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Posts Tagged ‘Matt Prater’

Manning Leads Pro Bowl Votes

November 14th, 2012 - 2:07pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Voting for the 2013 Pro Bowl has been underway for about three weeks, and the early returns are in.

Quarterback Peyton Manning leads all vote-getters for the all-star game with 376,981 votes, and therefore is first in line at his position on the AFC squad.

Plenty more Broncos are among the top-five at their respective positions in the AFC, including outside linebackers Von Miller and Wesley Woodyard, who are one and two among AFC vote-getters.

The Broncos also have two wide receivers near the top of AFC voting — Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker are currently ranked Nos. 4 and 5 at their position.

Fullback Chris Gronkowski is currently No. 5 at his position, tight end Jacob Tamme is No. 5 at his position, Ryan Clady is No. 3 among AFC tackles, Zane Beadles is the second-highest vote-getter among AFC guards, center Dan Koppen is currently fourth in votes at his position, defensive end Elvis Dumervil ranks second, Champ Bailey is third among AFC cornerbacks, Rahim Moore is the fifth AFC free safety, Matt Prater is the No. 4 kicker, Britton Colquitt is the No. 4 punter, Trindon Holliday is the No. 5 returner and David Bruton is the No. 4 AFC special-teamer.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 20 Comments »

Prater Named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week

October 3rd, 2012 - 8:00am by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

The NFL has named kicker Matt Prater the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after the sixth-year kicker connected on all three field goal attempts and all four extra point tries in Denver’s 37-6 win vs. Oakland.

In addition, Prater produced touchbacks on all eight kickoffs to represent the second-most in the NFL in a single game since at least 1994, and he is the only player during that span with a perfect touchback percentage on eight kickoffs or more.

The franchise’s all-time most accurate kicker, Prater increased his career percentage from 50+ yards to 77.8 percent (14-of-18) with his 53-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. He converted a pair of fourth-quarter attempts to improve his career percentage in the fourth quarter to 96.4 percent (27-of-28), extending his own NFL record in that category.

The weekly award is the fourth in Prater’s career, as he also earned AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors in 2008 (Week 5), 2009 (Week 12) and 2011 (Week 14). It marks the 22nd time in Broncos history that a player has earned the weekly special teams award.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 8 Comments »

Prater-Beadles Not Quite Montana-Rice

September 30th, 2012 - 8:28pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Leading 10-3 late in the second quarter, the Broncos found themselves facing a fourth-and-1 at the Oakland 36-yard line.

Having already converted a fourth-down play earlier in the game, the Broncos were left with trotting the offense back out on the field or bringing in kicker Matt Prater to attempt a 54-yard field goal.

Denver went with option C.

Punter Britton Colquitt took the snap as normal before tossing the ball to Prater, who dropped back as a quarterback.

The kicker rolled out and lofted a high pass down the sideline toward guard Zane Beadles, who was tripped up as the ball fell incomplete. The turnover on downs gave Oakland the ball, and the Raiders used the field position to drive down for a field goal just before halftime.

“It was a little disappointing,” Head Coach John Fox said. “I didn’t see exactly what happened. We got the look that we were looking for and obviously it wasn’t very well executed. It was really supposed to be designed more of as a run than a pass.”

Prater acknowledged that his initial read was to run for the first down, but he saw a Raiders safety headed his way, and he didn’t feel that he could outrun him.

After the 37-6 win — the largest margin of victory for the Broncos against the Raiders in 50 years — it was a little easier to joke about the unsuccessful fake field goal.

“I just kind of told them to maybe give ‘Manning-to-Stokley’ a chance, maybe before ‘Prater-to-Beadles,’” quarterback Peyton Manning joked. “It’s one of the all-time great combinations, right? ‘(Jim) Kelly-(Andre) Reed,’ ‘(Joe) Montana-(Jerry) Rice,’ ‘Prater-Beadles,’ you know?”

Prater was quick to point out that he’s undefeated as an “all-time quarterback” in a flag football league back home, so he was disappointed with his throw. Especially with the way Beadles was burning his way downfield.

“He was flying down the field — I thought it was (tight end Jacob) Tamme,” Prater laughed. “I tried to give him a 50-50 ball. Might have overthrown him a little bit. Had a little extra adrenaline – I’m not used to having the ball in my hands. It was fun, I’m glad we did it, just wish we would have executed it better.”

Whether Prater gets a chance to make up for his throw is up to his head coach.

“We probably won’t see that one again for a while,” Fox said.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 62 Comments »

Prater Delivers Clutch Kicks

August 15th, 2012 - 7:23pm by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

With the final seconds ticking off the clock in Wednesday’s practice, the team turned to kicker Matt Prater to do what he did four separate times last season – convert a game-winning field goal.

