Matt Stover has come to grips with his life after football. If his phone rings in late July or August, he is prepared to continue his career as one of the NFL's best kickers.
And if not ...
"Then my last kick for the Baltimore Ravens against Tennessee, wow, what a way to go out," Stover said.
It was another classic Stover moment. With the outcome of the game in doubt, Stover trotted out on the field before a boisterous crowd of 69,143 at LP Field to kick the game-winning 43-yard field goal with 53 seconds remaining as the Ravens edged the Titans, 13-10, in the AFC semifinals last season.
Stover has always been clutch in big games. In fact, he has 13 game-winning field goals and is the second-most-accurate field-goal kicker in NFL history. He owns the record for consecutive games with a field goal (38), is third on the NFL's all-time field goal list with 462 and is fifth in all-time scoring with 1,944 points.
Stover's only problem is that he has been too good for too long. Nineteen seasons in the NFL is almost unheard of, and Stover, 41, is at the age when most of his former NFL peers are swallowing painkillers and visiting chiropractors.
For a few years now, Stover has shown signs of age, especially with his declining distance on kickoffs. Team officials were also a little uncertain about him connecting on field goals outside 45 yards.
After last season, the Ravens declined to re-sign Stover and now have two young kickers on the roster in rookie Graham Gano and second-year player Steve Hauschka. It was a logical decision, but coach John Harbaugh has been smart enough not to turn his back on Stover.
Harbaugh and Stover have talked a couple of times this offseason, once within the past two weeks. And it wasn't about the weather.
"There has always been great communication between John and me, and I was a great communicator between John and the players," Stover said. "When he wanted to know how the players felt about practices and so forth, I would tell him and say, 'Here is what they're saying; do with it what you want.' It worked, because we were all on the same page in what turned out to be a great season last year.
"It was a personal phone call, and he wanted to know how I was doing and if I was still kicking and if I was staying in shape," Stover said.
Harbaugh is no dummy. His eyes are on the future, but his mind is in the past because Stover is a great insurance policy. The Ravens won't know whether they have a legitimate replacement for Stover until they perform in preseason games.
