LAS VEGAS (AP) — Cam Little predicted before the season started that someone would break the NFL record for the longest field goal.
Given that Little made a 70-yard kick in the preseason, he clearly knew
something — and on Sunday, he made his prognostication come true.
Little made a 68-yard field goal at the end of the first half against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, and coach Liam Coen credited the kick with sparking his team to a 30-29 overtime victory.
“You kick it long enough and you kick it straight enough, it’s gonna go in,” Little said. “Me and (holder) Logan (Cooke) kind of had a one-on-one right before the kick, and I said, ‘Kick the ball as hard as I can.’
“Usually when I tell myself that, I find success.”
Justin Tucker had the previous record, a 66-yarder in 2021 that gave the Baltimore Ravens a 19-17 win over the Detroit Lions.
While Tucker’s kick hit the crossbar, Little’s boot had plenty of room as it sailed through the uprights.
“You go so far back, and that ball takes a long time to get there, so you don’t want to ever celebrate too early before the kick goes in,” Little said. “And so once I saw it clear the crossbar, that’s when I knew it was good.”
Little came into the game having missed three of his last four kicks, including an extra-point attempt. But Coen said he never lost faith in the second-year kicker out of Arkansas, which is why he and special teams coach Heath Farwell looked at each other during a timeout before the kick and said, “Let’s go!”
“I mean, there was no way we’re gonna throw a Hail Mary,” Coen said. “We’ve seen him do it before and we’re indoors, we’re in a great space for it, and he was hitting it pretty good in pregame.”
And as the kick sailed through, Coen raced onto the field to greet Little, whose previous career long was 59 yards on Nov. 17, 2024, against the Lions.
“It was like we won the Super Bowl. It was what ignited us,” Coen said. “And that confidence from him, from a guy who has been struggling, that was really a special moment for our team.”
Trailing 6-0, the Jaguars started at their own 31 with 28 seconds left in the half and drove 19 yards in three plays. Trevor Lawrence spiked the ball at midfield to set up Little for the record-breaker.
Little finished 3 of 3 on field goals, including a 48-yarder in the final minute to send it to OT, and made all three extra points. The last one provided the winning margin.
“For your team, momentum plays are huge,” Little said. “Kicking a field goal, maybe not one to put us up points, but it gives us momentum.
“Any chance that I can put points on the board for our team, I’m expected to go out there and do that. Obviously, I felt like I maybe had a part in the momentum, but not a huge part, considering how many guys played their tails off out there and had a lot more to do with that win than I did.”
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