NASHVILLE, Tenn. —Titans kicker Ryan Succop has been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Succop kicked a 53-yard field goal to lift the Titans to a dramatic 19-17 win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The kick came on the final play of the game. Succop also made a 39-yard kick earlier in the contest.
"I told some of the guys this afterward: You could give me 10 kicks from there and I don't know if I could make one, honestly, in the weather and the cold and just kicking a frozen football,'' Succop said after the game.
"There is one explanation for why that ball went in and it's because it was the Lord's will for it to go in. Glory to God. What a day."
Succop's kick capped off a six-play, 40-yard drive that was engineered by quarterback Marcus Mariota. Trailing 17-16 with 1:07 left, the Titans took over at their own 25-yard line.
Succop hit a career-long 54-yard kick earlier in his career, but that was back in 2011, when he played for the Chiefs. In warmups, he didn't even try a kick longer than 49 yards. The temperature was a minus-one at kickoff on Sunday in Kansas City, with a wind chill of minus-nine.
Succop, an eight-year veteran who spent his first five NFL seasons with the Chiefs, got especially emotional after making the kick.
"Just pure adrenaline, and so much emotion,'' Succop said. "I was telling some of the guys, I have really never gotten that emotional after a game, but it was just an incredible feeling. Not knowing if I could even hit one that far.
"I watched it the whole time, and I wasn't sure it went in or not. When I saw the referees (put his hands up) that is when I knew, and it was just an incredible feeling."
Succop has won four career Special Teams Player of the Week Awards (3 with Kansas City). He's the first Titans kicker to win since the award since Rob Bironas in 2007.
The Tennessee Titans take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15 action at Arrowhead Stadium. (Photos: Donn Jones, AP)
