Jason Elam Tweets 'Way To Go Matt Prater!' After Record Breaking Kick
DENVER (CBS4) - Denver Broncos place kicker Matt Prater said after he kicked his NFL record 64-yard field goal against the Tennessee Titans in frigid weather on Sunday he received 134 text messages from people congratulating him.
"It took me all day to respond to them because I felt bad if I didn't get back to everybody," Prater told CBS4's Vic Lombardi on Xfinity Monday Live!
A lot has to happen for a kicker to be even able to get a chance at such an attempt. In this case the Broncos were losing 21-20 and there was only 3 seconds left on the clock in the second quarter on a third down and three. Lombardi asked Prater if he was secretly rooting for the Broncos to stall the drive so he could have a shot at the record.
"In the past, maybe on a warmer day I'd hope for that. But yesterday it was so cold and everything, I didn't know if I could actually get it there," Prater said.
Prater said he wasn't sure where the ball would be spotted after Jacob Tamme caught the ball and ran out of bounds the previous play.
"But I knew we would kick it if it was anything less than 66 yards or something. So once I went out there and I got the spot with Britton (Colquitt – the holder), I realized it was 64 yards," Prater said.
And then it happened -- the kick heard around the NFL as the ball barely cleared the crossbar. It makes one wonder if the kick would have easily been made of it wasn't so cold.
"For kickers it's tough too because the ball doesn't go as far, your feet are killing you from the small cleats, and it's just tough kicking in those conditions," Prater said.
Tom Dempsey kicked a 63-yard field goal in 1970 for the New Orleans Saints that stood as the record for years. It had been tied over the years by David Akers in 2012, Sabastian Janikowski in 2011, and former Bronco Jason Elam in 1998. The Broncos went on to win the Super Bowl that year.
After Prater broke the record Elam sent out a congratulatory tweet saying, "Way to go Matt Prater! Awesome! Way to keep it in the Broncos family!"
https://twitter.com/Jason_Elam/statuses/409817396421996544
"It means a lot coming from him," Prater said.
The Broncos host the San Diego Chargers on what could be another chilly game Thursday night. Kickoff is at 6:25 p.m. and the NFL Network game will be carried by CBS4.
Watch more of the video with Matt Prater in the Xfinity Monday Live! section.
- By Matthew J. Buettner, CBSDenver.com
