Tavecchio sticks with dream, kicks way to history
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Giorgio Tavecchio was ready to give up his dreams of kicking in the NFL and take a business job in London. The pain of being cut six times without ever playing an NFL game had taken its toll mentally on Tavecchio and he was ready to move on before the Oakland Raiders gave him a call to come to camp for a fourth straight year as the backup to Sebastian Janikowski. After talking the situation over with Raiders special teams coach Brad Seely, Tavecchio decided to give it a final shot.
“We kind of talked through the pingpong battle going on in my head and in my heart. You just have to kind of follow your heart,” Tavecchio said Wednesday. “I knew what my heart wanted. Obviously, you want to make it. … You give a lot of yourself. When you’re rejected so many times, it takes a lot to put yourself back out there.”
There are no regrets now after a back injury to Janikowski gave Tavecchio his first shot in a game and he made the most of it by becoming the first player in NFL history to kick two field goals of at least 50 yards in his debut.
Tavecchio added two other field goals and a pair of extra points to earn the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award.
“Absolutely amazing. Some of these things are like a movie, you know?” quarterback Derek Carr said. “Talk about a guy that deserves everything that’s coming his way; just a good person, that’s kind of the theme around here. He’s a good dude and he works his tail off.”
It’s been quite a journey for Tavecchio to arrive at NFL fame. Born in Milan, Italy, to an American mother and Italian father, Tavecchio came to the United States as a child and ended up in the Bay Area town of Moraga.
Consistent with his Italian roots,