Did An Irish Kicker Just Break the Onside Kick?

Oh my god, this might be one of the best storylines in the NFL so far. We are in week 13 of the NFL season and yeah, people are getting cut, coaches are getting fired, but one small move out of a struggling team was going to change a lot. And that’s when the Saints released their kicker after a rough start to this year. Meaning that taking his spot was going to be someone from a similar storyline to something the Giants went through their while back. An IP player or an international player pathway man by the name of Charlie Smith. Now, for those who don’t remember the IP’s first kicker to get meaningful game time, it didn’t go so well for the Giants. So, I could understand why people were maybe a little cautious to be optimistic about this situation. But what was going to happen was better than anybody could have ever hoped. Let’s jump into the game. The Saints were getting absolutely ran through by the Dolphins in the first half as I thought this video was going to be on their punter Kai Kroger as he was having himself an absolute day. I mean, just pinning the Dolphins back, hitting absolute bombs to flip the field. But then suddenly the tides start to turn. The Saints in the second half put together a drive that doubled their total yards in the game. And on top of that, since they were only down 16 to zero, they were able to get a two-point conversion and all of a sudden they were back in the game. But that would be all the momentum they would have for a while until they do something that would be considered insane. Down by 11. Defense playing lights out. Punter having a hell of a game. And from the 37 yd line, they trot out their kicker who has played in less than five football games and no regular season NFL games where if he misses, you can pretty much kiss your chance at winning goodbye because they get such good field position. But he doesn’t just hit it. He absolutely crushes this ball. I mean, let’s look at this. All right, where does this ball hit on the net from 56 yds out? What would you call this? Is this halfway 3/4 of the way up the net? What would this be good from? 65 to 70 yards somewhere in that range. That is insane for his first official kick. And is it important? Well, look at this. Now, the Saints come back out, get a stop, and have a chance to tie the game up with a two-point conversion. But wait, things go south. That two-point conversion goes the opposite direction, and now instead of tying the game up, they’re down four points, which is a disaster. But one man could potentially save them. That man being, you guessed it, Charlie Smith, who while I’m sure has taken a ton of field goal reps. Surely has not taken nearly enough onside reps. And we get to see him set it up. And it’s already a strange setup. I’ve never seen it look like this before. He has the ball sort of resting and leaned up on the tea. Okay. Now, my guess is it just going to expose more of the ball. Let him put a little bit more heat on it without that thing getting too out of control. But that’s just the hypothetical. When we get to the reality of him hitting it, he hits it absolutely brilliantly. Yes, the ball gets touched early. Allegedly, they say it hit a Dolphins player. That was the call on the field. I’m not even going to try to defend nor debate it because regardless of the poor execution by Smith’s teammate, it does not negate how perfect of a kick that this was to keep them in the game where a few plays later they should have won on this catch, but of course, he drops it. But him coming out, hitting a clutch, must make field goal from 56 yards out, absolutely piping it, and then turning around and hitting a frame perfect onside kick. Oh yeah, Charlie is going to be a problem in the NFL. What a freaking debut. Charlie Smith, a first year international.

Charlie Smyth may have just had the most insane debut for a kicker of all time… And it happened in only two plays.

31 comments

  9. Prove that NFL's International Player Pathway Program (IPP) is definitely a GAME CHANGER! Coaches from 32 Teams needs some of the international players replaces some of the players are now under injured reserves to play in the active roster to show their skills to prove it are now ready to play after been isolated at the practice squad for years!

    With the likes of Efe Obada, Jordan Mailata & Jakub Johnson are good examples of international players are very good playing in the field. No matter they dream for!

  13. Every team seems to keep finding these amazing kickers, meanwhile the Giants have Koo who can't each get his foot to reach the ball

  14. Oh that's a beautiful technique. You need to kick it hard enough to make sure it doesn't bounce chaotically, but soft enough to be actually savable, and that kick is perfect for it.

  16. Why has this never been done before? Because American coaching staff has no grasp for kicking, never watched a premier league game etc… Yet why do foreign kickers/punters seem to have easy success? Why did the Celtics consult Pep Guardiola? America still has much to take from the beautiful game – and now more than ever as the conditioning of balls, in my opinion, can give an extra 10-15yds of "pop."

  22. The amazement with with Americans treat foreign kickers is nuts. At every Rugby club I've ever known, practice starts and ends with pretty much everyone even the least athletic players, bobbing kicks over from the half way line and beyond! And even left and right touchlines (not all kicks are in front of the posts in Rugby). I've watched American Football for years without ever fully understanding it but I've often wonder why they don't kick more goals from further out. It's not that hard.

  29. How How how does a 3 minute video on a dumb kick get so many views? How How how does any of his videos get more than 1000 views? It shows how backwards society is. And how controlled and programmed the algorithms are to keep society away from truth and what matters. This world is truly still vastly controlled by darkness.

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