Matt Ammendola summed up a kicker's fate in the NFL.
"Every single day could be the last day, the last kick," the Jets' placekicker said on Thursday. "You never know. You have to take every rep with the mentality that it is a game-winning kick. You have to make everything. I want to prove myself to this organization that has given me the opportunity to have a shot."
Among the ever-precarious jobs in the NFL, perhaps the kicker is the most vulnerable. A missed field-goal attempt here, a shanked extra-point attempt there ... and the guy could be gone. Across the league it's rinse and repeat.
At one point in his three-sport high school career, Ammendola, 24, was a skillful soccer player who seemed headed to a collegiate career in the football played with a round ball. But he was asked to try out as a kicker for North Penn HS in Lansdale, PA, and quickly launched a school record 56-yard field goal along the way. It was on to Oklahoma State and a solid career over four years where he converted 60-of-78 field goals and 179-of-183 extra points, and which included First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors each year. He went undrafted and spent a couple of months with the Panthers this past offseason before being cut by Carolina.
He won the Jets job over rookie Chris Naggar and promptly nailed all three of his FG attempts in the preseason win at Green Bay, including a 54-yarder.
"The more you do it, the more comfortable you get," Ammendola said. "Oftentimes you mix comfort with complacency, but I'm not complacent. I don't want to get comfortable, you want the good jitters. I love to be out there.
"At the end of day I just want to make my kicks, whether in practice or games. I just want to go out and prove myself that I belong in the NFL. I've been working hard for this moment and I'm ready to go."
"Every single day could be the last day, the last kick," the Jets' placekicker said on Thursday. "You never know. You have to take every rep with the mentality that it is a game-winning kick. You have to make everything. I want to prove myself to this organization that has given me the opportunity to have a shot."
Among the ever-precarious jobs in the NFL, perhaps the kicker is the most vulnerable. A missed field-goal attempt here, a shanked extra-point attempt there ... and the guy could be gone. Across the league it's rinse and repeat.
At one point in his three-sport high school career, Ammendola, 24, was a skillful soccer player who seemed headed to a collegiate career in the football played with a round ball. But he was asked to try out as a kicker for North Penn HS in Lansdale, PA, and quickly launched a school record 56-yard field goal along the way. It was on to Oklahoma State and a solid career over four years where he converted 60-of-78 field goals and 179-of-183 extra points, and which included First Team Academic All-Big 12 honors each year. He went undrafted and spent a couple of months with the Panthers this past offseason before being cut by Carolina.
He won the Jets job over rookie Chris Naggar and promptly nailed all three of his FG attempts in the preseason win at Green Bay, including a 54-yarder.
"The more you do it, the more comfortable you get," Ammendola said. "Oftentimes you mix comfort with complacency, but I'm not complacent. I don't want to get comfortable, you want the good jitters. I love to be out there.
"At the end of day I just want to make my kicks, whether in practice or games. I just want to go out and prove myself that I belong in the NFL. I've been working hard for this moment and I'm ready to go."