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John Carney (American football)

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John Carney
refer to caption
Carney with the Giants in 2008
No. 4, 3, 18, 1, 5
Position:Kicker
Personal information
Born: (1964-04-20) April 20, 1964 (age 60)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Height:5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight:185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school:Cardinal Newman
(West Palm Beach, Florida)
College:Notre Dame (1984–1986)
Undrafted:1987
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Field goals attempted:580
Field goals made:478
Field goal percentage:82.4%
Extra points attempted:638
Extra points made:628
Extra point percentage:98.4%
Points scored:2,062
Longest field goal:54
Stats at Pro Football Reference

John Michael Carney (born April 20, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a kicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 1987.

Carney was also a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, and New York Giants. He was a Pro Bowl selection with the Chargers in 1994 and with the Giants in 2008. When he was released from the Saints' active roster in December 2009, Carney was third on the NFL career scoring list with a career total of 2,044 points.[1][2] He was the last remaining player from the 1980s still active in professional football. He has also worked as a kicking consultant for the Saints.

Early life

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Carney attended Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, and lettered in football. In football, he won All-State honors as a punter.

College career

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Carney attended the University of Notre Dame and played football for the Fighting Irish from 1984 to 1986. He was named to Notre Dame's all-time team by Sports Illustrated.[citation needed]

Professional career

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Cincinnati Bengals

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After going undrafted in the 1987 NFL draft, Carney was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. He was released prior to the regular season and spent the year out of football.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

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Carney played five games for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers between 1988 and 1989. He converted two of five field goal attempts and all six extra point attempts. At the time of his retirement, he was the last active player to wear the Buccaneers orange uniform scheme.

San Diego Chargers (first stint)

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Carney attended training camp with the San Diego Chargers in 1990, but did not make the final roster.

Los Angeles Rams

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Carney played one game for the Los Angeles Rams in 1990, but did not attempt a field goal or extra point. He was the last remaining active Los Angeles Ram, until the team moved back to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016.

San Diego Chargers (second stint)

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Carney was re-signed by the Chargers during the 1990 season, appearing in 12 games for the team and converting 19 of 21 field goal attempts. He played 11 seasons with the Chargers through the 2000 season, earning his first Pro Bowl selection in 1994 after going 34-for-38 (89.5 percent) on field goal attempts as the Chargers made it to the Super Bowl. To this day, he remains the Chargers' all-time leading scorer.

New Orleans Saints (first stint)

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Carney signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent prior to the 2001 season.

On December 21, 2003, the Saints were trailing the Jaguars 20–13 with 7 seconds left in regulation. Quarterback Aaron Brooks threw the ball in a hurry to Donte Stallworth. As time expired, the Saints continued to lateral the ball around until wide receiver Jerome Pathon eventually scored a touchdown in what became known as the River City Relay. Carney was sent out to kick the extra point to tie the game up and force overtime. Instead, Carney pushed the ball wide right and the Saints lost 19–20. The loss would eliminate the Saints from playoff contention.

Carney kicked a game-winning field goal against the Carolina Panthers following Hurricane Katrina. He then appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with quarterback Aaron Brooks on September 19, 2005, as the city celebrated this victory.

On April 5, 2007, Carney asked and was given permission to leave the Saints after their acquisition of kicker Olindo Mare.

Jacksonville Jaguars

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Following Week 1 of the 2007 NFL season, Carney signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars replacing injured placekicker Josh Scobee. Carney appeared in eight games for the Jaguars in Scobee's absence, converting nine of 11 field goal attempts and 20 of 21 extra point attempts. He was released on November 19 upon Scobee's return.

Kansas City Chiefs

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On November 26, 2007, the Kansas City Star reported that the Kansas City Chiefs would sign Carney after holding tryouts to replace Dave Rayner – making Carney the fourth placekicker to play for the Chiefs within a one-year period, following Lawrence Tynes, Justin Medlock and Rayner. Carney appeared in five games for the Chiefs, going 3-for-3 on field goal attempts and 7-for-7 on extra point attempts.

New York Giants

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Carney with Jeff Feagles in 2008; in their 40s both were kickers for the New York Giants.

On August 30, 2008, Carney signed with the New York Giants to fill in while Tynes recovered from a knee injury sustained in training camp. Although Tynes would eventually recover from his injury Carney continued to hold on to the starting position and Tynes was relegated to kickoff duties. At age 44, Carney was the oldest active NFL player during the 2008 season.[3]

After a near perfect season (35-for-38 on field goal attempts with two blocked),[4] Carney was chosen as the starting kicker for the NFC for the 2009 Pro Bowl. Carney was not re-signed after his contract expired, leaving him a free agent entering the 2009 season.

New Orleans Saints (second stint)

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Following the announcement that New Orleans Saints placekicker Garrett Hartley would be suspended for the first four games of the 2009 season, Carney returned to New Orleans on August 15 on a one-year contract.[5] With his start on November 30, he became the sixth player in NFL history to reach 300 career games. Carney was waived on December 22, two weeks after Hartley regained the starting job.[1]

On December 24, 2009, the Saints announced that Carney had been hired as a "kicking consultant", with responsibility for the snap and hold as well as working on kicking with his successor, Hartley. The appointment meant that Carney was ineligible to kick for any team for the rest of the 2009 season.[6] Carney remained with the Saints in this capacity through the playoffs, and received credit for his role in preparing the comparatively inexperienced Hartley to make a number of critical kicks that helped the Saints win their first Super Bowl.[7][8]

Carney started the 2010 season without a team. However, after Hartley missed 3 out of 7 field goal attempts during the Saints' first 3 games, including a short kick in overtime that would have won a game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Saints re-signed Carney (while also retaining Hartley) on September 28, 2010.[9] The signing made him the oldest active player in the NFL at the age of 46. On October 3, 2010, he kicked three field goals in a Saints win against the Carolina Panthers, and became the third oldest player to play in an NFL game (behind only George Blanda and Morten Andersen).[10] On October 12, the Saints released Carney for the third time. Carney would not sign with another NFL team. He became the third NFL player after George Blanda and Jeff Feagles to play across four different decades.

