Nailing Game-Winner, Jason Myers Rewards Seahawks Unwavering Faith
Pacing off three yards, Jason Myers briefly glanced towards the uprights and shuffled twice to his left, shifting his central focus to Michael Dickson and where he’d be holding the snap at the 32-yard line.
Just one week earlier, Myers found himself in an identical situation. With the clock whittled down to mere seconds remaining, the Seahawks hopes for a victory against the Buccaneers sat squarely on his right leg as he came on the field to attempt a game-winning field goal.
Unfortunately, after Russell Wilson marched Seattle 53 yards on five plays in just 43 seconds, Myers couldn’t connect, slicing the 40-yard attempt wide right. Putting his hands onto the sides of his helmet in disbelief, teammates consoled the veteran kicker and moments later, Wilson threw the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Fast forward to another overtime session on Monday night and Myers, who had been the subject of ridicule among the fan base all week long after missing two kicks and an extra point against Tampa Bay, had a chance to redeem himself and hand the 49ers their first loss of the season.
Myers had spent the entire practice week getting back into his routine and sharpening himself mentally understanding he’d get another shot in quick order. Once Wilson broke loose on a 21-yard scramble inside a minute remaining in overtime, he was primed for the opportunity.
“With Russ doing his magic, I knew he could get us into some sort of position for a field goal,” Myers commented. “I didn’t know what it was, but I was prepared. When [special teams coach Brian Schneider] Schneids looked down and said ‘three,’ I was ready to go.”
With just four seconds on the clock after Wilson spiked the ball at the San Francisco 24-yard line, coach Kyle Shanahan burned his final timeout right before Tyler Ott’s snap. Myers was true from 42 yards out, but the kick wouldn’t count and he’d have to make it a second time.
Undeterred by Shanahan’s bid to ice him, a calm, collected Myers again drilled the kick, sneaking it just inside the right upright to seal a 27-24 Seahawks victory. In a moment of euphoria, the same teammates who had stood by their kicker during his tribulations one week earlier swarmed around him and lifted the hero above their shoulder pads.
“What a great, thrilling night for him to come through and make his kicks, and make his winning kick and all that, and kick the ball deep all night long,” coach Pete Carroll said after the game. “A lot goes into that and I think it was… it’s a great illustration of his teammates supporting him throughout.”
More than any other position on the field, kicking can be a psychological battle week to week. Unlike other positions where mistakes can sometimes go unnoticed, everyone in the stadium knows whether or not a kicker does his one singular job.
After leaving seven points on the field, Myers would have been the goat one week earlier if not for Wilson’s late theatrics. But Carroll and his Seattle teammates weren’t about to throw him under the bus and he rewarded their faith with an outstanding bounce back performance, connecting on both of his field goal attempts in the clutch.
“I hope you can see why it’s so important to support your people, and to stay with them, and hang with them and all that,” Carroll stated. “It’s just, to hang him out there and leave him out there and ostracize him and whatever, I don’t even know how to think that way.”
Now in the midst of their bye week, the Seahawks’ approach with Myers as he endured early season plights could pay dividends down the road. After notching his first game-winner of the year in a hostile road environment, his renewed confidence should serve him and his team well as they pursue an NFC West title over the next month and a half.
“I’m so fired up for him,” Carroll said. "We’ve got a long season. We’ve got so many kicks in so many games. We’re going to be like this all year and he’s going to have to keep making those kicks for us, and he will.”
