Reid fulfills his dream of kicking in game
Benny Saia laughed at his TV set with cheery exasperation. The broadcast for the Texans’ final preseason game against the Buccaneers isn’t available in the retired high school coach’s home in Dutchtown, La., so he wasn’t able to watch his former star safety Justin Reid, also his former star kicker, crush the opening kickoff into the end zone Saturday night at NRG Stadium.
No, Saia was stuck with the Titans-Bears game.
So, he couldn’t have known that Reid drilled multiple 33-yard field goal attempts in warmups. Or that Texans placekicker Ka’imi Fairbairn was held out with precautions for a minor pulled muscle, which created an opportunity for Reid to fulfill the dream he’d been campaigning the new Texans coaching staff for months to let him try.
Saia wasn’t able to watch Reid boot another kickoff 61 yards in the third quarter, then streak down the field, wrap up Ke’Shawn Vaughn and aid cornerback Rasul Douglas in a forced fumble.
“I had the time of my life,” Reid said afterward. “I’ve been looking forward to this moment for so long.”
See, Reid had never attempted a field goal, much less booted a kickoff, in the three NFL seasons since the Texans selected him in the third round of the 2018 draft. He never got any tries as a kicker in three years at Stanford, either.
But while Reid was at Dutchtown High, Saia said the former three-star safety kicked field goals for the Griffins and booted just about every kickoff out of the opposing end zone for touchbacks.
“He got a leg, now,” Saia said. “That (expletive) can kick.”
Saia estimated that Reid made most of his field goal attempts while at Dutchtown, although he added they didn’t kick many. Reid’s real impact on special teams was his powerful leg, which produced key touchbacks with Louisiana rules that called kicks dead once they reached the end zone. “That was a weapon,” Saia said. Reid was first a soccer player, a kid who idolized European stars Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Reid didn’t fully commit to football until high school, but, even after leaving Louisiana, he said he convinced the coaching staffs at both Stanford and Houston to make him the “emergency kicker.”
“Just never needed me yet,” Reid said.
Reid has been advocating behind the scenes for years to finally get his shot to kick in an NFL game. He posted a video on Twitter during last year’s training camp of him nailing a 50-yard field goal after practice. Reid continued the campaign when David Culley was named Houston’s new head coach in January.
“Ever since I’ve been here, even back during OTAs, he’s been talking about wanting to kick,” Culley said. “I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if it’s something from Stanford. But he has this thing about wanting to kick.”
Reid’s moment finally arrived Saturday night, when Fairbairn pulled a muscle during warmups before the game.
Culley said the injury is minor and Fairbairn will return in time for Houston’s regular season opener Sept. 12 against the Jaguars. If the exhibition had been a regular season game, it’s more than likely Fairbairn would’ve played.
Reid said he didn’t know he’d be kicking until a coach approached him after Fairbairn was scratched from the game.
“You’re up this game,” Reid was told.
“Really, I get one?” Reid asked.
“No,” he was told. “You’re up the whole game.”
Reid kicked off twice against Tampa Bay, and both kicks gave the Texans defense advantageous field position. The opening kick reached the end zone and Buccaneers wide receiver Jaelon Darden was tackled at the Bucs 16. Reid’s assisted tackle with Douglas in the third quarter set Tampa Bay at its own 22.
Reid exchanged smack-talk with the Tampa Bay return team before the final kick.
“We were just talking noise to each other,” Reid said. “He was like, ‘I bet you can't kick it out of the end zone, and I was like, ‘I don't want to. I want to come down there and tackle.’ We was just out there having good fun, me and the referees having good fun, too. They said that's the most fun they’ve ever had in a preseason game just watching me go kick.”
Reid nearly got his chance to attempt a field goal. Culley said they had an agreement that if the Texans faced a field-goal situation late in the game when they were within the Buccaneers 24, Reid would’ve been sent out to attempt the try.
“That was his distance,” Culley said. “He was going to kick a field goal. He was excited about that. Unfortunately, we didn’t get down there when we needed to get down there.”
Reid said he campaigned on the sideline for a field goal try throughout the game, but the Texans went for it on each of its fourth down attempts in Buccaneers territory, converting on 2-of-6 opportunities, and the Houston offense attempted two-point tries after both of its touchdowns, converting one.
“Man, that would have been incredible,” Reid said. “I was ready the whole game. I don't know if you caught me on the sideline. I had my helmet strapped every time every time we were down there to see if I would get to go out there. He said at the end of the game we would have the opportunity, but we didn't have the chance, but something to look forward to for next time, whenever that may be. Maybe next preseason.”