- Jordan Davis and Will McDonald IV returned blocked field goals for touchdowns.
- Cleveland Browns rallied from 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit to stun Green Bay Packers on Andre Szmyt’s 55-yard game-winning field goal.
- The Los Angeles Chargers improved to 3-0 on Cameron Dicker’s 32-yard field goal as time expired.
We’ve heard the declaration repeatedly for so many years: Special teams makes up one-third of the game.
Did you believe it?
Well, given drama across the NFL on Sunday, that axiom came to life as tried and so true.
Or maybe it’s something better explained by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles. His squad squandered a 20-point lead and fell behind the New York Jets inside the final two minutes when Will McDonald IV went 50 yards on a scoop-and-score return of his blocked field goal.
Bowles, well, didn’t want to believe it.
“Excuse my language, but you’ve got to be (bleeping) be (bleeping) me,” Bowles said of his real-time reaction to the blocked kick. “Then, after that, you see how much time is on the clock and you calm down and you try to win the game.”
The Bucs (3-0) drove 48 yards to set up Chase McLaughlin’s 36-yard field goal as time expired. On the day, McLaughlin booted five field goals – including two from 50-plus yards – to help Tampa Bay escape another close call. The Bucs are the first team since the 1970 merger to win with a game-winning score in the final minute of regulation in each of their first three games. Whew.
And the tight margin at Tampa was just one reminder of the special teams mantra. Kickers: It’s like you can’t live with them and can’t win without them.
I mean, all of this also happened on Sunday:
➤ The Rams blew a 19-point second-half lead, then had a would-be, 44-yard game-winning field goal blocked by Eagles D-tackle Jordan Davis, who returned it 61 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the 33-26 thriller at the Linc.
➤ The Browns rallied from a 10-point deficit to spring a 13-10 upset of the Packers – aided by Shelby Harris’ blocked field goal, which set up Andre Szmyt’s 55-yard game-winning field goal as time expired.
➤ The Broncos lost on a field goal as time expired for the second consecutive week as Cameron Dicker’s 32-yard kick kept a perfect record intact for the Chargers with a 23-20 nail-biter. A week earlier, Denver lost after being flagged for leverage on a missed field goal. Moving 15 yards closer for the re-kick, the Colts converted. This time, the Broncos were stung by a division rival. Tough losses.
➤ The 49ers beat a division rival, too, with a 35-yard field goal from Eddy Pineiro – his third of the game – as time expired to topple the Cardinals, 16-15.
Talk about close calls. Or angst among the gamblers.
None of this is automatic, even in an age where 50-yard field goals are increasingly (for some) becoming chip shots. Pineiro, after all, joined the 49ers in Week 2 as the replacement for Jake Moody, who had become too shaky to be trusted.
Szmyt, the Browns’ kicker, redeemed himself on Sunday after his 36-yard field goal attempt in crunch time sailed wide right in Week 1, thwarting the chance to upset the Bengals. He made up for it with the longest walk-off field goal in franchise history. Faith restored.
“He knows who he is,” Browns defensive end Myles Garrett said during his postgame news conference. “One moment doesn’t define you. He was just waiting for this opportunity to come again. We knew he was ready.”
The one-third-of-the-game axiom works both ways in another sense. Harris, Cleveland’s veteran defensive tackle, notched the seventh blocked kick of his 11-year career. That’s not coincidence.
“He always does it,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Like, he’s very aware of that football and he’s got great anticipation.”
One third of the game? In crunch time, the kicking game seems to be much larger than merely that. The Rams can vouch for it. Davis’ block of Joshua Karty’s 44-yard kick was Philadelphia’s second as it followed an earlier block of a 36-yard attempt by his fellow defensive tackle, Jalen Carter.
Apparently, both of the defensive tackles took advantage of a particular matchup.
“Yeah, Kevin Dotson was …” Rams coach Sean McVay said, referring to the sixth-year guard. “The reality is, is that we’ve got to execute better and credit to them, they made the plays. I’m not going to make any excuses.”
And he won’t dispute that special teams represents a third of the game – at least.
Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media: On X: @JarrettBell, on Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social.