Trailing by two points with :23 left on the clock and the ball spotted on the opponent 40-yard line, Peyton Manning completed a 7-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas that moved the ball to the 33-yard line. With time winding down, Prater ran onto the field and drilled a 50-yard field goal to win the game.

“It’s as close to realistic as you can get, especially with the crowd out here and everything,” Prater said about the situational drills. “It’s good, I like the practice and as long as I’m making them it’s always good.”

Prater converted three other clutch kicks during the situational sessions at the end of practice.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 91 Comments »

Broncos Agree to Four-Year Deal with Prater

July 2nd, 2012 - 11:20am by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

Last season four of the Broncos’ eight regular-season victories ended with a Matt Prater field goal splitting the uprights.

On Monday, the team locked up its clutch kicker with a four-year contract, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway announced on Twitter.

“Happy to announce we have signed kicker Matt Prater to a new four-year deal,” Elway said. “This was the final piece in setting our roster for camp, and we are thrilled Matt is going to be a Bronco for a long time. Matt has developed into one of the NFL’s elite kickers and is a big part of our team.”

Prater, whose four game-winning kicks on the last play of the game in 2011 tied for the second most in a season in NFL history, converted 19-of-25 field goals and all 30 extra point attempts last season. He led the team with 87 total points and finished first in the NFL with his 70.1 touchback percentage on kickoffs.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 568 Comments »

Prater Wins Top Professional Moment

March 2nd, 2012 - 10:26am by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Matt Prater’s performance against the Chicago Bears — including a 59-yard field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime, and a 51-yard game-winner in the extra frame — has earned plenty of fanfare.

It made Broncos TV’s Top 10 plays of the season, the Chicago comeback as a whole won the GMC Never-Say-Never Moment of the Year, and last night Prater took home yet another award.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 1,056 Comments »

Prater Named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month

January 5th, 2012 - 8:59am by Stuart ZaasOther posts by

Kicker Matt Prater earned the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for games played in December/January. It is the second such honor of his career (Sept., 2009) and he is the first Bronco to be named Special Teams Player of the Month since 2009, when Royal (Oct.) won the award.

Prater finished the last five games of the season 6-of-7 for field goals, including two game-tying field goals with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and two game-winning kicks.

The fifth-year kicker knotted Denver’s Dec. 4 game at Minnesota at 32-32 with a 46-yard field goal with 1:33 to play, then won the game with a 23-yarder as time expired in regulation.

One week later, Prater became just the second player in NFL history to kick a 50+yard field goal with less than a minute remaining to force overtime and go on to kick an overtime game winner from 50+ yards in the same game. Trailing to the Bears 10-7 with three seconds to play, Prater evened the game 10-10 with a 59-yard kick that matched his career high. He went on to win the game with a 51-yard kick in overtime, extending the Broncos win streak to six games. He earned the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week Award following the game vs. Chicago.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 38 Comments »

Notebook: Eight Broncos Among Pro Bowl Favorites

December 21st, 2011 - 4:09pm by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

Monday was the final day of fan voting for the Pro Bowl, and we asked Broncos fans for one final push to have Denver represented.

Well, your voices were heard.

At the close of voting, eight Broncos were among the top five at their respective positions in the AFC.

Tim Tebow is No. 3 among quarterbacks, Willis McGahee is No. 5 among running backs, Elvis Dumervil is No. 3 among defensive ends, Von Miller is No. 2 among outside linebackers, Champ Bailey is No. 4 among cornerbacks, Brian Dawkins is No. 3 among strong safeties, Matt Prater is No. 4 among kickers and Britton Colquitt is the No. 2 AFC punter.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 133 Comments »

Broncos Take Home 5th Never Say Never Moment

December 16th, 2011 - 11:21am by Gray CaldwellOther posts by

For the fifth time this season, the Broncos have won the GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Week.

This time, it comes as a result of the Broncos’ come-from-behind, 13-10 overtime victory against the Chicago Bears.

Trailing 10-0 late in the fourth quarter, Tim Tebow found Demaryius Thomas for a 10-yard touchdown. After the Bears recovered the ensuing onside kick, the defense forced a three-and-out, and the offense had another chance.

Matt Prater kicked a 59-yard field goal to send the game to overtime, and after the defense forced a fumble, the Broncos drove down the field for the game-winning 51-yarder by Prater.

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Posted in DenverBroncos.com | 36 Comments »

Getting His Kicks

December 15th, 2011 - 8:44am by mike_riceOther posts by

They are often the forgotten men, taken for granted and the butt of jokes.

But when they’re needed, it’s often in a game-on-the-line situation.

Such is the life of NFL placekickers.

The Broncos can be thankful that they have Matt Prater, one of the best clutch kickers in the business. A lot of different people are sharing in the credit for the Broncos’ midseason resurgence, but Prater often gets overlooked.

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Posted in Mike Rice | 18 Comments »

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