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Recent News about Alpha Omega Deke Matt Stover '90,kicker for the Baltimore Ravens
12/28/06: PressBox.com / story link Williams Runs Up Depth Chart And Onto The Radar Outside, a capacity crowd roared as the Ravens clinched a return to the NFL's postseason party.
Inside, a calm, poignant scene took place.
Away from the cameras, the coaches and the cacophony of the day, two generations of Ravens met in the M&T Bank Stadium tunnel, arms around each other.
Seventeen-year kicker Matt Stover was congratulating rookie wideout Demetrius Williams on making the playoffs in his first season in the league.
The gesture wasn't lost on Williams, who contributed to the Week 15 playoff berth-clinching 27-17 win over Cleveland by catching two balls for 100 yards, including a game-turning 77-yard catch-and-run score that broke a tie and put Baltimore ahead for good.
"That's a big part of it for me," the soft-spoken Williams said. "This team has just been so welcoming to rookies and they definitely have been people we can look up to and pattern our game after." If nothing else, it was a scene that showed how winning never gets old.
After all, Stover has two Super Bowl rings, one with the 2000 Ravens and another the New York Giants earned for him (Super Bowl XXV over Buffalo) while he sat on injured reserve.
12/27/06: Bloomberg.com / story link
God Is My Quarterback: NFL Chaplains Battle Player Self-Doubt Players say confidence -- and arrogance -- are often a facade to hide the insecurity that comes with salaries that aren't guaranteed, fear of injury and constant competition for their jobs.
``One of the most insecure places I know of is the NFL locker room,'' says Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover, a born- again Christian.
``All this is coming down on you, and you are still a kid and you are thinking, `Help, somebody.' So the ministry tries to create an environment where the player can gain a sense of purpose outside himself.''
12/21/06: Baltimore Sun / story link Billick also is running for raise It was just two days after the Ravens wrapped up a 6-10 season that Bisciotti said Billick was given the opportunity to return in 2006 only after agreeing to make significant changes in the way he runs the team.
Kicker Matt Stover remembers Bisciotti saying that he would know by October whether it was the right decision.
"When that time came around and we were smoking, I went up to Brian and said, 'Well, it's October.' And he had a big smile on his face," Stover said. "The players had his back the whole time."
Billick, who turns 53 in February, became Baltimore's winningest NFL coach this year, but this season will be more remembered as the time he reconnected with his players.
12/15/06: Cleveland Morning Journal / story link Scott Won't Look Past Browns Scott made the play of the day for the Ravens in the third game of the season. The Browns led 14-12 and Charlie Frye was trying to throw a touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards to seal the win. Scott blitzed on Frye's blind side and hit him just as Frye threw. Chris McAlister intercepted and Matt Stover won the game on a field goal.
Scott said that game set the Ravens, 10-3, in motion toward their first-place perch in the AFC North. Steve McNair, in just his third game as the Ravens quarterback, engineered the drive that put Stover in position to kick the 52-yard field goal. It was the longest game-winner of Stover's career.
12/15/06 : SportingLife.com / story link Ravens Chasing Play-Off Spot In the first meeting between the teams on September 24, Matt Stover drilled a 52-yard field goal with 20 seconds remaining as the Ravens rallied for a 15-14 victory.
A costly mistake by the Browns gave the Ravens the chance to eke out the win.
12/15/06: FootballWorld.com / story link Ravens Set Themselves Up For Success Matt Stover's 41-yard field goal on Sunday gave him 400 for his career, a plateau that only Gary Anderson, Morten Andersen and John Carney have reached.
11/21/06: USA Today / story link FOURTH DOWN: MISSED FIELD GOAL CAN'T SHAKE STOVERThe Baltimore Ravens' Mat Stover saw a streak of 36 field goals end, but it only made him more eager to line up for the next one.
"You move on," said Stover, who had Mike Vanderjact's record of 42 in a row in his sights until he pulled a 42-yard try to the left in a 24-10 victory against the Atlanta Falcons. "Having a streak is a good thing. It came to an end, and it was all me — not the snap, not the hold. I knew what I did, and I had to come back and hit the next one."
Which he did, from 29 yards.
An avid golfer, Stover often compares his avocation to his vocation. Just as golfers can recite every club, every shot and every hole they play, Stover could well remember his last miss.
"I was four of five, made the two longest field goals of the day, hit the right upright on the one I missed," Stover said, thinking back more than a year, to Oct. 31, 2005 in Pittsburgh. "I can remember what the air felt like."
If Stover wants vengeance for missing against Pittsburgh, he'll have his chance soon enough. Next up for the Ravens: the Steelers.
