Penalties, prayers, redemption: Inside Eddy Piñeiro’s game-winning Panthers kick
With three seconds left, Eddy Piñeiro prepared himself for Sunday’s game-winning field goal as he always does: He said a prayer, discussed his kicking line with holder Johnny Hekker — and reminded himself to rely on muscle memory.
He went through all that from 38 yards out.
Then again from 28 yards out.
By the third time, which was from 23 yards out after three penalties from the Texans defense, Piñeiro probably didn’t need to do his routine again. But he did it anyway, all the way down to the prayer.
“I asked God three different times to help me,” Piñeiro confirmed just outside his locker after the game, laughing. “Yes I did.”
What it all amounted to was a 23-yard field goal from the 28-year-old kicker that delivered the previously winless Carolina Panthers (1-6) a 15-13 victory over the Houston Texans (3-4). The kick punctuated a drive that lasted 15 plays, 86 yards and over 6 minutes of game time. It prompted every fan in the lower bowl to get on their feet, to hold their collective breath — and it allowed everyone wearing Process Blue to release a victorious sigh of relief, at long last.
It also drew a few cathartic chuckles, too, because of the celebration afterward.
“I told Johnny before the kick, I said, ‘Listen, when I make this kick, I’m jumping on your back, and you’re taking me all the way to the 50 yard line,’” Piñeiro added. “I was thinking before the kick, too, ‘Man, this fan base really deserves this.’
“You know, we’re 0-6, let’s get this W and go home.”
Piñeiro said he’d never been a part of a sequence like that, one in which the timeout-less defense happily took penalties as a way to “ice” the kicker. The first was an unnecessary roughness call, when Tavierre Thomas ran over Hekker, the Panthers’ holder. That moved the ball up 10 yards. (A neutral zone infraction was also called that play and declined by the Panthers.) The next was unsportsmanlike conduct after Thomas jumped offsides for a second straight play.
All the while, though, Piñeiro stayed consistent in his routine, focused — even using his arms to quiet the crowd despite being in an uproar after the second penalty.
“I’m so proud of Eddy, he’s just a one kick at a time guy,” Hekker said. “He’s got the mentality that he’s going to treat every rep like it’s his own deal, and not let anything bleed into it. He’s worked so hard for those kicks and those moments.”
He added: “We get over the spot. We talk about where we want to start the ball, usually in relation to somewhere in the distance: the big C of the Coca Cola sign, or one of the logos on the scoreboard, so all three of those kicks went to the same exact location, and Eddy did a great job knocking it home.”
Sunday was emotional for a bunch of Panthers. Head coach Frank Reich choked up a bit while addressing his team postgame. Frankie Luvu was leaping and screaming through the Bank of America Stadium hallways on his way to the locker room. Julius Peppers and Mushin Muhammad were inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Honor and expressed gratitude and amazement at halftime. Austin Corbett, the veteran who made his first start at right guard after nine months on the road to recovery, shed tears after Piñeiro’s kick soared true.
Sunday was redemptive, too. Just look at the game’s most impactful players — the ones who earned game balls.
Carolina rookie quarterback Bryce Young earned one. He had one of his most prolific days as a professional, true. He didn’t turn the ball over and led the kind game-winning drive that made him look much more seasoned than the rookie he is, including a fourth-and-2 conversion to Adam Thielen that is about as clutch as they come. But he also led an offense that only notched 15 points, three of which were essentially handed to them after the defense caused the game’s only turnover.
Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, who was announced as play-caller a few weeks ago and made his debut Sunday, was also awarded a game ball. And while the final drive was most consequential, there were moments of struggle too, particularly on the Panthers’ first trip to the red zone — which resulted in three uninspired runs into the line and a hurried throw that fell incomplete.
Piñeiro received the third game ball. And even his day, despite accounting for nine of the team’s 15 points, wasn’t ideal. He missed an extra point after the Panthers’ sole touchdown that gave the Texans an edge throughout the game that rose the stakes of his final kick. He wasn’t perfect, in other words, until he needed to be.
Piñeiro isn’t new to redemption. He earned some last year after using a tough game in Atlanta and his short memory to pave a way for a career year last season and a two-year contract this offseason.
He earned some more Sunday, too.
And in a sense, so did the Panthers, who proved Sunday they’re playing for the present as much as for the future.
“We didn’t expect it to be this date,” Reich said of Carolina’s first win late into October. “But it is what it is. We’re not looking back.”
“No regrets,” the head coach added of Sunday’s game.
Piñeiro made sure of it.
This story was originally published October 30, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
