Raiders Kicker Daniel Carlson Named AFC Special Teams Player Of The Week

Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson played a huge role in the team’s 34-30 opening week victory over the Carolina Panthers and his efforts were rewarded by the NFL as he was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

Carlson was perfect on the day, nailing all four of his PATs along with both of his field-goal attempts, one of which was a career-long 54-yarder which had plenty of room to spare. That third-quarter field goal gave the Raiders a 20-15 lead which the Raiders were ultimately able to hold on to in the end.

Carlson scored 10 points in total for the Raiders, tied for the second-most in the AFC in Week 1. His 54-yarder was the longest in the AFC and second-longest in the NFL trailing only a 56-yarder from Zane Gonzalez of the Arizona Cardinals. His four extra points made were also the second-most in the AFC behind Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker’s five.

The performance from Carlson looks even better considering the struggles of kickers around the NFL in Week 1. There were a total of 19 missed field goals across all games along with another five missed extra points, one of which came from Carlson’s opposition, Panthers kicker Joey Slye.

The 71.6% conversion rate for all kickers was the worst Week 1 performance since 1998, capped off by the Titans’ Stephen Gostkowski missing three of his four attempts on Monday night, not to mention Randy Bullock of the Cincinnati Bengals missing a 31-yard attempt that would’ve sent their game to overtime.

This is the second time in Carlson’s career that he has won this award with the first coming in his rookie year of 2018. In the Raiders’ Week 11 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Carlson hit all four of his PATs and all three of his field-goal attempts including a then-career long 49 yarder and a 35-yarder as time expired to lift the Raiders to victory.