JACKSONSVILLE, FL — Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen said after Sunday’s 30-29 overtime victory over the Las Vegas Raiders that he and his coaching staff never lost confidence in second-year kicker Cam Little.
Then he gave a sarcastic wink of sorts to those who suggested that Little, who had missed double the number of field-goal attempts of his entire rookie season in the first seven games of 2025 (four misses, after going 27 of 29 in 2024), should face competition during the bye week from kickers brought in off the street.
“Everyone’s trying to get us to lose confidence in him,” Coen said. “We have never lost confidence in him. He hasn’t missed a kick in practice in three weeks. It’s not like he hasn’t been hitting it good.”
It’s why Coen took even greater delight in Little’s NFL-record 68-yard field goal on the final play of the first half that halved the Raiders’ lead to 6-3 and put a spark in the Jaguars, who seemed headed for another lethargic performance.
“How cool was that?” Coen said of Little breaking a streak of misses on three of his last four field-goal attempts, along with the first conversion miss of his college and pro career. “He sets the record on the first kick back, then makes multiple critical kicks throughout the game. We couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Cam Little said the record may not last long
One of Little’s initial thoughts after the game was that his record might not last long.
“A guy around the league might break it before our game is over,” Little said of his quip to holder Logan Cooke. “There are so many good kickers, so many guys very capable of hitting that kick. I don’t doubt someone will break that record.”
For now, the record is his (as well as the Jaguars’ record, 59 yards that Little shared with Josh Scobee and Josh Lambo), and the 22-year-old Southmoore product likely has a lot of years in the NFL to break his own mark.
Little added two more field goals after his record-breaker, a 32-yarder in the third quarter that was hooking and stayed just inside the left upright, and a 48-yarder with 20 seconds left in the game that followed a similar flight path, sending the wild affair into overtime.
Little made all three of his conversion attempts and is 44 of 45 (97.8 percent) as a pro.
Jaguars players said Little’s kick sparked the team
The ball Little kicked will make him 2 for 2 in Canton. The one he blasted through the uprights from 70 yards out in a preseason game against Pittsburgh at EverBank Stadium is already at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
There’s also little doubt that the field goal, which was spotted at the Jaguars’ 49-yard line by Cooke after the snap from Ross Matisick, jolted the Jaguars out of a first half filled with mistakes and lethargic play.
Doubt that? Listen to the team’s leaders on both sides of the ball.
“It all started with Cam,” said edge rusher Josh Hines-Allen. “When one play goes good, let that be contagious.”
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who threw a high pass to Parker Washington for an 18-yard gain to midfield, then rushed the offense to the ball to spike it with four seconds left before Little ran onto the field, said simple math tells the story.
“Look at the end of the game … see how huge those three points were,” Lawrence said.
Coen chimed in with the ripple effects of the 68-yard three-pointer
“That’s what ignited us,” he said.
CAM LITTLE JUST KICKED THE LONGEST FG IN NFL HISTORY! 68 YARDS! pic.twitter.com/WGZb6O9xhX
— NFL (@NFL) November 2, 2025
Liam Coen said it was a quick decision
The chain of events leading to the field goal began when the Raiders’ kicker, Daniel Carlson, missed the conversion attempt after Geno Smith threw a 7-yard TD pass to Brock Bowers with 39 seconds left in the half, causing a bit of a letdown for Vegas.
Bhayshul Tuten had a pedestrian 30-yard kickoff return to the Jags’ 31 and Lawrence threw a pass in the flat to LeQuint Allen Jr., which never had a chance, resulting in a 1-yard gain and forcing the Jaguars to call a timeout with 20 seconds left.
Lawrence then arched a pass to Washington near the left sideline. Darien Porter of the Raiders made the tackle and prevented Washington from getting out of bounds, but Lawrence and the rest of the offense sprinted to the spot and Lawrence spiked the ball to stop the clock.
At that point, Coen turned to special teams coordinator Heath Farwell and got a fast and decisive answer.
“We got somewhat in field-goal range,” Coen said in a joking manner. “We made that decision quick. I looked at Heath and he said, ‘Let’s go.” What are we going to do? Throw a Hail Mary. We’re indoors, in the space for it.”
Cam Little’s routine is to ‘black out’
Little said he stepped away from the coaches for a moment, “Trying to get in my present mindset,” and then ran onto the field.
The former Arkansas kicker said he had only one brief thought as he and Cooke were lining up.
“‘Crap … this is a 68-yarder,'” Little said what he was thinking. “But kick it straight enough and long enough, and it’s going to go in. Let it loose. That’s when I play my best.”
Little said he then did what he does on every kick.
“You black out and rely on muscle memory,” he said.
The snap from Masticik came to Cooke about chest-high, and he got the ball down cleanly. Little kicked the ball just a split-second ahead of Tristin McCollum of Las Vegas, who had slipped past tight end Johnny Mundt and made a diving attempt to block the kick.
When the ball was on the way, Cooke stretched his arms high.
Little wasn’t sure at first.
“Once Logan threw his arms up, I had an idea it was going in,” Little said. “We were so far back, and the ball takes a long time to get there. I can’t see over all the tall guys anyway. I don’t want to celebrate early.”
When it was good, Little sprinted to the Jaguars’ sideline. The first person to greet him with a bear hug was Coen, just a step ahead of Hines-Allen.
“I ran at him like we had won the Super Bowl,” Coen said. “The confidence from him, a guy who had been struggling, was a special moment for our team and for Cam.”
Cam Little praised the Jaguars for their faith
Little said the faith the team has shown in him during what he said was the most adversity he had faced since he made Southmoore High School’s roster sustained him in the past few weeks.
“This organization let me know how much confidence they had in me, and I’m forever indebted to this place,” he said. “They know how hard I work and how much it means to me. That’s the kind of culture we have here, this win today, everyone coming together.
“I’m so proud to be in this organization … where the culture of having each other’s back means something.”
Little also helped himself by going home to Moore during the bye week and practicing kicks at his high school practice field with his father Todd.
Todd Little never played football, let alone kicked, so Little said his father didn’t have any technical advice.
But he did leave with him one thought about his slump: “It’s never as bad as you think it is,” Little said his father told him.
Little was as good as it gets on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Southmoore alum Cam Little breaks NFL record with 68-yard field goal
