NFL: One record attempt backfires, another succeeds curiously

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66 yards from Justin Tucker: There has been no field goal longer in the history of the NFL

Photo:

Tony Ding / AP

Sunday is football day in the USA, various games are broadcast in parallel, and there is also a conference that jumps from touchdown to touchdown.

"Every touchdown live," the name of the NFL Network.

On Sunday evening (German time) the highlight was not touchdowns, but the record hunt of the kickers.

Both Matt Prater (of the Arizona Cardinals) and Justin Tucker (of the Baltimore Ravens) competed from an unprecedented distance to the field goal.

While Prater's attempt literally backfired, Tucker became the match winner with his record shot.

Prater first laid the ball on Sunday. Prater is not just anyone, the 37-year-old kicker was the record holder for the longest field goal, in 2013 he hit once from 64 yards. With a score of 7: 7 and only seconds in the first half against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he wanted to try it from 68 yards. And indeed, the direction was correct, but then the ball leaned towards the ground in front of the bars. The attempt literally backfired.

Because the Jaguars had set up a returner with Jamal Agnew, which is actually only used at kickoffs at the beginning of each half and after scoring a point as well as for punts.

Agnew caught the ball in his own end zone, ran off and never stopped.

He hooked to the left, came back to center, and broke through a Cardinals defender's tackle.

Along the sideline, he made it to the end zone after a sensational 109 yards.

A longer distance cannot be covered in American football for a touchdown, so the American television commentary was accordingly left out.

Set record for Agnew (but the Jaguars lost 19:31).

Tucker sets a record

A few minutes later, eyes were on Justin Tucker.

The Ravens kicker was supposed to save his team, with only three seconds left to play and the Detroit Lions were one point behind.

The problem: Tucker was 66 yards away from the winning poles, a very optimistic attempt even for the experienced and outstanding kicker.

But Tucker's attempt was good, but initially seemed too short.

The ball smacked on the crossbar - and then through it.

A few Lions fans had already burst into jubilation, but then remained stunned.

Tucker, on the other hand, sprinted off and disappeared in a crowd of cheers.

With 19:16, the Ravens now have two wins, the Lions three defeats.

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