On Sunday, Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott made four field goals, including a 54-yarder in OT to give the Eagles a 34-31 win over the Commanders.
In addition, Elliott became the third kicker in Eagles history to appear in 100-plus career games, joining David Akers (188, 1999-2010) and Bobby Walston (148, 1951-62).
This season, Elliott has been very accurate. He’s made 13/14 field goals, including a season-high 61-yarder in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings.
The seven-year veteran has made many big kicks, including the biggest in team history in Super Bowl 52, where his hit a 46-yard field goal late in the fourth that helped the Eagles defeat the Patriots.
Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay has been with Elliott since he’s been in the league, and according to Clay, Elliott enjoys the pressure.
“Really, it’s just his mindset going into anything,” Clay said Tuesday. “Really anything Jake does, whether it’s on the football field or in here or in our room, his competitive drive is something that is unmatched, and I’m sure he’s alluded to it when he was playing all those sports in high school and everything. He has that mindset where he wants the pressure on him and he knows he’s going to come through in any given situation, which is awesome.
The 2021 Pro Bowler was drafted in the fifth round in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Bengals, but he was waived at the end of training camp. Ultimately, he would sign with the Eagles. Clay discussed when he realized Elliott was a special player.
“Going back a few years ago now, six years ago I think, coming out of Memphis, I knew he was one of the better kickers coming out,” he said. “I was fortunate enough that we had a kicker out there in San Francisco, but just that competitive drive, and you watch every game from around the league, and you just know, something sticks out when a guy as a rookie against the Giants hits a 61-yarder to win the game, you know there’s something special in that kid. He’s done a great job of just getting better and better as he goes on in his career.”
Elliott has been a weapon for the Eagles this season, and at age 28, he has a lot of life left in his leg.
One of the heroes of the Eagles’ big win in Arizona over the Cardinals was K Cameron Dicker, who, in his first NFL game, made two extra points and two field goals, including the game-winning 23-yard field goal to keep the Eagles undefeated.
Dicker, who played in place of an injured Jake Elliott(ankle), is an undrafted rookie free agent out of Texas and was added to the Eagles practice squad last week.
The 22-year-old was composed on Sunday, and the Eagles don’t defeat the Cardinals without him.
According to Eagles special teams coach Michael Clay, Dicker was cool and calm in practice last week.
“He was out there Thursday with the field goal unit. He was calm, cool, collected,” Clay said on Tuesday. “Regardless of the situation, I thought [K Cameron] Cam [Dicker] did an excellent job throughout the week of practice getting prepared for it.
“Then come Saturday and Sunday, you talk to him, and he’s just very cool like he doesn’t go high or low. So, it was actually really cool to see him go out there and perform like he did.
“It’s kudos to him, kudos to the field goal unit, the operation. [Special Teams Quality Control coach] Tyler Brown working with him and just getting him comfortable. You see, after all those PATs and field goals, the guys on kickoff all dapping him up, which was really cool to see. A guy that people had known for three days gets the help from everybody else, which was really cool to see.”
If healthy, Elliott is one of the best kickers in football, and we’ll see if Elliott can return on Sunday night against the Cowboys. However, if he can’t, well, they do have a calm, cool, and collected kicker in Dicker.
