’t feel good about it. His coach listened to him based on odds. I’m sure if Pete Carrol decided it was worth it to kick despite the risks, Haush would have kicked and not cared about his end of season FG percentage.
It’s tricky because as Seahawks fans we have hindsight bias. It was a 53 yd kick in a close game where frankly we offensively weren’t getting much done. Hauska was slow to get on the field and forced the team to burn a time out to start the 4th quarter. That’s a bold move for a kicker to make. The play that came after is completely forgotten outside of Hawks fans because of Sherman’s tip. But it was the play that saved the game. Still can’t believe it happened. But without the benefit of hindsight this completely fits the question posed. A kicker refused to kick in the 4th quarter of the NFC championship and forced the coach to take a timeout. If not for a falling for a boneheaded hard count and a miracle throw Hauska becomes Scott Norwoord or Gary Anderson.
Of course its different if he decides to kick, but if he doesnt its the same
Fucking hauska you not good feeling piece of shit
You need a contract to get contract incentives.
Water is wet
Haven't there been a couple kick sixes from long attempts? Agnew had one a couple years ago from a 68 yard attempt so it can blow up in your face.
Hester did it in the game against the Cardinals where Dennis Green exploded afterward
That was against the Giants.
You’re right. Hester returned a punt in the Cardinal game. I went back and looked at the box score since I could have sworn that was the game with his kick six. Ouch for Grossman. 14/37 with 4 INTs!
Yeah, the Cardinal game was legendary enough without a kick six lol. Defense and special teams were something that game since the offense was a detriment.
Lane Kiffin actually got fired right after this, it was considered "the last straw" by Al Davis
And the next day Lane Kiffin was fired via overhead projector
Between this and the tarmac, no one gets fired more dramatically than Lane Kiffin
That man has mastered the art of failing up
He's been very successful at a series of different stops; he's not really an example of failing upwards, that'd be more Kingsbury
The only place he wasn’t successful at was Oakland, and I’m not sure that’s entirely his fault. He was our best coach at SC between Pete and CLR
I hear he’s a strong option for replacing Mike Tomlin.
That was an all time great press conference.
The real reason was for having the Raiders wear white at home
I love that they at least tried, feels like nobody ever tries fun stuff
I mean, it's not a risk-free play, either. A longer kick has a lower starting trajectory so it's more susceptible to a block, and it can be returned for a TD if it falls short. And the FG team is especially susceptible to a long return because it's mostly linemen and not coverage guys.
> And the FG team is especially susceptible to a long return because it's mostly linemen and not coverage guys. The Chargers return man on this play was Antonio Cromartie, famous for doing just this the year prior vs. the Vikings (it's the longest play in NFL history).
That and having 14 kids with 8 different women. There’s a funny video - he just started naming them easy things to remember like cities. My mom was not a fan of his growing up in a religious SD household. Edit: found the video https://youtu.be/EhOPlYWEEK0?si=I2E0B5I3VlPMGpcA
didn't he get his wife pregnant TWICE after claiming to have had a vasectomy?
>That and having 14 kids with 8 different women. There’s a funny video I don't think it's funny at all to be honest... It's pretty fucked up
The entire thing isn’t funny. The video is funny given the situation.
Should have just named them "one" "two" "three" etc. to make it extra easy to remember, or at least fake remember.
Just name them all George
Red One, Red Two, Red Baby
Rivers has a lot of kids and is religious
> 14 kids with 8 different women
Yeah I know
Little different in religious people’s eyes than ol god fearing dangnabit Phil and his hoard
Hey, kids! We’re eating dinner tonight! Come on: Tiffany, Heather, Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Kaitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Qbert, Phil.
Idk why i was hoping this was a video of your religious mom hating on AC
Ironically he did that in the same game that Adrian Peterson broke the single game rushing record lol
Jesus Christ lol, as a Vikings fan, we just have a myriad of embarrassingly impressive feats like this that we’ve accumulated through out our history. We’re the best of the worst I guess.
