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KRIEGER: Broncos kicker Prater's powerful leg leaves jaws agape

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 5, 2008 at 8:30 p.m.

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Broncos kicker Matt Prater is congratulated after his 55-yard field goal during Sunday's game against Tampa Bay. Prater is 4-for-4 on kicks beyond 50 yards so far this season.

Photo by Darin McGregor © The Rocky

Broncos kicker Matt Prater is congratulated after his 55-yard field goal during Sunday's game against Tampa Bay. Prater is 4-for-4 on kicks beyond 50 yards so far this season.

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The most amazing development of the Broncos' season so far is not Jay Cutler, good as he's been. Not Brandon Marshall. Not even rookie Eddie Royal.

The most amazing development has been the emergence of a little-known free-agent kicker who dominated Sunday's 16-13 victory over Tampa Bay.

"Have you ever seen a kicker kick a 55-yard field goal and make it by 25 yards?" Bucs coach Jon Gruden asked afterward in astonishment. "Honestly, why work on your kickoff return when you come here? That guy was unbelievable."

"My goodness, that dude is on fire right now," said Broncos linebacker Boss Bailey. "Shoot, I don't want to jinx him, man."

In a Broncos media guide you can throw your back out trying to lift, the information on 24-year-old Matt Prater barely fills a page. When he was tapped to fill Jason Elam's franchise record-breaking shoes, this was the most common question:

Who?

The 5-foot-10 Prater is built more like a wrestler than a football player. Coming out of college, he was known for a strong but not necessarily accurate leg. He was 50-of-74 on field goals at Central Florida, a far cry from his 12-of-13 so far this season, which includes a perfect 4-of-4 from 50 yards and beyond.

"Usually every Wednesday when we're doing field goals, we always do a 65, 68, somewhere around there, and he makes them most of the time," said punter Brett Kern, Prater's holder.

With the Broncos trailing 3-0 Sunday, Mike Shanahan sent him out to try a 55-yarder on the first play of the second quarter.

"When he's got a 55-, 56-yarder, you know it has nothing to do with the distance," Shanahan said. "He's going to have the distance. You're just hoping that he has the accuracy. He's been very consistent in practice and that's why you give him the opportunity in the games."

On field-goal attempts from beyond 50 yards, the big question is usually whether the ball will reach the crossbar.

When Prater's kick soared between the top of the uprights, almost 30 feet above the crossbar, it caused double takes even among the jaded wretches in the press box. The kick would have been good from 70. At least.

"Brett always tells me he can tell by the sound as soon as I hit it if it's going to be good or not," Prater said. "As soon as I hit it, he started telling me, 'Nice, nice.' He said he didn't need to look up. Just by the sound."

"He made a very good 'thump' noise," Kern confirmed.

It wasn't just that Prater scored 10 of the Broncos' 16 points and now leads the NFL in scoring with 51 points. He also produced touchbacks on four of his five kickoffs.

"It's hard to start at the 20 and score," Gruden said. "Not a lot of teams do that. It's been well documented."

Like most free-agent kickers, Prater bounced around after college, getting tryouts in Detroit, Miami and Atlanta.

"After I got cut by Miami, I won the job in Atlanta," he said. "Had a couple good games, had a bad game, got cut."

This is how it goes for kickers. So when Elam accepted a free-agent offer from Atlanta, Denver became Prater's next chance.

"He was talking to me in the offseason about what was going on with him," Prater said of Elam, who befriended him at the end of last year when Prater joined the Broncos as a kickoff specialist. "Stuff that wasn't even out in the media yet, he would tell me what's going on, he'd give me the heads up, which was really nice of him."

Still, it was generally assumed the Broncos would bring in veteran competition for Prater this summer. Olindo Mare's name came up. When the Seahawks signed Mare, it left the Broncos without a safety net.

Then, even before training camp, Shanahan cut his only other kicker, rookie Garrett Hartley.

He had watched Prater booming the ball during offseason workouts and wanted to see how he would perform without the anxiety of competition. It turned out to be an inspired move.

Prater attributes his new-found accuracy to intensive work with special-teams coordinator Scott O'Brien.

"He's really fine-tuned me so every kick is the same tempo and technique and he's made me really consistent and a lot more confident," Prater said. "I think confidence is a huge thing."

The Broncos' record for field goals of 50 yards or more in a season is five. Elam did it twice and Fred Steinfort once. Prater has four in five games. I asked him how far he'd like to try one.

"Man, I'd love to get anything over 60, just to attempt it," he said with a grin. "In college, I was only 2-for-2 on 50-yard field goals. I never kicked a lot of long ones. But I'm getting a lot of opportunities here."

The NFL record is 63, shared by Elam and Tom Dempsey. Just sayin'.

Comments

  • October 5, 2008

    9:02 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    incognitoboy writes:

    very impressive, matt! looking forward to seeing many more like that from you.

    keep working on the head game..... we all know how bad it can get when leg strength and mind strength are not in tune with each other (see: janikowski)

  • October 5, 2008

    10:25 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    deepwater805 writes:

    Maybe one of these days Shanny will let Matt try one of those 65 yarders he habitually hits in practice. A Broncos kicker is already tied for the record. Why not own it outright? Looks like Matt could do it.

    Now when you say: "jaded wretches in the pressbox", are you trying to tell us that's where Lincicome hangs out? I mean that in the nicest way......

  • October 6, 2008

    5:14 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    gahoaglund writes:

    It was good to see him booming those kickoffs again!

    I want to see him given the chance for the record.....Jacksonville is in town next week....ring a bell?

  • October 6, 2008

    7:11 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    incognitoboy writes:

    ooohh..... good point! that would be really sweet!

    and it's not like it would be a catastrophy if it didn't sail thru, since nobody really expects that sort of distance/accuracy combo. i mean hell, it's only been done from 63 twice in history, there's so many variables, so it's just icing on the cake if it works!

    still, i would rather not see ANY drives next sunday end that way unless we have a comfortable lead.......think of the field position if it's unsuccessful! yikes!

  • October 6, 2008

    7:47 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    gahoaglund writes:

    Yeah it would have to be at the end of the half or game for sure, that's how Jason got his too

  • October 6, 2008

    1:53 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    opinionatedcolo writes:

    Distance is great, consistency is better. Nice to have a kicker we apparently can rely on. Still needs to prove he can do it with the game on the line, but I am not worried about that. The d-line on the other hand.......

  • October 6, 2008

    2:17 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    T1anda writes:

    Yes! I have Prater on my Fantasy team 17 points last week and 12 this week Yippeee!! Kickers usually get 3 to 6 sometimes!! He's definitely Da Kickin Man!!!

  • October 6, 2008

    2:32 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    denversportsfan writes:

    I thought Prater practically won this game for Denver. Without his non-returnable kickoffs to TB, I think we lose this game. This was a game of field position and Prater helped Denver win that battle. Touchbacks aren't very glamorous and under appreciated in the NFL. One nice return by TB and this game could have gone to OT.