By Jerry McDonald/The Oakland Tribune
Move over, Tim Brown, you’ve got company. As unlikely as it would have seemed 15 years ago, place kicker Sebastian Janikowski is on the verge making Raiders history. When the Raiders visit the Chicago Bears on Sunday, it will be Janikowski’s 240th game, tying Brown for the most games played.
The following week against Denver, Janikowski will stand alone in terms of on-field service to the organization, ahead of Hall of Famers Brown (240), Gene Upshaw (217), Art Shell (207) and Ray Guy (207). “It means a lot,” Janikowski said. “I’m doing something right, right?”
A checkered history including run-ins with the law late in his career at Florida State and early with the Raiders gradually gave way to Janikowski being one of the NFL’s most consistent and reliable performers at his position. He’s married, the father of 3-year-old twins, and a different person than the one Charles Woodson remembered when Al Davis made Janikowski a controversial first-round draft pick in 2000. “No one could believe it,” Woodson said. “But I guess it worked out.”
At age 37, Janikowski appears to be kicking as well as ever, converting field goal attempts of 23, 46, 48, 23 and 35 yards without a miss, and he has no thoughts of retirement.“In this league, you get injuries,” Janikowski said. “I never thought I would play this long. But I feel great, and I’m going to keep playing as long as I can.” Janikowski is energised by a new coaching staff and loves the new performance centre, a place he wouldn’t have visited nearly as often in the early years. He is wise enough not to put too much stock in a 2-1 record. “I like the changes,” Janikowski said. “Nice building. We’ve got a facility now. We can work out. But 2-1 doesn’t mean anything. It’s a long season.”
Jack Del Rio is Janikowski’s ninth head coach with the Raiders. Previous coaches were fine with Janikowski missing much of the offseason voluntary workouts so long as he showed up to training camp in Napa ready to go. Del Rio had other ideas and was pleased to see Janikowski, entering his 16th season, as being on board.
“I thought it was imperative that he was around, so we could work on the things we needed to work on to get our special teams unit up to speed,” Del Rio said. “He complied and made that happen. Once he understood the why, he embraced it and was here.” If there’s a secret to Janikowski’s longevity, it’s a workout program that keeps his body in shape and his left leg fresh rather than hammering the ball from training camp through 17 weeks of the regular season.
Long-snapper Jon Condo, a teammate since 2007, said it’s not unusual to see Janikowski icing down in the cold tub following a workout, something he didn’t do earlier in his career.
“I’m doing more stuff. I lift more,” Janikowski said. “But you’ve got to manage how much you’re kicking during the week. (It used to be) Week 24, 25, I’d kick three times a week. Can’t do that any more.” The leading scorer in franchise history with 1,597 points, Janikowski has yet to add to his 48 field goals of 50 yards or more, leaving him four shy of Jason Hanson’s all-time record of 52 in 21 seasons.
Asked if he is still at the top of his game, Janikowski said, “You look at my stats? That’s how I can tell. I’m doing the same thing I did 10 years ago, hitting 60-yarders in warmups before games. I don’t see the difference. The more you do, the more you work out, you can be strong.”
