ave been fun last season.
Much of the success of an NFL kicker depends on how much torque he generates. To twist and then boom a football long distances requires dozens of muscles to fire properly. As Gano experienced, one tweak can throw off the entire process.
“A lot of people didn’t know that my back was hurting last year,” the Carolina Panthers kicker told BBR recently. “I herniated a disk and had a bulging disk in my back in preseason and then played through it the whole year.”
That could explain the step back Gano took from 2013 when he missed just three field goal attempts. A few months after signing a four-year, $12.4 million contract last February, he doubled his amount of misses.
| Distance | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 9-9 | 4-5 | 5-7 | 6-6 | 24-27 |
| 2014 | 7-7 | 12-13 | 9-12 | 1-3 | 29-35 |
JUST A BIT OFF
After Gano hurt his back while training last August, he sat out the Panthers’ preseason opener against the Bills. He played the next three games but attempted only two field goals, splitting a pair in Pittsburgh.
Gano went on to lead the league in touchback percentage for a second straight season, yet it was tough to ignore the misses. The six failed attempts averaged 49.3 yards, so none were chip shots, but a couple came in big moments.
First there was a 38-yarder early in the fourth quarter in Cincinnati, his only miss under 40 yards. He made two kicks after that, but they weren’t much consolation in a game that ended in a tie.
Then in Week 11, Gano lined up a 46-yard attempt that would have put the Panthers ahead of Atlanta in the final two minutes. When the kick went wide left, many wondered what happened to Riverboat Ron.
What really hurt Gano, besides his back, was his accuracy from long range.
In 2013, he missed just two of his 13 attempts of 40 or more yards, and he set a franchise record by nailing all six of his kicks from 50-plus yards. Last year, he went 1-for-3 from that distance and missed five attempts from 40-plus.
So far, 2015 is off to a better start. Through two preseason games, Gano is 4-for-4. He made a 47-yarder heading into the half at Buffalo and ended the second quarter against Miami with a three-minute burst of makes from 48, 46 and 52 yards.
What a difference a healthy back makes.
“It needs rest and rehab, and I didn’t have a chance to do that last year. I was able to manage it, but my range of motion and mobility wasn’t where it should have been,” Gano said. “I didn’t go out and say, ‘Oh, I’m not kicking good because of my back.’ I still have to perform.
“This year I’m feeling a lot better. My back hasn’t hurt in months and I think I’m hitting the ball way better.”
GANO’S GOALS
During his days at Florida State, a coach told Gano and his teammates to write down their goals before the season. Many may have blown off the assignment, but Gano gave it a go.
“One was to win the Ray Guy Award. Another was to win the Lou Groza Award my senior year,” Gano said. “Our coach had us hand them in, and he sealed them up and then opened them up at the end of the year. I ended up winning the Groza.”
Another one his goals was to marry his girlfriend at the time. Now Brittany Gano, his college sweetheart and mother of their two young children, plays the role of coach.
“Every year she makes me. She’s always like, ‘Have you written down your goals yet? You need to do that. You need to set your goals because it really helps,'” Gano said.
So inside a notebook he carries in a bag are Gano’s goals for 2015.
Care to share what those are?
“No, not really. I don’t want other guys to have the same goals as me.”
But he did reveal one – a mark he nearly reached during his last healthy season.
“I want to make more than 90 percent of my kicks,” Gano said. “If you miss one or two, it takes a huge chunk out of it. It’s still awesome to have that goal, and that’s what I’m shooting for.”[line]