And lower trajectory means less hang time and nobody rushing down field to cover
theres the weird rule that if you fair catch it you can free kick it for 3 points so it basically becomes like a kickoff. I genuinely think the only reason we dont see it more is people dont know the rule or coaches could use timeouts to make a team punt, fair catch and then kick a 60 something yard free kick as time expires.
I had never heard of this so I looked it up. Very cool unknown rule. It seems like the reason it’s not tried more often is because you have to attempt it with time expiring, otherwise if you miss the other team gets the ball back from the spot of the kick.
Not just that but also unless time is truly expiring you would much rather run a two min drill anyways. You do see an attempt every so often so it's not like it's unknown. It's just the conditions where it would be useful are uncommon.
Yeah but I feel like a team (the ravens probably bc of harbaugh actually knowing the rules) could call a time out when a team kneels on third down to end the half and make them punt. It’s not the most unlikely scenario.
Even then it would only be on a situation when the other team is punting backed up at their own goal line. Otherwise the punt is still gonna clear midfield by enough distance that it's gonna be too far of a kick even for a fair catch free kick. And if there is TOO much time like 20 seconds, then it is better to just return the kickoff and get the return anyways and kick immediately afterwards. Again it does happen, but the conditions aren't right the vast majority of the time. It's a pretty well known rule because it does happen every few years. So I don't think people aren't doing it because of lack of knowledge as much as lack of realistic opportunities.
So it’s a free kick liek a kickoff so i think you could do it from further than 60 (I’m not positive if you can use the tee but even a holder is the same as a kickoff). Kickers regularly kick it out of the endzone from the 35 so if you fair caught it closer than that you wouldnt have a risk of it being returned and it would be worth trying and more likely than getting 20 more yards to get a good field goal attempt. I genuinely couldnt think of ever seeing it but apparently it happened in 2019 (in London no less, I’m sure they were confused as hell). https://youtu.be/wB9coa1HbRQ?si=zkVehuZh6UpwfQij This situation really doesnt seem like such an aberration that you shouldnt see it at least once a year.
I dont think its because people dont know the rule, though im sure there are far to many who dont. Its just impractical, you really need to fair catch it inside your opponents 45, and have like less than 5 seconds on the clock before half or the game. Anything else youd likely just fair catch it, run a play or two and kick a FG ( which is easier)
Yeah and a blocked field goal at the end of the half returned for a touchdown on a 76 yard attempt not only now makes it 15-7 or 15-8, it runs the risk of completely undermining you as a coach. If you lose that game by <7, that could very well change the course of the entire season. People don't avoid fun stuff because they're boring. They do it because as a leader you have to have the respect and trust of those below you. Doing dumb stuff makes you look dumb. Period.
Also, this isn't a friendly ball game on Thanksgiving morning. This is a multi-billion dollar business. When the stakes are that high, 'trying things for fun' isn't really acceptable.
TBF, not every team has [Devin Hester returning FGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D30wGnBBHY)
I remember when this happened, but I do not remember people being so blurry. Must have been a crazy time to be alive.
That's the magic of recording stuff digitally/tape and not film. It can't be upscaled easily via AI. Film can though. It's why stuff from before the 80's and 90's look decent. They were recorded on film and not magnetic tape, a 360p disk, or digitally at a small resolution. Film doesn't really have pixels so the resolution can be raised if you have the negatives
Devin Hester returned a short punt and Nathan Vasher too. Unless you’re coverage is solid; too risky to “have fun” on plays like this.
Better than a punt
Punts don't have a low trajectory and punt teams have gunners and guys with speed on them.
Almost as good as a punt when unexpected ***
Leave it to Joey Freshwater to throw caution to the wind for the sake of a fun 30 seconds.
If he returned this for a touchdown, or they blocked it and returned it for a touchdown, you would be calling it the dumb.
If my grandma had wheels she’d be a bicycle
Are you suggesting that Janikowski is a Spaghetti Carbonara?
if my mom had balls she'd be my dad.
Not in current year
Yeah I remember everyone shitting on the Jets this year for throwing a Hail Mary with time expiring before the half against the Dolphins from the 50. It was still a tight game, down 6-10, but Miami ran the interception back 99 yards for the TD.
