Saints kicker Wil Lutz was called on to try a pair of long field goals at the end of Sunday’s game against the Vikings and he felt like he hit them both with all the power he has in his leg.
Lutz’ first try was good from 60 yards to tie the Vikings in the fourth quarter, but Minnesota drove for a field goal of their own. The Saints were able to position themselves for a last-ditch effort and Lutz’s 61-yarder at the final whistle looked like it would send the game to overtime until the very end. That’s when it doinked off an upright and the crossbar before falling to the turf without going over.
After the 28-25 loss was in the books, Lutz said that he wouldn’t have changed anything about the operation on the second kick.
“Honestly, they were the same two kicks,” Lutz said, via the team’s website. “Unfortunately, the second one had one more yard to move than the first one. I thought they were both in. I hit them both on the screws, played them right-third, knowing the ball was going to move a little left. The second one just moved a little more left. Kind of shocked it didn’t bounce in. It’s frustrating.”
Losing on a bad bounce is frustrating and it would behoove the Saints to do more to ensure their games don’t come down to field goals in the final seconds if they don’t want to run the risk of that happening again.