Sure, Broncos kicker Matt Prater knew what the NFL record for the longest field goal was.
He just didn’t know he was going to be asked to break it.
Prater said he was caught off guard when asked to kick a 64-yard attempt just before halftime yesterday, which he nailed to establish a new distance record.
“I was clueless,” Prater said, via Mike Klis of the Denver Post. “I didn’t know he was going to call for the field goal. I didn’t know the kick would be from where it was. I think it helped me to get out there late. Because I had to rush out there, I didn’t have much time to think about it.”
Maybe that helped, because he drilled it, eclipsing the previous mark of 63 set by Tom Dempsey, Jason Elam, Sebastian Janikowski and David Akers.
Elam and Janikowski hit theirs in Denver also, but Prater said he thought the bitter cold negated any advantage the altitude gave him.
Of course, Prater wasn’t the only one unaware. Long snapper Aaron Brewer said he realized it was long, and just wanted to make sure he did his part to prevent a long return such as the Auburn win over Alabama the weekend before.
“I didn’t know it was for the longest,” Brewer said. “I just knew I was supposed to run down and cover it. So I ran down and turned around and everyone was going crazy. It was pretty cool.”
For a bunch of guys who barely know where they are on the field, they’re pretty good at their jobs.