What makes kicking in the NFL so mentally tough, and how did Santos handle the crazy pressure in the fourth quarter?
What makes kicking in the NFL so mentally tough, and how did Santos handle the crazy pressure in the fourth quarter? Kicking an NFL football looks easy when you’re sitting on the couch with a slice of pizza, but mentally, it’s one of the most terrifying jobs in professional sports. Quarterbacks get 40 or 50 plays a game to make up for an interception, but kickers might only get two or three chances all night. If you mess up one single kick, 60, 000 screaming fans in the stadium and millions watching at home hate your guts. That’s the exact mental pressure cooker Cairo Santos was living in during Thursday night’s matchup against the New England Patriots. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Santos hooked a totally kickable field goal wide, letting an "annoying" miss get the best of him. On the sidelines, every single camera was zoomed in on his face, looking for any sign of panic. For most kickers, that kind of mistake gets inside their head. You start overthinking ...