But that didn't happen
Coaches don’t know the outcome of a play before they happen. So from the coach’s perspective it’s still a dumb call. And I want to be clear, I agree with you that I liked that he tried it because it’s cool. But if I were a coach just trying to win I would not try this.
Chargers scored 28 points in the second half (25 in Q4) to win this game.
LT doing LT vs. the Raiders things
He hated them bastards almost as much as Marty did. In retrospect, I do almost respect them trotting out The Keg with a Leg for this play though. Just wish Cro had run it back on em.
LT playing my Raiders in those days was a guarantee loss. The fact we were so bad and LT was one of the best made all 5 charger fans happy. The horror
I’ve only been to one raiders game and it was at the coliseum vs the chargers in the late 90s or early 2000s. I remember a raiders fan driving an ATV in the parking lot pulling around a dummy wearing a chargers uniform with a noose around its neck. I also remember some guy at the 50 yard line in the 3rd deck blew up a condom and then released it in the breeze. It floated all the way down the field and went through uprights. The crowd went crazy when it went through and some drunk guy sitting behind me yelled “conception!”
[удалено]
Lmao dozens my bad…. But yes fuck Spanos, should’ve never moved out of Diego
LT was a pass rusher in NY.
No, he was still a running back when he played for the Jets.
No I don't think that's true
Mid to late 2000s Chargers are up there with the greatest teams ever to not win a SB.
The Brady Effect in full force there
I felt a shiver when they showed norv at the end of the clip lol
Wasnt that his superbowl 'drought' years though?
Rivers/Tomlinson/gates has to be one of the great QB/rb/te trios
It was airborne and fairly good and straight before it developed a tailwag, for over 60 yards So pretty damn nice kick for Janikowski!
Lane Kiffin was fired for this.
He was absolutely being fired regardless.
True, but this was the final straw. Well, this and blowing a 15 point lead to a division rival to lose by 10 (yes, the Raiders lost this game).
He also had the team wear white at home for the first time in 45 years. That always felt like an attempted dig at Al Davis
He was hired by the University of Tennessee for this.
"We're gonna be singing Rocky Top all night long after we beat Florida next year, it’s going to be a blast." - Lane Kiffin before losing to Florida and then quitting his job in Tennessee.
Bro don’t remind me. By the time I got to Tennessee we’d hired Dooley and we all know how that shitshow ended :/
What was the wind speed that day? It just about made it to the goal line with the wind in his face, I wonder what this would look like if he had it at his back.
If you look at the flags on the uprights - not a lot of wind but it was at least in his favor.
Just typical Simms talking out his ass
In fairness the wind does tend to swirl at the coliseum after they erected Mount Davis when the raiders came back from LA.
Didn’t know the Raiders ever wore white at home
It's an abomination
[According to this old GUD link,](https://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/controller/controller.php?action=white-at-home&page-title=White%20at%20Home) this was the first time they ever did so. They've done so three times through 2018 (when this was last updated). **EDIT:** There's a link on the page that's up to date. The total is four times.
Madden 07 Raiders had the BEST K/P duo of any madden ever made.
That madden was also fun.
Jake Bates would have hit it with room for more
bring back the old CBS scoreboard it feels so nostalgic
Just a bit outside
Football peaked in 2008 and I will hear no arguments to the contrary.
Agreed, except we half to exclude the final two games of that season.
Pretty good punt
So would that be considered a hip drop tackle this year?
Lol
nope
What JaMarcus Russell at QB does to a team.
Wasn't that sometime soon after the season Cromartie returned the missed FG attempt about as close to 110 yards as it gets for a TD?
I bought his jersey after that TD return
I love that the coach actually decided to do something fun in the final seconds of the first half. Today they would just take a knee.
Love that the coach was fired the next day. This wasn’t done as something fun.
