Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Cam Little has done it again.
The Raiders scored a touchdown with a little over 30 seconds to play, but Daniel Carlson missed the extra point. Jacksonville took over at their own 30-yard line. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed a deep pass to wide receiver Parker Washington near midfield, then spiked the ball quickly. The kick was high over the crossbar and would have been good from even further.
Little said he felt no pressure being in a two-minute drill, having been in several already this season. With the expectation that he would be sent out one way or another, Little said he kept himself away from the rest of the team to collect himself and loosen his leg up, like he usually does.
Little watched the angle of the kick, but his holder knew it was good before he did.
“I kicked it straight,” he said. “It kind of just stayed left-middle the whole time. It didn’t really draw much. My ball naturally draws a little bit if I hit it on the screws. Once Logan threw his arms up, like, he’s done that twice now, I kind of had an idea that it was going in. [When] you go so far back, that ball takes a long time to get there, and so you don’t want to ever celebrate too early before the kick goes in. And so once I saw it clear the crossbar, I was obviously that’s when I knew it was good. It was tough for me to tell. A lot of guys are taller than me, too.”
The kick almost didn’t matter. The two teams traded field goals in the third quarter, and Las Vegas led 9-6. In the fourth quarter, both teams scored touchdowns to make the score 16-13; then again to make it 23-20. With 16 seconds left in regulation, Little kicked a field goal that sent the game to overtime. The Jaguars scored first to take a 30-29 lead, but the Raiders responded with 16 seconds left in the extra period. The Raiders went for 2 to win the game, but QB Geno Smith’s pass was batted down at the line of scrimmage.
Long field goals have become commonplace this season, and Little joked that someone may break the record as soon as next week.
“Me, Logan, and [long snapper] Ross [Matiscik] were just joking that a guy around the league probably broke it before the game even ended,” he said. “I harp on this all the time when someone asks about 70: there’s so many good kickers around this league and there’s so many guys that are very, very capable of hitting that kick and just all comes [down to] a matter of, when you get the opportunity, seizing it. So I don’t doubt that someone will probably break that record at some point.”
