Rob Issa, FISM News
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Dustin Hopkins fell to the turf after kicking the ball, unable to stay on his feet to watch his game-winning field goal sail through the uprights after suffering a hamstring injury earlier in the game.
Hopkins’ teammates picked him up off the ground after his clutch kick won the game. They lifted him up on their shoulders.
A few moments later, an ESPN reporter interviewed him on the field during the broadcast, a rare opportunity for a kicker. She asked Hopkins about kicking while dealing with the pain.
He chose to first give thanks and praise to Jesus.
“Before I directly answer that, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” Hopkins said. “I’ve got so much to be thankful for apart from football. So when something like this happens, I’m blessed either way. To be on the good side of that [winning kick], it obviously feels a lot better. But yeah, I was hurting pretty good.”
LA Chargers kicker Dustin Hopkins could barely stand and he kicked the game-winning FG for a Chargers 19-16 win over the Broncos. Lisa Salters asked him about it:
“Before I directly answer that, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” @Sports_Spectrum @JasonRomano pic.twitter.com/zSWcI1LUob
— Jack Vita (@JackVitaShow) October 18, 2022
Despite the pain in his leg, Hopkins made four field goals in the game, including a 39-yarder with 2:38 remaining in overtime, to lift the Los Angeles Chargers to a 19-16 victory over the Denver Broncos on Monday night.
On a bum leg, Dustin Hopkins with the game-winner! 😤
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/nW5HRYKTyC
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 18, 2022
“I felt good pre-game coming back from last week but then that first extra point I felt a pop and it went downhill from there,” Hopkins said.
The ninth-year kicker missed last week’s game because of a quadriceps injury. He returned only to get hurt again in the first half against the Broncos but remained in the game.
Hopkins also connected from 37, 31, and 35 yards.
“It didn’t matter,” Hopkins said when asked which distance he felt comfortable. “If it was gonna hurt, what’s the difference if it’s 20 or 55? Just give it a rip and that was it. … Before every kick you knew that it was going to feel like somebody stabbed you with a knife. … Pain is temporary. I was just kind of committed to swinging and dealing with the pain after the kick.”
Chargers coach Brandon Staley praised Hopkins for his resilience in the locker room and presented him with a game ball.
“You can’t say enough about him hanging in there,” Staley said. “Early in the third quarter, we were going to be careful with him which is why we went for it. But at the end, we had no choice. We were going to kick no matter what.”
Hopkins gathered the team and broke the huddle down with: “Thank you, Lord, on three.”
The Chargers improved to 4-2 with the comeback win. The Broncos fell to 2-4 in Russell Wilson’s first season with the team and Nathaniel Hackett’s first as the head coach.
Wilson completed his first 10 passes, including a 39-yard touchdown pass to Greg Dulcich for a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. His first nine completions were to nine different players, the first time that’s happened since play-by-play data was first recorded in 1991. But Wilson went 5-for-18 the rest of the game.
“We gotta be better. We gotta play sharper. We gotta find ways to make plays,” Wilson said. “That’s a good team over there, but I feel like we’re just as good if not better. We have to answer the call. Adversity is challenging us right now. The only way I know how is to believe. Everybody is playing for each other. I felt like we could’ve won the game. Everybody is together.”
Justin Herbert completed 37-of-57 passes for 238 yards and one interception for the Chargers.
The game turned when Denver’s Montrell Washington muffed JK Scott’s punt at the Broncos’ 32-yard line after a teammate was pushed into him. The ball was recovered by Deane Leonard at Denver’s 28-yard line, setting up Hopkins’ winning kick.
“We have so much respect for him,” Herbert said of Hopkins. “We know he’s hurting. He’s tough. For him to go and play and put up with pain like that, it’s great to see.”
The Broncos became the first team to lose two straight games in overtime since San Francisco in 2017.
The Chargers have won three in a row and are tied with the Kansas City Chiefs for first place in the AFC West.
“Our defense came to play tonight,” Staley said.