11/19/06: ABC News / story linkStover Field Goal Streak Ends at 36Matt Stover's streak of consecutive successful field goals ended at 36 when he missed a 42-yarder Sunday in the first quarter of Baltimore's game against Atlanta.
It was Stover's first miss since the Ravens' seventh game of the 2005 season. He was chasing the NFL record held by Mike Vanderjagt, who made 42 straight for the Indianapolis Colts.
Stover's kick sailed to left of the upright. His run of 36 in a row is a franchise record.
Stover had made all 16 of his attempts this season.
10/20/06: Cleveland Plain DealerGlad You AskedQ: Can you settle a dispute? A steak dinner rides on your answer. My friend says kicker Matt Stover has played only for the Browns and Baltimore Ravens in his NFL career. I say he also kicked for the Dallas Cowboys and perhaps the New York Giants. - Kenny Narwid, Cleveland
A: Stover, from LSU, was drafted by the New York Giants in the 12th round in 1990. He kicked in three preseason games for the Giants, making 4 of 6 field goals and five extra points. He never played in a regular-season game with the Giants, however. He injured his quadriceps and was put on injured reserve for the entire season. He signed with the Browns the next year as a Plan B free agent. He was in Cleveland until Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore in 1996 and has been with the Ravens ever since. He never kicked for Dallas. My ruling is that your friend wins the steak. He was closer to being right than you were. Stover, 38, has kicked 390 field goals in 467 attempts, an 83.5 percentage. He has converted 99.4 percent of extra points.
9/27/06: Baltimore Examiner / story link Stover still kicking it old-school after all these years Ravens tight end Todd Heap said teammate Matt Stover, the team’s kicker, has been holding back.
Heap watched on from the sideline Sunday as Stover, who has long been considered out of range beyond the
40-yard line, kicked a 52-yarder to give the Ravens a last-minute 15-14 win over the Browns. “Oh yeah, I watched and I figured out Stover’s been cheating us,” Heap joked. “He told us we need to get him to the 30-yard line, and we only got him to the 33. He still punched it through.”
It could have been the winds of Lake Eerie that aided the 38-year-old veteran.
“We had the wind behind us, I won’t mind to tell you,” Stover said. “With that, you still have to hit the ball well. I had a lot of people behind [me], and that sense of ‘You’ve got it,’ it just helps.”
Stover has connected on 29 consecutive kicks dating back to last season and now has 12 game-winning field goals in his career. The final of his three kicks against the Browns was the longest game-winner in his 17-year career. His 32 points this season have elevated him to 1,636 for his career, eighth all-time in the NFL and eight behind John Carney for seventh on the list. He ranks third all-time in the NFL in field-goal consistency.
Thrust once again into the spotlight Sunday, Stover has been one of the constants throughout the Ravens’ 11-year history. He is the lone holdover from the old Cleveland Browns after that team moved to Baltimore and began play here in 1996.
In Sunday’s final quarter, Stover booted two field goals to help the Ravens erase a 14-3 deficit. Stover and teammate Ray Lewis share a deep religious bond, and the two men shared a conversation before the final kick about letting go.
Lewis said afterward of Stover: “It was just overwhelming the way me and him ... agreed. The way our faith was.”
“Ray and I have each other’s backs for quite some time now,” Stover said. “Even though I’m a kicker, I know that.”
9/28/06: USA TODAY / story link Veteran kicker Stover still learning craft By Gary Mihoces
Matt Stover, "Mr. Automatic" to his Baltimore Ravens teammates, is in his 17th NFL season. He has made his last 29 field goals attempts, including a 52-yard game-winner last Sunday in Cleveland.
Yet he still says he's learning the craft of placekicking.
"Every year I try to improve. I never think that I've learned everything. I'm always trying to get better," says Stover, who also has a streak of 299 successful extra point kicks going back to 1999.
Before Sunday, Stover's longest game-winner had been a 50-yarder in a 34-31 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in 1999.
"Go out there and kick a 52-yard game winner. I've never done it before," he says. "So there's a lesson learned."
Stover, 38, who played college ball at Louisiana Tech, spent in his rookie NFL season in 1990 on the injured reserve list of the New York Giants with a muscle pull.
He joined the Cleveland Browns in 1991 and won the starting job. After five seasons in Cleveland, he followed the franchise in its relocation to Baltimore.
With 16 seasons with Cleveland/Baltimore, he is the longest tenured player in the NFL with one franchise. His 1,626 points rank eighth all-time on the NFL scoring list.
His thoughts on when he might retire?
"I want to make sure when it's time, it's time, and I think that will be clear," he says. "Right now, I feel like I'm competent enough to perform, and I'm enjoying it."
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