LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Cam Little set an NFL record Sunday.
But if that was cool for the second-year kicker, and if his teammates and coaches also thought it was cool, here's what was coolest for Little: His record-setting moment was a key moment in a crucial victory.
"That was what ignited us, I think," Head Coach Liam Coen said.
Little on Sunday kicked a 68-yard field goal on the final play of the first half of the Jaguars' 30-29 overtime victory over the Las Vegas Raiders at Allegiant Stadium, a kick that broke by two yards the previous NFL record for longest field goal. That was a 66-yard field goal by former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker in 2021.
"I kicked it straight," Little said. "It kind of just stayed left-middle deep the whole time. It didn't really draw much. Once [punter/holder] Logan [Cooke] threw his arms up, I kind of had an idea that it was going in. You go so far back and that ball takes a long time for it to get there. You don't want to ever celebrate too early before the kick goes in.
"Once I saw it clear the crossbar, obviously that's when I knew it was good."
Little said among his thoughts before the kick said, "Crap, this is a 68-yarder."
"It's like, 'Kick it straight enough, kick it long enough, and it goes in,' simply put," he said. "We're playing indoors, and we're on natural grass. You kick it long enough and you kick it straight enough, it's going to go in."
The kick cut the Raiders' lead to 6-3, with the Jaguars – after failing to score on their first three drives Sunday – scoring on their final six drives of the game beginning with the one that ended with Little's record-setting field goal.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence called Little's kick "huge."
"You look at the end of the game and how big those three points were," he said. "Offensively, we were moving the ball, but we weren't getting any points. So to be able to get a field goal there before the half and something kind of go our way and give us a little momentum, it was great."
Little entered the game having missed three of his last six field-goal attempts, having missed a 50-yard field goal in each of the last two games – losses to the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. He also missed an extra point in the loss to the Seahawks.
"Everybody's been trying to get us to lose confidence in him, I know that for sure, and we have never lost confidence in him," Coen said. "He went on the bye [this past week], got away from it, and set an NFL record on his first kick back. Couldn't be more proud of him and this whole team."
Said Little: "This organization, from top to bottom, from front office to coaching staff to players, has instilled so much confidence in me through adversity that I've faced – really, for the first time in my career. They let me know how much confidence they have in me. It's forever indebted to this place.
"They know how hard I work. They know how much this means to me. And for them to go out there when I'm obviously not performing my best and standing on the table for me is something I'll forever be indebted to this organization."
Coen said he ran immediately on to the field when Little kicked.
"I ran right at him, and it was like we won the Super Bowl but it was what ignited us," Coen said. "That confidence from him, from a guy that has been struggling and man, that was a really special moment for our team, for Cam himself, and for our whole group of guys."
NOTABLE
- Jaguars defensive end Travon Walker was disqualified following a 24-yard field goal by Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson with 6:29 remaining in the third quarter. Walker and Raiders offensive tackle Stone Forsythe each were penalized for unnecessary roughness penalties on the play. "I know he responded to what you mentioned as 'something,' and they're always going to get the second guy," Coen said. "It's just the way it is. And we can't have that; we can't have that. And he knows that. Frustrating moment for sure but those are the things we have to avoid as a team, as an organization because all it does is make us a little bit handcuffed."
