He has gotten older, and he has grown up, and those are two very different things. It was May 1995, and Janikowski — who had come to the United States from Poland the year before — was a junior at Seabreeze, when one of his friends on the soccer team convinced him to sample a different sport. You’ve run out of free articles. Tom Dempsey and his shoe should never have an asterisk. Added former Seabreeze head football coach Kerry Kramer: “Yeah, without a shadow of a doubt.”, It’s a testament to Janikowski’s legendary left leg that his list of accomplishments read more like tall tales. Finally, Janikowski’s ball clears the crossbar by more than Dempsey’s but by less than Elam’s. You’ve likely never heard of Ove Johansson. All rights reserved. Janikowski had another of those last weekend. (NFL hashmarks are four inches thick.) RELATED: The NFL’s Longest Field Goal Ever Barely Cleared the Goal Post. SEATTLE — The pastor asked Sebastian Janikowski a question on his best friend’s wedding day. Neither Janikowski nor Lechler appears to have complained after the game. “It’s crazy,” Janikowski said of his 22-year journey. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. The longest field goal attempt (unofficial): 76 yards. Janikowski will welcome it again at home against the undefeated Rams on Sunday, and then in London against his former team — the Oakland Raiders — on Oct. 14. More headlines for kickers! He also has made one from 61 yards, giving him two of the top three longest field goals in league history. As for total distance, the kick clears the crossbar by inches. Unsurprisingly, Seabreeze’s sudden star attracted an unusual amount of attention. K Info; Stats; Advertising. Nicknamed "Seabass," Janikowski converted 80.4% of his field goal attempts during his career, including a career long of 63 yards during the 2011 season, the only time he was selected for the Pro Bowl. “I was learning as I went,” said Janikowski, who had never previously played football and didn’t know the rules. You can’t tell with certainty from ESPN’s long-distance shot of the actual kick whether Lechler actually hits his mark. All rights reserved. The Longest Field Goal in College Football History. Slate relies on advertising to support our journalism. You grow up a lot faster,” said Janikowski, who has a wife and three kids, not to mention a Polynesian symbol that means “family” tattooed across his shoulders. This is the longest overtime field goal in NFL history. In 2011, he tied the NFL record for longest field goal in Denver, Colorado, when he kicked a 63 yard field goal. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. But Janikowski gets Longest Actual Kick by Field Yardage. It’s great to have the experience and have a guy that’s been there when you get those big kicks.”. But because of his sheer leg strength—and maybe the fact that the Raiders have never had much to lose—Janikowski has, especially in the last five years, been able to persuade his coaches to occasionally let him kick for the moon. The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013. Janikowski's kick cleared the crossbar as the second quarter expired, giving the Raiders a 16-3 lead. And if the ball’s nose was indeed set down beyond the 47-yard line? Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. He helped Florida State secure a national championship in 1999, and the following spring became the first kicker (before or since) to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft. Sebastian Janikowski injured his thigh while attempting a 57-yard field goal on the last play of the first half, forcing Seattle to ditch extra-point tries. (The school was named Seabreeze, after all.). The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013.The previous record was 63, originally set by Tom Dempsey (1970) and then matched by Jason Elam (1998), Sebastian Janikowski (2011), David Akers … “If all of the ball rests between yard stripes, credit distance from the yard line nearest the intended goal.” (Italics mine.) Surely Janikowski — who missed his first two field goals last weekend, then connected on a 40-yarder and a 52-yarder as time expired to lift the Seahawks over the Cardinals and possibly save his job — wouldn’t lie to a man of the cloth? Keep in mind that the longest field goal in NFL history is, by comparison, a measly 64 yards. Anyway, this ain’t the Olympics. Still, the fact remains, a 210-pound high-school senior and recently converted soccer player kicked an 82-yard field goal through the big H at the end of the field. That he was the rare kicker selected in the first round of the NFL draft only made the mockery easier. He set the team record as time expired in the first half of Sunday's 23-9 loss to the Browns. I enjoy what I do.”. By that definition, Janikowski’s kick of 63 plus an inch or two is officially 63—and Dempsey’s should be 62. But noted football physicist Timothy Gay has told me that while he thinks altitude helps kickoffs and punts carry four or five yards farther, he’s not convinced it has any effect on shorter field goals and only a small one on longer kicks. The yawning space between the kicker and the goal posts, the audaciousness of the endeavor, the prekick tension, the soaring arc of the ball itself. Shoe should never have an asterisk older, and you ’ ve likely never heard of Ove Johansson single. 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