JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- He knew it was on target when he hit it. But Josh Scobee had to wait to make sure his 59-yard game winning field goal had the distance.
Once he knew it did, he took off his helmet, held it aloft and started scurrying, enjoying a high speed chase that would have made the best of bank-robbers proud.
David Garrard played the part of the sheriff who just couldn’t catch up.
“I was like, ‘Scobee, you are making me look so bad right now,’” Garrard said. “I could not catch him. I would change my angle and he would outrun it. I was like, ‘This dude is not that fast.’”
Said Scobee: “I think I blacked out for about 10 seconds. It was incredible.
It was the seventh game-winning field goal of Scobee’s seven-season career. It was six yards longer than his previous career best, which he’s set three times. It was the longest field goal he’s ever made at any level, he said.
It was also his third game-winner against the Colts -- he hit a 53-yarder to beat Indianapolis at the RCA Dome and in 2008 he did it again there from 51 yards.
Following Garrard at the table for his post-game press session, Scobee joked it was 30 more reporters than he usually spoke to. He’d told Garrard to just get it inside the 40 to give him a chance in regulation, and Garrard’s final completion to Tiquan Underwood landed them at the 41 before an incompletion.
“I was told it cleared by 3 yards,” he said. “But I don’t care. If it was one inch, I’m happy with it.”
Scobee’s best attribute is his big leg, but in 2009 he said he pressed too often and said he wasn’t happy with any of his extra-long attempts. He missed from 63, 52, 55, 58, 53, and 57 last year.
“This one I just told myself, ‘Stay calm, make a good clean strike and the ball should go through,’” he said.
He got a perfect snap from Jeremy Cain, a perfect hold from Adam Podlesh and sustained blocks from everyone in front of them.
“I don’t want to have a lot of tries like that, like at the end of the half we had four last year,” coach Jack Del Rio said. “We don’t want to put him in those situations early in ball games but we know he has the leg at the end to give us the opportunity, and he nailed it.”