Saints' Hartley doesn't kick his chance away
01:23 AM CST on Wednesday, February 3, 2010
David Moore
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. By now, you've probably heard about the premonition, about how Garrett Hartley called his father at 2:15 in the morning to let him know before the day was over he would kick a 42-yard field goal to propel New Orleans to the Super Bowl.
The kick that delivered the Saints actually came from 40 yards. The discrepancy is pointed out not to minimize Hartley's skills as a kicker and psychic, but to explore his past and provide another explanation for his cool under fire.
When Hartley was at Southlake Carroll, practice would end with wind sprints. At some point, coach Todd Dodge would yell for Hartley to line up for a field goal and begin to count down. If he made the kick, practice was over. If he missed, tired, ticked off linemen had to continue to run.
Those kicks were from 40 yards.
"How can you put pressure on a high school kicker who has not done it before at the varsity level?" asked Dodge, who is the coach at North Texas. "How do you get across that you're either a hero or a bum?"
Hartley has been both this season. Four weeks before igniting the biggest celebration in franchise history, he shanked a 37-yard field goal at the end of regulation in a game the Saints wound up losing to lowly Tampa Bay in overtime.
The 23-year-old with a surfer dude haircut opened the season with a four-game suspension for taking a banned substance, a blunder he feared would end his NFL career before it really got started.
"You don't take this for granted," Hartley said as he sat in the stands at Sun Life Stadium on Tuesday for media day. "This doesn't happen every day.
"I mean, look at where we are now. They're painting the field for the Super Bowl.
"It doesn't get any better than this."
A long drive faced Hartley back in March.
He hoped to leave Dallas earlier in the day, but time had gotten away from him. Here it was after 7 p.m., and he needed to be in New Orleans the next morning for off-season workouts.
"Maybe I should have just stayed that night," Hartley said.
He didn't. A college friend suggested he take an Adderall to stay awake.
Hartley was not aware the amphetamine appeared on the NFL's banned substance list. When he was informed he had failed a drug test, he asked the Saints training staff how that could be possible. He was scared.
Before the suspension was made public, Hartley began to call family and friends. He wanted those close to him to know what was coming and to tell them he was sorry.
One of the people he contacted was Dodge.
"I owe you this call," is what Dodge remembers Hartley saying. "I want you to know what's going on.
"He told me it was stupid. He also told me he wasn't on drugs and assured me he wasn't doing the wrong things. He said it meant a lot to him for me to know that.
"I'm extremely proud of him."
The Saints went through four kickers in two seasons before Hartley emerged in the middle of the 2008 season by going 13-of-13 in the final eight games. His suspension opened the door for John Carney to return. Hartley spent the seven games after his suspension ended watching Carney kick.
Hartley's first game this season came Dec. 6 against Washington. He made 4-of-5 field goal attempts, including the game-winner in the Saints' 33-30 overtime victory.
"If New Orleans wanted to release me, they could have easily released me right there, no questions asked," Hartley said of his suspension. "After they told me they wanted to keep me and bring me back, it meant a lot to me. I worked as hard as I could to be ready when I came back. I honestly believe I'm a better kicker coming out of this.
"It was a stupid mistake. You will never have to fathom or worry about it happening again."
Life has gotten a little crazy since the kick. It's not unusual for Hartley to receive a standing ovation when he's out in New Orleans. Fans try to buy him meals to show their appreciation, but he politely declines and sometimes offers to buy their meal. He was recognized at an Outback Steakhouse the other day by a 70-year-old gentleman who pulled a harmonica out of his jacket and began to play "When the Saints Come Marching In."
"The kick, I've kind of let it go," Hartley said. "But I am going to hold onto the feeling and the preparation. If I'm put in that situation again, I know what it feels like.
"If it came down to it again in this game, then so be it. I believe I'll be ready."
That's no premonition.
That's confidence.
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New Orleans kicker Garrett Hartley is from Southlake.
Indianapolis kicker Matt Stover kicked for Lake Highlands before there was a Southlake.
Saints punter Thomas Morstead is from SMU.
The kicking game in Sunday's Super Bowl will have a decidedly North Texas flair.
"Yeah, my mom sent me this article about all the Texas guys," Morstead said. "It's funny how it worked out like that."
David Moore