With the NFL’s “dynamic” kickoff rules and the explosion of drastically longer field goals, the “foot” in football is more important than ever.
Thankfully, the Seattle Seahawks have Jason Myers.
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The veteran kicker saved the Seahawks from one of the more embarrassing losses of the NFL season on Sunday, nailing a 56-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining. Myers became the first kicker in franchise history to make six field goals in a game, allowing the Seahawks to not find the end zone and still escape a reeling Indianapolis Colts’ team that has lost four in a row and started 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers fresh off his retirement couch.
In the game Myers made kicks of 47, 52, 36, 32, 30 and 56. His game-winner – which punctuated the ugly 16-16 win – was necessary because the Colts’ Blake Grupe made a 60-yarder just seconds earlier.
Jason Myers said his 52-yard field goal into the open, downtown end of Lumen Field late in the first half gave him the wind gauge, confidence he could make the game-winning one from 56 to push the #Seahawks over Colts.@thenewstribune pic.twitter.com/JnJl4TyOpb
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) December 15, 2025
Myers is nine of 12 from 50+ yards this season.
In an NFL that was only a couple of years but feels like a lifetime away, kickoffs routinely went into the end zone for touchbacks with the ball brought out to the 20-yard line to start drives. With the dynamic rules, touchbacks are now at the 35 and the average starting position is the 30.
Those extra yards – combined with the influx of long field goals – have escalated the ends of the first half and games into a competition to see which offense can simply move the ball across midfield.
After Grupe’s bomb that gave Indy the lead with :47 remaining, for example, the Seahawks’ Rashid Shaheed return the kickoff to Seattle’s 37. That allowed Sam Darnold to complete just two passes to Shaheed (17 and eight yards) to set up Myers’ long-distance game-winner. The game-winning “drive” was something you just didn’t see until recently: five plays, 25 yards.
MORE: Pair of Jason Myers records expose Seahawks’ biggest shortcomings
Like all Super Bowl hopefuls, the Seahawks have a major offensive weapon in Myers. He leads the NFL with 154 points, and has made 24 of his last 25 field goals. The lone miss: a 61-yarder that was barely wide right on the final play of the 21-19 Week 11 loss at the Los Angeles Rams.
Myers and the Seahawks try to get their revenge – and control of the NFC West – Thursday night at Lumen Field.
Jason Myers | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images
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