Craziest part about Panthers trying 67-yard FG? It could have been good from 70.
Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule appears to have a lot of confidence in kicker Joey Slye’s leg strength.
Two few weeks ago in New Orleans, Rhule trotted Slye out to try a 65-yard attempt to take the Saints to overtime. The kick was on line but was just a yard short.
Sunday in Kansas City — after the Panthers emptied the playbook in an effort to beat the Super Bowl champs — Rhule sent Slye out to try a 67-yard field goal that would’ve won the game on the final play.
The kick had the distance to have been good from 70 yards, but the wind pushed it wide right. Kansas City won 33-31.
Panthers punter Joe Charlton said he’s seen Slye made a field goal from 70 yards before.
“He’s got a strong, strong leg,” Charlton said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
Said Slye after the game: “I feel confident in myself, in being able to make those kicks, or at least having the strength for them.”
Slye said the wind was a factor for his kicks all day. He made a 47-yarder and missed from 51. That kick looked on line but began to move to the left at the end, apparently influenced by the wind, before hitting the goal post.
On the potential game-winner, which would’ve set a new NFL record, Slye said dealing with a left-to-right wind that he felt was in his face made the kick tougher.
“Trying to mold those balls to play with the wind and find the right wind pattern and swing pattern, to be honest, was pretty difficult for me today,” Slye said. “I definitely felt I had the leg strength for it, but trying to play back into that wind, to let the ball fade back into the middle of the post, it just got pushed by that wind and kept staying right. Honestly, I didn’t really see where the ball landed because of all the chaos in front of me, so I don’t know if had the length or not.”
Down two points late Sunday, the Panthers got a defensive stop after a failed onside kick attempt. Teddy Bridgewater and the Carolina offense came onto the field with 86 seconds left. The Panthers had the ball at their 9.
Carolina got to midfield but failed to advance the ball much further.
“We tried to take a cheap five yards to put us into field goal range, but they did a good job just being prepared for it,” Bridgewater said. “It’s tough on Joey to try to kick a 67-yard field goal in this environment. We just came up short as a team and it’s on us to fix this.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2020 at 6:46 PM.