NFL career statistics

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Legend
Won the Super Bowl
Led the league
Bold Career high
Year Team GP Field goals PATs Pts
FGM FGA FG% <20 20−29 30−39 40−49 50+ LNG BLK XPM XPA XP%
1988 TB 4 2 5 40.0 0–0 2–3 0–1 0–1 0–0 29 0 6 6 100.0 12
1989 TB 1 0 0 0.0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0
1990 LAR 1 0 0 0.0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0
SD 12 19 21 90.5 2–2 8–8 6–7 3–3 0–1 43 0 27 28 96.4 84
1991 SD 16 19 29 65.5 1–1 6–6 6–8 4–10 2–4 54 1 31 31 100.0 88
1992 SD 16 26 32 81.3 0–0 13–14 5–7 7–8 1–3 50 2 35 35 100.0 113
1993 SD 16 31 40 77.5 1–1 7–7 14–17 7–12 2–3 51 3 31 33 93.9 124
1994 SD 16 34 38 89.5 0–0 12–12 15–15 5–9 2–2 50 0 33 33 100.0 135
1995 SD 16 21 26 80.8 0–0 8–8 10–11 3–5 0–2 45 1 32 33 97.0 95
1996 SD 16 29 36 80.6 0–0 11–13 8–8 7–12 3–3 53 1 31 31 100.0 118
1997 SD 4 7 7 100.0 0–0 3–3 2–2 2–2 0–0 41 0 5 5 100.0 26
1998 SD 16 26 30 86.7 0–0 11–12 5–5 8–10 2–3 54 0 19 19 100.0 97
1999 SD 16 31 36 86.1 2–2 13–13 6–8 9–12 1–1 50 2 22 23 95.7 115
2000 SD 16 18 25 72.0 1–1 3–3 5–7 7–10 2–4 54 2 27 27 100.0 81
2001 NO 15 27 31 87.1 0–0 7–7 11–11 8–12 1–1 50 2 32 32 100.0 113
2002 NO 16 31 35 88.6 0–0 9–9 11–13 11–12 0–1 48 0 37 37 100.0 130
2003 NO 16 22 30 73.3 0–0 6–6 10–12 5–9 1–3 50 1 36 37 97.3 102
2004 NO 16 22 27 81.5 0–0 3–3 12–15 5–6 2–3 53 1 38 38 100.0 104
2005 NO 16 25 32 78.1 1–1 12–13 4–6 8–12 0–0 49 2 22 22 100.0 97
2006 NO 16 23 25 92.0 1–1 9–9 7–8 5–6 1–1 51 1 46 47 97.9 115
2007 JAX 8 9 11 81.8 2–2 3–3 3–3 1–3 0–0 41 1 20 21 95.2 47
KC 5 3 3 100.0 0–0 0–0 2–2 1–1 0–0 40 0 7 7 100.0 16
2008 NYG 15 35 38 92.1 0–0 15–15 14–15 5–7 1–1 51 2 38 38 100.0 143
2009 NO 11 13 17 76.5 0–0 6–6 5–8 2–3 0–0 46 2 50 52 96.2 89
2010 NO 2 5 6 83.3 0–0 1–2 4–4 0–0 0–0 32 0 3 3 100.0 18
Career 302 478 580 82.4 11–11 168–175 165–193 113–165 21–36 54 24 628 638 98.4 2,062

NFL records

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  • Most games with 6 or more field goals in a career: 2 – tied with Gary Anderson, Jeff Wilkins, and Jim Bakken
  • Most games with 6 or more field goals in a season (1993): 2
  • Most games with 5 or more field goals in a career: 11
  • Most games with 4 or more field goals in a career: 29
  • Most decades played: 4 (1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s) – tied with George Blanda

Personal life

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John has been married to Producer Holly Carney for 28 years. They share 3 children, Luke Carney, JD Carney and Keely Carney. Both JD and Keely attended John's alma mater The University of Notre Dame. John runs a pre-season kicking training camp in San Diego for professional kickers called "The Launching Pad".[11]

The Carney family are devout Catholics.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b Triplett, Mike (December 22, 2009). "Former New Orleans Saints kicker John Carney discusses his release". Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  2. ^ "Weekly Top 20 – Scoring". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  3. ^ Giants Sign Carney, 44, At Kicker Archived September 29, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "NFL – Players Rosters – National Football League – ESPN". Archived from the original on October 3, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
  5. ^ Luke, Michael (August 15, 2009). "Saints sign kicker John Carney". wwltv.com. Retrieved August 15, 2009. [dead link]
  6. ^ Hogan, Nakia (December 24, 2009). "John Carney returns to the New Orleans Saints as a kicking consultant". Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  7. ^ Berardino, Mike (February 4, 2010). "Even as consultant, John Carney helps Saints make Super Bowl". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  8. ^ D'Angelo, Tom (February 3, 2010). "Cardinal Newman great John Carney gets a kick out of helping Saints hero Garrett Hartley handle pressure". Palm Beach Post. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  9. ^ "John Carney back with Saints". September 28, 2010.
  10. ^ Handwerger, Bradley (October 3, 2010). "Carney strikes again for Saints". WWL-TV. Archived from the original on June 22, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
  11. ^ "Kicking Coach John Carney – Launching Pad". Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  12. ^ "All-Time NFL Scoring Leader Speaks of Need for Fatima". NCR. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
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