BALTIMORE – Daniel Carlson lined up his 35-yard field goal, confident as ever he’d be able to drive this attempt straight and true. The rookie kicker ignored the context of this kick, that it would determine if the Raiders won their second game or lost a sixth straight.
He didn’t dare flashback to Week 2 in Green Bay, when he could’ve secured a Minnesota Vikings victory from the same exact distance and instead pushed it wide right.
Carlson cleared his mind, even during Arizona’s blatant icing attempt. This one, he truly believed, would split the uprights.
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SIGN UP HERE Sure enough, Carlson came through with a no doubter as time expired. The Raiders won 23-21 and celebrated in kind.
“I knew it was a big kick for the team at the time, but I was focused on doing my job and hitting my best ball,” Carlson said on this week’s episode of The Raiders Insider Podcast. “It was a special moment to get the win for the team. It was one we needed pretty bad.”
The Raiders were in a rut after losing five straight by at least 14 points. They couldn’t stomach what Carlson put Minnesota through in Green Bay. He missed three field goals that day, including two in overtime and one as the extra period ended in a tie.
The three-time second-team All American was coldly cut the next day, despite using a fifth-round pick to make Carlson the highest kicker taken in last year’s draft.
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“Things started out really well in Minnesota,” Carlson said. “We got a win in our first game, and I hit a 49-yarder. It started off well, and then in Week 2, bam! Everything kind of went downhill really quick and you learn about the business side of the NFL really fast.”
Carlson was down, but not out of sorts. He went back to the lab, fixed some technique and waited for an opportunity Jon Gruden gave him after a Week 7 bye.
Carlson has converted 6-of-7 field goals as a Raider, including his current run of five straight. He has generated touchbacks steadily as Jon Gruden prefers, and is gaining confidence as weeks go by.
Gruden hopes Carlson can bring stability to the kicker position after cycling through three others to start the season.
“We hope so,” Gruden said. “We like Carlson coming out of Auburn. A lot of people did. He just got off to a rocky start like a lot of kickers do in Minnesota. He’s been good for us.
"He has a big leg. He can kick off. He can get us touch backs. He’s a long-range field goal, and yesterday he proved to be a clutch field goal kicker. I think that can really jump start his career because he’s a very talented young kicker.”
He was considered the NCAA’s most talented kicker heading into the NFL draft. The SEC’s all-time scoring leader is massive for his position at 6-foot-5, 213 pounds, with plenty of power and accuracy. The Vikings had high expectations and a quick hook, but Carlson believed his second chance would come posthaste.
It’s here now and Carlson hopes to keep this good thing going for years. The Raiders were high on undrafted Florida kicker Eddy Piñeiro before a groin strain stole his rookie season, but Carlson can establish himself over the season’s second half and be in solid standing to win the 2019 gig outright or in a competition.
Carlson wants to reward the Raiders for giving him a second chance, and hopes to emulate another long-tenured Raiders kicker.
“Coach Gruden and I had had the conversation about Sebastian Janikowski in the past, and about how he played (18) seasons here with the Raiders,” Carlson said. “To be able to do something like that would be a dream come true.
"Coach Gruden has a long contract, and he’s looking for a young kicker to be that next Janikowksi. I would love to do that. I am committed to taking it one day at a time and not looking too far ahead, but that’s a goal and would be a dream come true.”