John Lee Gives Cardinal Scoring Problems a Swift Kick in Preseason Games

John Lee, a former UCLA place-kicker and the second-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals last April, has started his professional career right where he left off in college.

Lee, a two-time first-team All-American, converted on field goal attempts of 39, 20 and 39 yards to help lead the Cardinals past the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 26-10, in National Football League exhibition action last week.

Through two preseason games, Lee is 6 for 6, having hit field goals of 28, 39 and 25 yards against the New England Patriots in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 2. He’s also 1 for 1 in point-after-touchdown attempts.

“Those all are chip shots,” said Lee, who rewrote the NCAA record books with his 79 regular-season field goals, an .859 career percentage (79 of 92) and a .964 percentage for attempts inside 40 yards (54 of 56).

“If I miss those, it would devastate the team,” Lee said. “You can’t drive 50, 60 yards and come up with nothing.”

That’s exactly what the Cardinals frequently did last year.

Neil O’Donoghue, the Auburn product who ended a six-year career with the Cards last season, converted just 10 of 18 field goals, 8 of 12 inside the 40-yard line.

That helps explain the Cards’ 5-11 record and the selection of Lee with the 32nd pick of the draft, which made him the fourth-highest kicker ever selected. Only Charlie Gogolak (Washington, 1966), Steve Little (St. Louis, 1976) and Russell Erxleben (New Orleans, 1979) have been picked higher in the draft.

“I want points, so I’m very pleased (with Lee),” said Gene Stallings, who is in his first year as a head coach after 14 seasons as an assistant at Dallas. “The kicking game has been good.”

All of the credit can’t go to Lee.

St. Louis currently has two other kickers on the roster, Danny Miller, a free agent from Miami of Florida, and Evan Arapostathis, a rookie free agent from Eastern Illinois.

Against Tampa Bay, Miller hit a 27-yard field goal, missed one from 52 yards and converted on both PATs. He and Arapostathis have handled much of the kicking off so far.

In his career at UCLA, Lee did not kick off. Ken Potter had that responsibility during Lee’s first three seasons, and Jim Bray did it last year.

In fact, if Lee has a flaw, it is his inexperience kicking off.

Lee thought he answered some of his critics in two all-star games last season, in which he kicked off eight times and eight times put the ball into the end zone.

As a professional, Lee has kicked off only twice, both times against the Buccaneers. The game’s opening kickoff went to the 9-yard line, while his other attempt reached the 7.

While college teams can have two kickers, one to kick field goals and extra points and one to kickoff, on their 100-man rosters, NFL teams have room for only 45 players.

“I doubt if we can afford the luxury of having two guys kicking off,” said Stallings after the Tampa Bay game, seemingly unconcerned about Lee handling that duty. “I didn’t want him kicking that old, heavy ball too much tonight.”

Lee is certain he can do more than just make field goals.

“All I have to do is just go out there and kick the ball,” he said after the Tampa Bay exhibition match. “Tonight, you really couldn’t kick the ball that well because the ground was so soft (after a 50-minute thunderstorm). So, I just kind of stroked the ball. The last thing I want to do is slip and fall.”

After all, an injury would be about the only thing stopping Lee, who signed a contract worth a reported $900,000 for four years.