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John Kasay has been kicking around the NFL for nearly two decades, so he should have plenty of memories to share. Ask him about them, though, and he won't bite.
“You don't do anybody any favors by going out there and being nostalgic and sentimental,” said Kasay, the Carolina Panthers' kicker since 1995 and the franchise's last remaining original player. “Guys are fighting and scrapping out here every day to make the team and play – to be successful. So, you've just got to make your kicks. If you don't, you're hurting a lot of people.”
That kind of clinical outlook belies the pleasant guy that Kasay actually is, although it might also be serving him well as he enters his 18th season in the league and 14th with the Panthers.
That's because Kasay, 39, has competition for one part of his job this season, with Rhys Lloyd trying to make the team as a kickoff specialist.
As a field-goal kicker, Kasay remains one of the NFL's best ever: He's 13th in league history with 1,504 points and his 358 field goals are 10th all-time. Last season, he made 24-of-28 field goals and didn't miss in 27 extra-point attempts. He hasn't missed an extra-point try since 2005.
But Kasay struggled with his kickoffs last season, when he had only two land in the end zone and six go out-of-bounds – most in the league. That cost the Panthers valuable field position.
So they brought in the strong-legged Lloyd, who has a solid chance of making the team if coach John Fox wants to use a roster spot for a second kicker.
Whatever, said Kasay.
“I don't make those decisions,” said Kasay.
“My job is to come out and kick. I'm preparing the same as I always have. So I'll just play. That's what I do.”
Kasay's been around so long, he and the New York Jets' Brett Favre are the only players from the 1991 draft still on NFL rosters. Taken in the fourth round by Seattle, Kasay spent four seasons with the Seahawks before joining Carolina as a free agent in 1995.
And although he might not talk about his memorable field goals, he remembers that first Panthers team with a special fondness.
“That was such a unique group of guys,” said Kasay of the team that won seven games, a record for an expansion franchise. “The city really embraced the players.”
Kasay had two game-winning field goals that season and he's been making clutch kicks ever since. He's been numbingly consistent: In 1997, for instance, the only time he missed inside 50 yards was when the attempt was blocked.
Although he had problems with those kickoffs last season, he made a 52-yard field goal as time expired to beat New Orleans, kicked four field goals against the Arizona Cardinals and hit a season-long 53-yarder against Seattle.
“The longer I do it, there are different ones that come to mind at different times,” said Kasay. “But there are also kicks that I think about that if I didn't make, I could be in a bad place. There could have been a kick in the second quarter of a certain game, where it didn't seem like a big kick. But the way it all ended up, we won because of that kick.”
And as reticent as Kasay is to look back, he's equally hesitant in talking about how much longer he'll play.
“This is a temporary job,” he said. “That's the reality of the NFL. Some people find that funny, with as long as I've been doing this. But if you look at it any differently than that, you'll find yourself terribly disappointed.”
Notes
Receiver
Muhsin Muhammad returned to practice for the first time since injuring his ribs Saturday against Philadelphia. Receiver
D.J. Hackett (toe), safety
Chris Harris (groin) and receiver
Ryne Robinson (knee) missed practice.
Fox said the offense is making the same sort of progress it was at this point last year, but that was all washed away when quarterback
Jake Delhomme was hurt in the third game. “People play without their starting quarterback for 131/2 weeks, that's going to make a difference,” Fox said. “Hopefully we won't have to do that again.”
