Seahawks Kicker’s Golf Game Helps in Victory Over Cardinals

Seattle kicker Jason Myers’s time on the links helped set him up mentally to bounce back from a big miss and make a 52-yard game winner.

Seattle kicker Jason Myers (5) celebrates after making a 52-yard field goal that defeated the Cardinals as time expired at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sept. 25, 2025. Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo

When Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers missed a late 53-yard field goal on Sept. 25, head coach Mike Macdonald didn’t worry.

Macdonald had seen Myers come through in another equally taxing activity on a mental level after a miss. The Seahawks needed that confidence as Myers bounced back to kick a 52-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Arizona Cardinals 23–20 in Glendale, Arizona.

“I just saw him coming in here. … I’ve seen this guy play golf; he’s a stud,” Macdonald told reporters afterward regarding Myers. “He [has] ice in his veins. We knew he was going to make that kick. … I think the whole sideline knew.”

Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who set up the game-winning kick, also talked up Myers’s golf game. Darnold joined the Seahawks before the season as a free agent.

“Yeah. That’s ‘J-My,’” Darnold told reporters afterward. “I don’t mean to keep bringing up golf, but I golfed with him this offseason, and that’s his mentality in golf too.

“He‘ll hit a bad shot, and he’ll come back and stripe the next one. He has that mentality. He gets pretty frustrated when he doesn’t make them, but then he comes back and it’s almost automatic when you know that he’s going to go in and knock the next one down,” Darnold added.

Myers, who had missed once all season, also had confidence with the game on the line. Arizona had just tied Seattle 20–20 on a 7-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Murray to running back Emari Demercado with 28 seconds left.

“I felt a little bit more responsibility for that one,” Myers told reporters via Seahawks.com about the game-winning kick. “I love to come through for the guys, so not being able to, but getting an opportunity, definitely felt like a little bit more that I needed to come through for the guys.”

Myers, an undrafted free agent out of Marist University in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in 2013, has made two Pro Bowls in his NFL career. He has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets previously before his second stint with the Seahawks, which began in 2019.

Kicking from almost the same distance after a miss was about “staying true to my routine,” Myers said. He has a career mark of 45-67 from beyond 50 yards on field goals, which includes a career long of 61 yards that he hit in 2020.

“Didn’t try changing anything. Just stay to my routine. That’s what I prepare for all offseason and all week. Just trusting it and then just letting it rip,” Myers said.

Myers had six game-winning kicks going into the 2025 season. He has an overall success rate of 85 percent, having made 265 of his 310 field goal attempts in his career of 158 games in 11 seasons.

Darnold made sure to give Myers a shot at game-winner No. 7 on the final drive with a 22-yard pass to wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba along the sideline with 23 seconds left. Running back Zach Charbonnet then rushed four yards with 18 seconds left to step up Myers’s spot to tee it off.

“I had no doubt we were going to go down there and score, honestly,” Smith-Njigba told reporters afterward. “And them making a huge penalty that got us on the 40-yard line, I knew that we just needed one play, a couple plays, and Jason’s going to go down there and seal the deal for us, if not score.”

“Sam made a perfect throw,” Smith-Njigba added. “Back shoulder ball, the corner was on top of me, so he just placed it perfectly, and it was an easy grab.”

Darnold went 18-26 for 242 yards and a touchdown, plus a 24-yard run. Smith-Njigba caught four passes for 79 yards to lead the Seahawks receivers.

“Sam’s playing out of his mind right now,” Macdonald said. “You see him and he’s such a cool customer. He is a guy on a mission. He’s just so determined for us to be a great team and a great offense. He’s doing a great job leading us.”