Atkinson Was Given the Boot, Now He’s Doing the Kicking

Three weeks ago, Jess Atkinson was just a regular guy, working the 9-to-5 grind, trying to squeeze by on the $1,500 a month he was earning as a loan officer in an Annapolis, Md., mortgage corporation.

Sunday, he was a regular football hero.

Atkinson, who signed a contract with the Washington Redskins on Dec. 16, kicked four field goals, one in each quarter, to help the Redskins defeat the Rams, 19-7, in the NFC wild-card playoff game before 54,180 in RFK Stadium.

Atkinson connected on all four of his field goal attempts, from 25, 20, 38 and 19 yards, to tie a Redskin playoff record. Curt Knight also kicked four field goals against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1972 NFC championship game.

Afterward, Atkinson was greeted with all the traditional trimmings of a record performance.

First, Coach Joe Gibbs presented him with a game ball. Next, he got to play speaker of the house, entertaining a huge pack of reporters with the extraordinary tale of how he went from ex-NFL kicker trying to make it in the business world to NFL star.

Atkinson, a 1985 graduate of the University of Maryland, was cut by four NFL teams, including the Redskins, who waived him before the 1986 season.

He couldn’t find any work around the NFL, so he decided to put his business degree to work and took a job with the Shawmut Mortgage Corporation in Annapolis.

Atkinson continued to work out, lifting weights and kicking two times a week throughout the fall.

As winter approached, he continued to wait.

“I wasn’t sure if I would ever get another call,” he said.

That all changed on Monday, Dec. 15, when Redskin special teams Coach Wayne Sevier phoned Atkinson. Max Zendejas had just missed two field-goal attempts and an extra point in Washington’s 31-30 loss to the Denver Broncos. Sevier told Atkinson to be ready, that the team might make a move.

The next day, Zendejas was placed on injured reserve. It was one of those convenient injuries, because Zendejas was about to go, anyway.

See, the Redskins have been going through kickers this season the way the Rams go through quarterbacks. First, Mark Moseley, 15-year veteran, was released on Oct. 13 after connecting on just 6 of 12 field-goal attempts.

Zendejas was a more-respectable 9 of 14 on field goals, but the Redskins weren’t crazy about him after the Denver game.

So, they gave Atkinson a try.

Last week, he made three of three extra points in the Redskins’ 21-14 win over Philadelphia. He was perfect again Sunday, hitting an extra point and his four field goals.

“Everything fell into place,” said Atkinson, a 25-year old who once kicked five field goals in a college game. “I felt comfortable. I felt good. I got lucky.”

His third field goal, the 38-yarder that gave the Rams a 16-0 lead in the third quarter, was tipped by a Ram player, but Atkinson still had enough on it to clear the cross bar.

It was that kind of day for Atkinson, who has eased Gibbs’ anxieties about the kicking game--at least, for now.

“I feel very comfortable with Atkinson in the short time he’s been here,” Gibbs said. “He’s excited around practice, bossing people around. I think he feels like he belongs here.”

Atkinson hopes his teammates feel the same way.

“A good kicker can give a team confidence that when he goes in, they’re gonna get some points,” he said. “It’s something they don’t have to worry about. Production brings acceptance.”

Atkinson has few worries. Even considering the recent plight of kickers in Washington, he said he felt little pressure to produce Sunday.

“I’ve waited too long to be scared now,” he said. “If there’s any fear, then, boy, I’m not noticing it.”

But the fear is there, lurking in the shadows of every goal post. Every kicker lives with it.

“It’s a different kind of pressure,” Atkinson said. “You know that if you don’t do it, you might end up at home next week.”

Atkinson, though, will be in Chicago next week, kicking for the Redskins in Saturday’s game against the Chicago Bears. And if Washington defeats the Bears, Atkinson may have a shot at the New York Giants, who cut him after six games last season.

“It would be nice to go back to New York, knowing what I know now about the NFL,” Atkinson said.

And just what did Atkinson learn after being cut in the exhibition season last year by the New England Patriots, cut by the Giants, and then by the St. Louis Cardinals after only two games?

“How to make it,” he said. “Confidence is the biggest factor. That, and I just got used to the atmosphere. I didn’t just wake up one morning and have (confidence).”

No, he built it through many hours of practice this year, with his girlfriend, Jami Henry, acting as his holder. Twice a week, the two spent hours on the Maryland practice field, kicking until it was dark.

“She’s quite a holder,” Atkinson said. “She’s real dedicated, which is not easy when it’s 40 degrees outside and everyone else in the league is kicking well. She knows more about kicking than most of the coaches I’ve had.”

Atkinson, by the way, will give the game ball he earned Sunday to Jami. Which figures.

Hey, you gotta be a football hero.