NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Titans have found a way to fix the NFL’s worst field-goal unit: Ignore the kicker and just score touchdowns.
The Titans went a measly 8-for-18 on field-goal attempts during the regular season, with that 44.4% success rate easily the league’s worst. Greg Joseph, their fifth kicker this season, has yet to even attempt a field goal through his four games with Tennessee, and the Titans haven’t made a kick in six games.
That six-game drought without a made field goal is the longest since 1980, when both the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers did it, according to SportRadar. If the Titans (11-7) don’t make a field goal Sunday in the AFC championship game at Kansas City (13-4), they will match the 1975 Atlanta Falcons and 1970 Pittsburgh Steelers as the only teams to go seven straight without a made field goal since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
It’s been so long that fans are starting to worry if the newest kicker will be able to come through when the Titans need a kick, with the stakes and pressure only rising with each passing week. Joseph, signed off the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad Dec. 18, insists he’ll be ready if and when coach Mike Vrabel yells at him.
Why? Well, he has made the kick each of the 15 times he has attempted an extra point, which is essentially a 33-yard field goal these days.