Oakland - -- Sebastian Janikowski beat his usual hasty postgame retreat
from the locker room, so he gave no immediate public utterances on the
kick that just missed etching his name in the NFL record book.
On a windless afternoon, the Raiders' kicker pounded a 64-yard
field-goal try just before halftime. It had enough distance to make it
from 70 yards but the ball banged off the right upright, about 15 feet
up, and bounced back.
It was inches wide of breaking the NFL record of 63 yards that the
Saints' Tom Dempsey set in 1970 and the Broncos' Jason Elam tied in 1998.
The miss proved to be pivotal. It led to a six-point swing in a game
decided by seven points. But considering the majesty of Janikowski's
boot and how close it came to being historic, seemingly few questioned
coach Lane Kiffin's decision not to punt on 4th-and-9 at the Houston 46
with 1:15 left in the first half.
"It wasn't going to be a distance issue," Kiffin said. "I thought it
would be a spark for us going into the locker room."
"I have no doubt in my mind that was a great call," Raiders linebacker
Kirk Morrison said.
"Most coaches don't have that much confidence in their kicker to go for
- what was it, 64?" linebacker Thomas Howard said. "He boots them like
that in practice all day. Boom! He could do up to 70."
However, after the miss, the Texans took possession at the spot of the
kick, the Oakland 46. It took them only two plays, both passes from Sage
Rosenfels to Kevin Walter, to get in field-goal position. Kris Brown
nailed a 40-yarder with 10 seconds left. Instead of 14-3, the score was
17-0, a hole from which the Raiders couldn't quite extricate themselves.
"That was a big situation for us," Rosenfels said. "We basically got an
easy three points there. If they had punted the ball, we probably would
have just run out the clock. We would probably have been back on our
10-yard line."
Like everybody else, he marveled at the kick. "The leg was not the
issue, obviously," he said. "That thing hit about three-quarters of the
way up the upright. He just missed. We were really fortunate there."
Beyond the sheer length of the Dempsey/Elam record, what makes it so
difficult to break is that it takes a special set of circumstances: a
mighty leg, plus having the ball at the opponent's 46, or a yard or two
back, with time running out.
"Certainly people know he's got the leg to do it," said Brown, the
Houston kicker. "It has to be the right circumstance, the right time -
end of the half or end of the game."
Elam's came at the end of a half in a game in Denver. Dempsey's came
with two seconds left in a game at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. It
gave the Saints a 19-17 victory. Dempsey, who was born without a right
foot (or a right hand), wore a modified half-shoe with a flattened and
enlarged toe area that looked like a hammer.
A photograph of his follow-through appeared in a New Orleans newspaper.
He was given a full shoe by a touch-up artist who, unaware of Dempsey's
handicap, thought there was something wrong with the photo.
A year ago, Tampa Bay's Matt Bryant nailed a 62-yard field goal - the
third-longest in NFL history - for a 23-21 last-second victory over the
Eagles. Steve Cox (for Cleveland in 1984) and Morten Andersen (for New
Orleans in 1991) have booted 60-yarders.
The Steelers' Jeff Reed tried a 65-yarder a month ago, but it was well
short. Like Elam's record kick, it took place at Denver's mile-high
altitude, where kicks generally fly higher and longer than anywhere else
in the NFL.
"To be honest, I'm surprised that record hasn't fallen yet," Elam said
after Reed's miss. "There are a lot of guys in this league (who) have
the ability to do that and more."
One of them is Janikowski, who leads the NFL in touchbacks with 18 and
booted a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter Sunday, making him
10-for-14 this year. But with 1:30 left, his attempt at an onside kick
was easily grabbed by Houston's Walter, dousing Oakland's flickering hopes.
In his eight-year pro career, Janikowski twice has made 55-yarders, the
club record. A week ago Sunday, his kicks of 50, 43 and 54 provided all
of Oakland's scoring in a 13-9 loss at Tennessee.
All of this year's misses have come from 46 yards or more. Three were
from at least 50 - one of which was blocked by the Lions. The biggest
miss, of course, was an overtime 52-yarder that bounced off the top of
the left upright in Denver, following a successful kick that was erased
by a Mike Shanahan timeout. The Broncos won 23-20.
Sunday's defeat wasn't as tight, but Janikowski's miss added to the
Raiders' anguish.
"Unfortunately it didn't go in, but that wasn't the breaking point,
missing that field goal," offensive tackle Barry Sims said. "It was just
one of those days."
Longest kicks
