Anmeldung » When Graham Gano got home with the football

CHARLOTTE Stitched Ryan Kalil Jersey , N.C. (AP) — he kicked 63 yards to give the Carolina Panthers a dramatic win over the New York Giants, he knew exactly where he was going to put it.Gano took the ball into his office and placed and placed it neatly on a kicking tee — one autographed by Tom Dempsey.It seemed only fitting, Gano said.It was Dempsey, after all, who was the only kicker in league history to boot a game-winning 63-yard field goal prior to Gano’s heroics last Sunday that gave Carolina a 33-31 victory. Dempsey’s kick came on Nov. 8, 1970, helping the Saints beat the Lions 19-17 — 17 years before Gano was born. Matt Prater holds the NFL record for the longest field goal of 64 yards, but it wasn’t a game-winner.Gano said that while he’s never met Dempsey, now 71 Dennis Daley Carolina Panthers Jersey , he’s always admired his accomplishment from afar. He has watched the historic kick on You Tube several times and even stood at the site of Dempsey’s kick at Tulane University, which is no longer used for football but now a common area for students.He kept the tee in his office as inspiration.“I would look at that tee sometimes and be like, man, that would be awesome to have that opportunity to do that,” said Gano, a converted soccer player who didn’t start playing football until his freshman year of high school. “So to have that chance on Sunday, it was like everything came full circle.”Gano received the plastic orange tee as a Christmas gift from his wife’s uncle back when he was a kicker at Florida State. It came with a certificate of authenticity and a picture of Dempsey signing it.“Hey, I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Gano said with a wide smile. “To a lot of people it might not be all that to them 2019 Dennis Daley Jersey , but to me it was really, really cool.”When Gano ran on to the field with 6 seconds left, he said had no idea exactly how long the kick was from.He said he was too busy doing what he normally does before every kick — lining it up and making sure he had good footing, all before the play clock expired. He didn’t find out it was a 63-yarder until after the ball arched over the crossbar — with a few yards to spare — to give Carolina the lead with 1 second remaining and was mobbed at midfield by teammates .Gano said he was never nervous, either.He’d made longer kicks — his longest being 75 yards — in practice.On Wednesday, coach Ron Rivera and quarterback Cam Newton wore t-shirts to their news conference that read “Gano lo Gano.” It was a tip of the cap to the Panthers’ Spanish broadcast crew and the words they used to describe Gano’s winning kick on Sunday. The verb “ganar” means “to win” in Spanish, and when conjugated the meaning translates to “Gano to win!”“A great quarterback is only as good as his kicker,” Newton said.Gano is on quite a run for the Panthers.He’s made 36 of his last 37 field goals including 35 straight at home, a streak that dates back to Oct. 10 Dennis Daley Carolina Panthers Jersey , 2016. When told that by a reporter, he politely asked him to knock on wood.Gano said the memories he will always have in celebrating with his teammates after the win are something he will cherish forever, even more so than the game ball.He joked that he’s not sure how long the ball will actually stay in his office.“My kids will probably take it down and throw it around and kick it,” he said with a laugh. “But that won’t bother me one bit.” A year later it appears the Panthers selected the right star to play defensive tackle"I admit I was one of those fans who questioned whether the Panthers made a smart decision to let free agent and former first round selection Star Lotulelei walk away. There didn’t appear to be many free agents on the market that could step in right away, except for one. In a surprising move for the Panthers, they signed free agent defensive tackle Dontari Poe to a three year deal. The move turned nervous apprehension into cautious optimism. A year later I think we can say it was a good move, at least from the comparison of the two players and the contracts they were given. In both cases the Panthers came out on top after year one. According to Pro Football Focus, Poe outplayed Lotulelei in 2018. Before I go any further I will say neither player lit it up. Poe finished the season the No. 66 ranked defensive tackle in the league. That’s not very impressive when their are only 32 teams. Lotulelei was even lower in the rankings, coming in at exactly No. 100. Now before you rail on the low rankings remember there is a difference in the two tackle positions and much depends on the scheme as well. Poe is No. 54 against the run only Cheap Dennis Daley Jersey , which is really what his main job is, stop the run. When you look at the contracts between the two players there is a clear winner there too. The Buffalo Bills signed Lotulelei to a five year deal that averages $10 million a season.Before you declare Lotulelei a declining player you should know many Bills fans see his job as being very thankless:While that is not a glowing endorsement, I’m sure some Bills fans see it more rosy. By comparison the Panthers only committed three seasons to Poe at an average of $9.3 million per season. From Spotrac:So here we are ten months later and we can say for sure who was right and who was wrong on this very blog last May when Mick Smiley posed the question ‘Is Star worth $10 million a season’:Seventy-eight percent of CSR readers said no, and after the first year I think it is clear they were correct. Sometimes we are actually pretty smart at this football fandom thing.