SANTA CLARA — A 58-yard field goal cleared the crossbar with seemingly 20 yards to play, bolstered by the South Bay breeze behind Nick Moody’s back last week.
It was a good view on a sunny Wednesday in May. The kicks he missed last winter in the 49ers’ final four games of an exhaustive rookie season weren’t so picturesque.
No failure seemed more important than a point-after attempt that was blocked on the Niners’ go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of their Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“Jake recognizes that it was a low kick,” said special teams coordinator Brian Schneider, who prefaced that remark Wednesday by describing all the important roles of Moody’s supporting players on each kick.
Moody was far from the only culprit in February’s overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. So many other things have gone wrong.
But so much also went right — in this game and in Moody’s rookie year as a highly-scrutinized third-round pick. He is currently the only kicker on the 49ers roster, unlike last year when Zane Gonzalez lasted the entire preseason.
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Moody has been flawless during both 49ers practices open to the media over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers have three kickers on their roster, including two hired to challenge Anders Carlson, who capped his own rookie struggles last year by missing a 41-yard try in the fourth quarter in the loss of the Packers in the playoffs against the 49ers.
Moody’s finale – the Super Bowl – is where he also had the best kick of his rookie year, bringing confidence and momentum for the season to come. With 1:57 left in regulation, coach Kyle Shanahan trusted Moody to attempt a 53-yard field goal on fourth-and-5 in a tie game. Moody made it, putting the 49ers ahead 19-16.
“To see him come back and hit it 53 yards in 1:57, that was his best kick of the year,” Schneider said. “So for me, I know exactly who he is because I’m with him every day. And I think the more opportunities everyone has, the more they will see that too. »
Moody made 3 of 3 field goal attempts in the Super Bowl, with each kick putting the 49ers ahead, starting with a 55-yarder for a 3-0 lead in the second quarter. It was the longest in Super Bowl history, until Chiefs counterpart Harrison Butker converted a 57-yard field goal in the third quarter. Moody’s final field goal was a 27-yarder on the 49ers’ overtime possession, and those three points just weren’t enough to thwart the Chiefs’ counterattack that led to a touchdown and their second consecutive Lombardi Trophy.
“At the end of the day, he’s built for this, and I say that because of the Super Bowl,” Schneider said enthusiastically Wednesday, during his first news conference since the Super Bowl.
As for Moody’s blocked kick, it came after Brock Purdy’s touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings in the fourth quarter; Moody made his first 60 point-after tries before missing his final try in the regular season finale (a one-point loss to the Rams).
Moody was understandably discouraged after the Super Bowl. Asked in the locker room to sum up his season, Moody told reporters: “Right now the only thing that matters to me is this game, and I feel like shit.”
Moody missed field goal attempts in each of the 49ers’ NFC playoff comebacks. A 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked just before halftime against the Packers; the 49ers led 7-6 and eventually rallied for a 24-21 victory. Moody also missed from the 48 (wide right) on the 49ers’ first possession in their NFC Championship Game win over the Lions.
Schneider summed up Moody’s rookie season as “a tremendous learning experience” filled with adversity. Moody’s quads needed rest late in the preseason, and he essentially cost the 49ers their perfect record when he missed a 41-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of their 19-17 loss to Cleveland.
“He’s always responded to adversity, which to me is what kickers should be,” Schneider said, “and we try to end adversity.”
Pressure kicks are one thing. Now, Moody will likely have to show off his field goal skills under the NFL’s new kickoff rule, which favors the returning team. “The only advantage for a kickoff team is having a kicker who can move it and keep the returner off balance instead of a nice catch and go,” Schneider said. “It’s happening a lot faster than before.”
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