A 29-yard field goal is usually no problem in the NFL.
But when your kicker is injured and you have to rely on a backup running back, things could get a little more tricky. That was the situation on Sunday for the Houston Texans against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Kicker Ka'imi Fairbairn suffered a quad injury in the second quarter, which thrusted running back Dare Ogunbowale into action as the emergency kicker. Even though he handled kickoff duties in the second half, the Texans opted to go for two on their first three second-half touchdown drives.
But when they were facing a fourth-and-goal from the 11-yard line in a tie game with under nine minutes to play, head coach DeMeco Ryans put his faith in Ogunbowale for a 29-yard kick -- which he easily made.
Ogunbowale was the first non-kicker to make a field goal in a regular season game since Wes Welker in 2004, according to ESPN's Field Yates.
Houston later lost the lead, trailing 37-33 after allowing a touchdown with 46 seconds to play. Then, rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud led a 75-yard scoring drive in 40 seconds to take a two-point lead with six seconds left.
NFL
Instead of giving Ogunbowale another opportunity, they opted to kneel down on the two-point conversion to avoid a turnover. That gave the Texans a 39-37 victory -- with Ogunbowale's three points making the difference.
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