The Chiefs are gonna Chief, Chief, Chief, Chief, Chief. David Treadwell’s advice for Alex Forsyth right about now?
Forget Travis Kelce.
Shake it off.
Shake it off.
“You’ve got to get back on the horse,” the former Broncos Super Bowl kicker told me Monday as we were still processing the final seconds of Those Lucky Son of a Guns 16, Denver 14.
“(I’d tell him), ‘Hey, I know you’ll do better next time.’ What can you say? He’s got a tough assignment. He’s out there battling on the offensive line, and he gets bull-rushed. To be honest, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more.”
Like most of Broncos Country, Treadwell spent Sunday afternoon watching Denver-KC from the couch. And like the rest of us, he spent some of the rest of the day picking his jaw off the floor.
“I literally yelled out, ‘Oh, no, you’ve got to be kidding me!’” said Treadwell, Dan Reeves’ kicker from 1989-92 and a Pro Bowler in 1990. “Because that was, essentially, the new extra point.”
Alas, he witnessed the left side of Denver’s protection unit go down like a row of dominoes, helping the Chiefs to block what should’ve been a game-winning, Arrowhead-crushing, 35-yard field goal by Wil Lutz.
“Field goal kicking is so good now that we just almost take it for granted,” Treadwell said. “And these things still happen. You’ve still got to go out there and run through the process. You’ve got to get a good snap, a good hold …”
Treadwell walked a few miles in Lutz’s cleats, straight to the nearest bottle of aspirin. Despite a career 77.1% make rate in the NFL, Lutz’s miss brought back No. 9’s memories of a wild day in September 1990, when Buffalo swatted away a gimmie 24-yard field goal try and Bills star Cornelius Bennett ran it back 80 yards for a TD.
Thanks to YouTube, Treadwell’s children can re-live that moment anytime they like. Especially the parts where holder (and future Broncos championship coach) Gary Kubiak accidentally face-plants himself in the old Orchard Park turf, while Treadwell chases Bennett to the end zone, fruitlessly.
“My kids’ reaction to it was, ‘Oh, you got it blocked,” the former Broncos kicker chuckled. “Then they go, ‘Wow, you were pretty fast, Dad.’”
Nate Odomes gets through the Denver line to block David Treadwell’s field goal from the 14-yard line. The blocked kick was picked up by Benett who ran it in for the TD on Sept. 30, 1990, in Buffalo, N.Y. (Photo by Ron Moscati/The Buffalo News)
In truth, though, The Forsyth Flop more closely resembled the wacky ending to a particularly bonkers Broncos-Raiders tussle at old Mile High back on Nov. 10, 1991.
Long story short, John Elway drove the hosts, who trailed 17-16, to the Raiders’ 30-yard line with six seconds left. Treadwell trotted on to take care of the rest from 48 yards out. Or so he thought.
“It’s the worst sound in field-goal kicking — the double thump, the pop-pop!” he explained. “(The first pop is off) your foot and then (the second pop when) it hits their hands.”
A wave of silver and black had amassed over the snapper and one Raider defender, James FitzPatrick, a 6-foot-8, 305-pound lineman, somehow got a paw up high enough to deflect the attempt.
“That one stung because it was a friend that had blocked (an extra point earlier), Scott Davis,” Treadwell recalled. “We were college seniors together over in the Hula Bowl, and (he was a) great guy, and doggone it, he got me.
“We looked at it on film and it was one hand in this sea of hands up. And I had thought I’d hit a pretty good ball. Who knows? Maybe I hit it a smidge low. Maybe he’d positioned his hand in the perfect spot. That was probably the closest parallel (to Sunday).”
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Fun fact: Those ’91 Broncos went on to win the game after that, sweeping the Chiefs at Kansas City. And they won five of six to close out the season, notching an AFC West title and a Divisional round playoff win over Houston, 26-24. That last one ended on a game-winning, 28-yard Treadwell field goal to cap a 2:07 Elway masterpiece that became known as “The Drive II.”
“It does mess with you mentally,” Treadwell said of those game-ending stuffs. “Like anything, it makes you gun-shy for a second. The best advice I would give (them) is to get out and do some live reps, against live pressure, and I’m sure that’s what (Broncos coach) Sean Payton will have them do.
“They were ready. They did everything right. The Chiefs just did it a smidge better on that play, and doggone it, it hurts Broncos Country more because we had this.”
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But the music in Treadwell’s mind says it’s gonna be all right. For one thing, the hardest fortnight of the season is over and done with. For another, the next four tilts on the Broncos’ fight card — vs. Atlanta, at Las Vegas, vs. Cleveland, vs. Indianapolis — are all immensely winnable.
“I’m sure for Forsyth, it’ll be better next time,” Treadwell said. “That’s all I would say (to him as a kicker is), ‘Hey, I got you, you got me, we’ll be better next time.’
“It’s all you can do.”
Shake it off. Like the lady said, you got to.
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