A week ago, Austin Seibert was unemployed. Now, he's kicking game-winning field goals for the Washington Commanders.
Seibert's 30-yard field goal as time expired was his seventh on the day, one shy of an NFL recordm as the Commanders grabbed a 21-18 win against the New York Giants, who lost their kicker Graham Gano to injury in the first quarter.
The game showcased the bizarre nature of the kicking profession in the NFL.
“Yeah, that's kind of the nature of the beast right now in the kicking world, it's just so competitive," Seibert said. "You have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. And the good thing is, like sure I was on the street for a week and then I got the call, but that's why you stay ready at all times. You never know when it's going to come and you're going to get that call. And I learned that last year as well, I bounced around a little bit, and I had like six or seven workouts with teams. It's spur of the moment like “Hey, you're flying out three hours. Good luck!”, you know. So, that's kind of how it works, and you just got to go with the flow and stay confident in yourself and trust what you do before that final kick.”
It's a stark difference from what the Giants were dealing with, considering they went most of the game without a kicker. Their lack of depth changed the overall outcome of the game.
"It's a tough spot to be into, so when it goes into there, what thirds become fourth downs? Same thing with the scoring to go to it," Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. "I thought we could have, knowing that going in, that's a big deal. And they did a good job of fighting through it from their end. Because I think it might've been on the opening play if I'm not mistaken. And so that's a tough go. You have to have those contingency plans. Who's the backup snapper? Who's the backup punter, backup kicker going through that, and you work through those to make sure you always kind of have somebody in your back pocket ready to say, if this comes up, we'll be ready to deliver on that. So, it's not what you want, but it is something that you have to plan for.”
Now, Seibert has a job for the foreseeable future. As for the Giants, they hope to be able to find their version of Seibert if Gano remains unhealthy.
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