CHRIS VIOLA / The Times-Union
Former Estero High grad Matt Prater, the placed kicker for the Atlanta Falcons, faced the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday at Alltel Stadium.
By Jeff Elliott, Special To The Daily News
Published on: 9/16/2007
It wasn't the type of return to the state where he had enjoyed highly successful prep and collegiate careers that Matt Prater had envisioned Sunday.
Prater, a former Estero High and UCF kicker now handling all kickoffs, field goals and extra point tries for the Atlanta Falcons, missed a pair of relatively easy field goals in the Falcons' 13-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal.
The misses came from 43 and 26 yards and cost the Falcons a shot at possibly sending the game into overtime. Prater, who moved on to a record-setting, four-year stint at the UCF, had little explanation afterward about the two kicks, both of which missed wide right.
'I don't really know what I did wrong,' he said to a group of reporters crowding around his locker in the visiting team locker room. 'I've got to go back and check the film. I know it was a good snap, a good hold and good operation. I just had two bad kicks.
'More of my misses are to the right rather than the left, so I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.'
It left Prater with just one successful field goal in four tries this year after he made one of two attempts the week before in Atlanta's 24-3 loss to Minnesota.
Prater signed with the Falcons on Aug. 30, then beat out former Dallas kicker Billy Cundiff to earn a roster spot as the team's only place-kicker. He was originally signed by the Detroit Lions in 2006 but was released two weeks before the season started. He signed on with the Miami Dolphins in early January of this year but didn't make it past the first round of cuts in the preseason. The Falcons signed him three days later and he kicked a pair of fourth-quarter field goals in their preseason finale.
His third team in the last 13 months gave him the opportunity to fulfill a long-time dream of kicking in the NFL. But it was a dejected kicker who was forced to provide answers to reporters after Sunday's game.
'This was really tough. I put it all on my shoulders,' he said. 'I feel like I let the team down, I didn't do my part or my job. So I feel pretty bad about it.'
Prater's first miss came in the opening quarter when he pushed a 43-yard field goal attempt with a slight wind behind him wide to the right.
The second miss came on Atlanta's only drive of the third quarter. The Jaguars had worked all week on putting pressure on field goal attempts and applied a good rush on Prater's try from 26 yards out. No one touched the ball, but he again pushed it to the right of the uprights. Had Prater connected on the two field goals, the second one would have given Atlanta a 13-3 lead at the time.
When asked about Prater's misses and whether it would cause the team to make a move in the kicking department, Atlanta coach Bobby Petrino replied, 'It's way too early to think about that.'
Prater didn't have family support in the stands for comfort afterward. He said his dad had to work in the south Miami area on Sunday and that his mom cited the long drive up to Jacksonville as the reason she wasn't in attendance.
But the former UCF kicker who still shares the school record for most field goals made with 50, found one ally in teammate and quarterback Joey Harrington.
'I told him I've been in that situation before and the one thing you learn is that there are going to be bad days for everyone,' said Harrington who had four unproductive years in Detroit and experienced little success a year ago when he started 11 games for the Miami Dolphins. 'I told him I've seen him make those kicks before. I know he can do it.
'The issue for him is not to let it get to him because I believe in him. I told him 'Don't let this affect your confidence because I've seen you do it before and I believe in you.''
Prater said he had a good week of practice, felt fine knowing that he was the only kicker in camp, and went through a good warmup session before the game. Unfortunately, it didn't carry over to the game.
'I was kicking the ball well in warmups,' he said. 'And I had the two long kickoffs (both resulting in touchbacks). But my most important job is making field goals and I didn't do that today.
'I'll just try to put it behind me and try to stay positive in the future.'