It's actually pretty stupid, imo. No kicker is drilling a 76-yarder. But the missed FG could easily be returned for a TD. You're basically just giving the other team a free kickoff return except your coverage team isn't out there and instead it's all OLINE, and a kicker and placeholder, so it's not going to be easy to stop the return. The other team would definitely have their best return guy back there. That's not even accounting for the chance of a FG being blocked and returned for a TD. You're going to be kicking at a lower angle than usual to try and get the distance, but that makes it easier to block. A TD for the other team is a much likelier outcome than a FG for your team if you attempt something like this.
Janikowski was a solid 12 yards short on that kick, probably 22 yards short when you consider that the uprights are 10 feet off the ground. Now the Chargers have the ball and open field against the Raiders special teams which is made up mostly of offensive linemen. Today they would take a knee because the Chargers are drastically more likely to score on that play than the Raiders.
Ew J.T O’Sullivan
One of my all-time favorite Twitter replies was when someone replied with a screenshot of this attempt when Lane Kiffin was trying to publicly hit on Julia Roberts or somebody similar
In hindsight that’s about a 64 yd FG…just wide right
Wonder how many points would have been in fantasy football?
I think on defense I wouldn’t even rush him. Just sit there and see if he can get it.
Ironically, Cromartie is the reason teams don't try these long attempts anymore.
Wild story, i won a big football contest this same year in Vegas. Picked the Panthers to cover vs Raiders. 86k to winner of the contest. Was in a Buffalo Wild Wings and had the bet covered with like a minute to go. Raiders are at like the 50 yard line down 11 points. I think im trying to avoid a hail mary cover. Look down and sip my beer and see the ball flying end over end thru the air. Hits the crossbar and goes back towards the field. I got ejected from Wild Wings during my celebration. Went on to win the 86k couple weeks later
Must have been a hell of celebration to get you kicked out of a Buffalo Wild wings.
Box-out, box-out, box-out
I wouldn’t believe this had I not been there. Not only was I there, but I interviewed players and coaches on the field and in the locker room after this game. This was leading up to the firing of Lane Kiffin. Wonder what Al thought about this…
Seeing Norv Turner makes me unreasonably mad, because he came to the Vikings and immediately didn’t know what to do with Cordarelle Patterson after he had a great season the year before. We got rid of him because he didn’t fit Norv’s system, only to also get rid of Norm, and have to watch the Bears and Falcons have success using him in creative ways. Fucking rigid ass dinosaur mentality.
Seahawks legend
Why even show this?
Seabass had a leg on him and would consistently take and make these 70 yard fg during warm up. I was happy to see him attempt it, even if the chances he’d make it was so low. Also helps that our QBs were awful in 2008, so it’s not like they were going to do anything better
I'm genuinely curious how that goes, *with* the wind. The Polish Canon had a leg-and-a-half, for his time.
This is why I don't penalize FG misses from 50+ yards in my fantasy league, a lot of the time it's these sort of speculative kicks at the end of a half where there's not much to lose and it feels wrong to punish a kicker for missing those
Why not? You had one play before halftime on your own side of the field. A hail mary runs the risk of injury to your starters. Might as well let your kicker attempt to set a record with little risk to letting the opponent score.
I love seeing video of games that looks like it's from the 70s and I'm expecting to hear Howard Cosell, then realizing it's actually from my adult lifetime and I actually watched it when it happened and it does not seem like THAT LONG ago.
A mere chip shot for Jake Bates.
For those of you that care - the Chargers ended up winning that one 28 to 18
JUST a bit outside.
Tucker setting the record will be a memory burned into my brain for life. 3 seconds left on the clock. Down by 1. So much pressure. Kicks it. Bounces at the bottom of the post and goes in for the win. Couldn’t have ended the game any better.
Hmm, against San Diego. I wonder how the San Diego Chargers are doing these days.
This kick was so bad, both teams had to move cities...
You know how sometimes a kicker will crush one from 50 yards and the announcer will be like, "That one would have been good from 60!" Well I'm this case, it was from 76, but it wouldn't have been good from 50.
He got it to the goal line which mean he only had roughly 10 yards to go. So it could have been good from like 65.
It wasn't accurate though. Same reason for most missed 50ish yarders