Gruden calls kicker Carlson ‘the real deal’
Trailing by 10 with 34 seconds left Sunday, Raiders head coach Jon Gruden opted to take his offense off the field and send in his field-goal unit for a 44-yard try.
It was a sensible move, given that the Raiders needed to score, recover an onside kick and have enough time to score again. It was also one a coach might not make without having a certain amount of faith in his kicker, given that a miss would render the strategy moot.
Rookie Daniel Carlson converted the kick. And he made the onside attempt interesting, at least, with an end-over-end bouncer fielded by Kansas City before it traveled 10 yards.
After the Raiders’ 40-33 loss, Gruden affirmed a measure of confidence in Carlson.
“He is the real deal,” Gruden said. “Hopefully, he is a longterm solution for us. It would solve a huge need for this franchise.”
Those words were not lost on Carlson, particularly given how the rookie’s NFL career started.
“That’s big,” Carlson said. “For my position, kind of like a quarterback, you need to be counted on and need to have coaches and teammates be able to rely on you in those big situations.”
Carlson, a fifth-round pick by the Vikings in April, found himself in a big situation in Week 2 against the Packers, lining up for a 35-yard field-goal try late in overtime. His kick, which sailed wide right, was his third miss of the game. Minnesota cut him the following day.
Two days later, Carlson was in Ankeny, Iowa, visiting his longtime kicking coach, Jamie Kohl.
Kohl, the director of Kohl’s Professional Camps for kickers, punters and snappers, met Carlson as a high school junior and worked with him before the NFL combine and draft. In college at Auburn, Carlson was SEC Special Teams Player of the Year his final two seasons and left as the conference’s career leader in points (480) and field goals (92).
Still, Kohl said, even before the draft, Carlson’s kicking motion featured “some things from a technical standpoint that I was not happy with.”
So over about a week in Ankeny, including four days of “intense” training with live-speed kicks and video breakdowns at night, Kohl and Carlson calibrated that motion.
“My main goal for him was to be able to see the ball longer and smooth out his approach,” Kohl said. “He was just making it more difficult for his natural talent to show than necessary.
“So we tried to simplify and basically move him to a spot where he would be able to see the ball longer, be able to leave later, be able to smooth out his approach, find a proper width and depth where he could naturally be able to do those things. And then focus on really aiming down his target line, after he made contact, in his followthrough and finish.”
Carlson had about a month to get comfortable with the adjustments before the Raiders signed him Oct. 23. Oakland had planned to start the season with rookie kicker Eddy Piñeiro, but Piñeiro’s groin injury in training camp led the Raiders to turn to Mike Nugent, who suffered a hip injury in Week 3. Nugent’s replacement, rookie Matt McCrane, hit 5 of 9 field-goal attempts in the next three games.
In Carlson’s first game with a field-goal attempt, against the 49ers on Nov. 1, he hit 1 of 2 tries. Since then, Carlson has converted eight in a row, including a personal-best 50-yarder Sunday. Carlson is also 11-for-11 on extra-point tries with Oakland.
Carlson this week said he has “made improvements technically and figured things out mentally that have helped.”
“I think obviously I’ve done a lot better — and what I expect to be doing,” Carlson said. “And I think if Minnesota had kept me, I think I would’ve done the same thing. I obviously have confidence in my abilities and stuff. So it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that I’m doing well.
“I think for me, God’s got a plan, and I’m here, and you make the best of it. And I’ve enjoyed being here and getting to know these guys on the team and play for the coaches and stuff. It’s been a good ride.”
Kohl said he was glad to see Carlson get another opportunity with the Raiders.
“When you’re talking about guys who have come through our system, Daniel Carlson is one of the more talented guys we’ve ever worked with,” Kohl said. “I’m not going to say he’s the best. But when I think of NFL kickers, that’s kind of what you’re looking at.”