NEW ORLEANS — Undrafted kicker Joey Slye was a long shot to make the Carolina Panthers in training camp. Because of a rare missed field goal Sunday, his team is a long shot to make the playoffs.
Slye’s miss from 28 yards with 1:56 left in a 34-31 loss to the New Orleans Saints ended a streak of 233 consecutive makes by kickers from that distance or shorter going back to a miss by Tennessee’s Ryan Succop last season in Week 9.
They were 134-for-134 from that distance this season.
“I wanted to be a part of a great win here,” Slye said. “I feel terrible. … We’re a 5-5 team trying to make the playoffs. We needed a win like this against a divisional opponent, and I have a huge hand in this loss, so I take it personally.”
The Panthers fell to 5-6 with the loss after Will Lutz made a 33-yard field goal as time expired. They likely would need to win their final five games to have a shot at an NFC wild-card spot, and even then it likely would take a collapse by Seattle (9-2) and Minnesota (8-3).
“Obviously, that field goal should have put us over the top, and it didn’t,” Slye said. “The obvious statement is I feel the loss is on me. I’m going to take ownership of that.”
Slye also missed two extra points as the Panthers suffered their third consecutive loss.
But he didn’t shy away from owning up to his misses, answering questions from three waves of reporters.
“I felt very confident,” Slye said. “Obviously, it looked very stupid when I missed.”
The Panthers signed Slye in training camp to give veteran Graham Gano time to rest a sore knee. When the knee didn’t respond, Gano was placed on injured reserve, and suddenly Slye had a job in his second year after going undrafted out of Virginia Tech.
Whether Slye keeps his job the rest of the season wasn’t a part of his thought process on Sunday.
“Honestly, I’m worried about my results on the field and where this team is going,” he said. “Job security is the last thing on my mind.”
Deep snapper J.J. Jansen felt Slye should have had a second chance at the potential game winner. One official threw a flag, saying a New Orleans defender pulled the center to the ground by the back of the neck. Another said Jansen was pushed to the ground, and after a discussion, they ruled no penalty occurred.
“It’s a judgement call by the official,” Jansen said. “Obviously, you all saw me and know what I felt like.”
Jansen felt for Slye, who also made field goals from 52 and 41 yards.
“I have full faith he’ll bounce back from this,” Jansen said. “It’ll be a good learning lesson. I certainly have gone through a lot of experiences with guys who have struggled, momentarily struggled, and they’ve gone on to have a good rest of the year and it’s been a blip on the radar.
“That’ll be the case here, but today hurts. There is no other way you can put it.”