{"id":391478,"date":"2026-01-06T09:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/391478\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T09:55:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T09:55:31","slug":"failed-soccer-player-gives-las-vegas-raiders-rare-reason-to-celebrate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/391478\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Failed soccer player\u2019 gives Las Vegas Raiders rare reason to celebrate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Raiders didn\u2019t have many reasons to celebrate during the 2025 NFL season. But the campaign closed on Sunday with plenty of excitement as Las Vegas ended an 11-game losing streak against its AFC West rivals with a 14-12 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> thanks to a 60-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson<\/a> with eight seconds to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had just a freaking great day,\u201d Raiders coach Pete Carroll said<\/a> of Carlson. \u201cAnd to hit 60 yards, and with plenty of room to spare is what I was told. It was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson said <\/a>he was \u201cvery grateful that we got to have some fun at the end,\u201d and for Carroll, it really was the end. <\/p>\n

After Las Vegas posted a 3-14 record in Carroll\u2019s only season at the helm, on Monday, the Raiders fired the former Super Bowl champion, whom Carlson rated \u201ctop of the list<\/a>\u201d among the coaches that he\u2019s worked with.<\/p>\n

FOR MORE OF AL.COM\u2019S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE<\/a><\/p>\n

Las Vegas got outscored by 191 points this season, so Carlson did not have a lot of opportunities for clutch kicks. Against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 28, Carlson\u2019s 54-yard field-goal attempt was blocked with 33 seconds remaining in a 25-24 loss. <\/p>\n

On Sunday, Carlson also made field goals from 32, 23 and 55 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a tough season,\u201d Carlson said<\/a>, \u201cand there\u2019s no way around that. But to end it like this, I think it was really cool to send everybody into the offseason on a good note. And so it was just a great team win and just, you know, a fun way. So, like, yeah, it stinks, but that\u2019s the way you want to end it, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the 13th time<\/a> since Carlson entered the NFL from Auburn<\/a> as a fifth-round draft pick in 2018, he made a field goal in the final 34 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. Sunday\u2019s kick marked the fourth time one of those field goals turned his team\u2019s deficit into a lead. Four of the field goals broke ties, and two more tied the score.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a certain awareness of the situation, obviously,\u201d Carlson said<\/a>, \u201cbut for me, I try and treat every kick the same. Go through kind of my pre-kick routine and stuff. But, yeah, I mean, obviously, it was a longer one, knew the situation and a fun one to end the season on, for sure. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think about that too much, at least during the moment. For me, it\u2019s just about swinging the same swing every time. No matter the highs or lows or what the situation may be — whether it\u2019s one point, three points, every point adds up — and so I try and do that. I\u2019m human, obviously, but you are aware of the situations, the emotions, but I\u2019m trying to stay even-keel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for me, I\u2019m just very grateful I get to do this for a living, and I had no idea I\u2019d be — you know, I\u2019m just a failed soccer player that just happened to turn into a football player basically. So God has just been very gracious with my life and my journey, and I\u2019m just super grateful for eight years here with the Raiders. And getting to end it like that with my teammates and on a great note for coaches, the staff, everybody, is just an awesome way to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlson equaled the longest NFL field goal made by a former Auburn player. Rob Bironas made a 60-yard kick with seven seconds left in the Tennessee Titans\u2019 20-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 3, 2006.<\/p>\n

Carlson also sent himself off into free agency with a big kick to end a season that hasn\u2019t been his best. <\/p>\n

The first-team All-Pro kicker in 2022, Carlson had curtailed scoring chances with Las Vegas. The Raiders offense scored 25 touchdowns in 2025, the second-fewest in the league, and Las Vegas had the lowest scoring average in the NFL at 14.2 points per game.<\/p>\n

Over the previous five seasons, Carlson scored 666 points. He tied for the NFL lead with 144 in 2020 and 150 in 2021. In 2022, Carlson broke the NFL record for 50-yard field goals in a season by making 11.<\/p>\n

But in 2025, Carlson totaled 87 points, and his 81.5 percent rate on field goals \u2013 at 22-of-27 \u2013 was 4.1 percent below the league average and 6 percent below his career average entering the 2025 campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve really been in this situation,\u201d Carlson said <\/a>of free agency. \u201cI mean, me and my family definitely pray about it, and that\u2019s kind of where I\u2019m at. I am extremely thankful for my time as a Raider, and if that continues, that\u2019d be a blessing and great, and we\u2019d love to be here. But yeah, we\u2019ll see how all those talks go and stuff. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut, yeah, there\u2019s no doubt: I\u2019m just so appreciative of this team, the staff, the ownership, everybody that\u2019s been, you know, all the players that have been with me through these eight years. It\u2019s been a joy of my life. So we\u2019ll see what the Lord has for us. But we\u2019re excited for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders didn\u2019t have many reasons to celebrate during the 2025 NFL season. But the campaign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-391478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}