To have and to hold
Relationship between Dawson and Lee is crucial
It might be possible for an NFL placekicker and his holder to be frosty toward one another, but that’s probably not the way to go. There is too much chemistry and knowledge the two must share in order to properly launch the old pigskin.
Niners kicker Phil Dawson and holder (and punter) Andy Lee are good buddies. Dawson is from Texas and Lee from South Carolina, so they have the Southern connection going for them.
Last offseason they played golf together. Lee does not try to ice his partner by calling a timeout as Dawson addresses a crucial shot. Dawson, when he hits a tee shot, uses a standard golf tee rather than asking Lee to hold the ball.
These two tend to operate mostly in the background, but their roles loom larger in the playoffs. Sunday, Dawson kicked a 33-yard field goal to beat the Packers, a task made significantly more difficult because Lee was wearing gloves for the first time ever — normally he licks his bare
hands just before the snap — and Dawson was kicking a frozen watermelon.
As Dawson explained to me Wednesday, “In cold weather, leather gets hard. The way you make the ball go when you kick it is you compress the rubber bladder inside the ball. If the leather’s hard, your foot can’t bend the leather so the leather can’t compress the bladder. The harder the ball, the shorter it’s going to go, and the less hang time.”
A cold ball will fly as much as 10 yards shorter than a warm ball, and can hang almost half a second less. Temperatures Sunday in Charlotte should be in the mid to low 50s.
Dawson, with the Browns in 2007, kicked a game-winning 49-yarder in a howling blizzard.
Does it hurt to kick a frozen ball?
“Oh, yeah,” Dawson said.
Dawson and Lee, aside from being buddies — and the second-mostfamous Phil and Andy in the Bay Area (to The Chronicle’s Matier & Ross) — are training partners.
This is Dawson’s first season with the 49ers, but his 15th in the NFL, his longevity due in part to rigorous training. He has pulled Lee into that world.
“I never really run,” Lee said, “but this year, I’ll get on an elliptical or treadmill with him.”
Not on the same elliptical or treadmill, I assume. Lee said he’s also doing stretching he hadn’t done before, and trying out visualizing techniques Dawson incorporates into his game prep.
Lee’s holding career began in ninth grade, so he’s been at it 18 seasons. It’s a quirky task, fraught with nuance. For instance, balls vary based on factors like temperature, moisture and how they’re prepped (usually with a brush and towel). No two cows are alike, so the nubbiness varies from ball to ball. Until game time the “K balls” are, like then-VP Dick Cheney, kept in an undisclosed location, so the holder and kicker don’t know what kind of ball they will get.
Lee must catch the fastball delivered by rookie long-snapper Kevin McDermott, place the ball down and spin it so the laces face the goal posts. If it’s a short kick, Dawson might tell Lee not to bother spinning the ball.
“A football will eventually follow where the laces are pointed,” Professor Dawson said. “It’s a real issue, you’ve got to have a relationship with your holder. Some guys, you can just tell by how they catch it, depending on where the laces are, what they’re going to do with the ball, which way they’re going to spin it, and that affects how you’ve got to kick it, and all this is happening right (finger-snap) now.”
The firm of McDermott, Lee & Dawson has missed only three fieldgoal attempts all season. Dawson missed a fourth on a 71-yard free kick.
Dawson’s arrival made life more difficult for Lee. For the previous eight seasons the 49ers had left-footed kickers, Joe Nedney then David Akers. Dawson kicks righty, although he throws lefty — go figure. Lee switching to the other side is like a guitar player flipping his ax 180 degrees and playing with the other hand.
Lee said Dawson is a low-maintenance kicker, not blaming or complaining, and more than willing to share the glory.
“He deserves all credit for any success I’m having,” Dawson said. “It’s like when the quarterback drops back, he has to trust his blind-side tackle. I’ve got to trust my snapper and holder. If there’s a delay, you’ve got guys screaming in off the edge.”
Dawson’s game-winner Sunday missed by a couple inches of being blocked, although the rusher was flagged for being offside.
“Everything’s got to be on time,” Dawson said, “everything’s got to be in rhythm.”
They’ve got rhythm. Who could ask for anything more?