Eddy Piñeiro’s teammates had his back. Literally.
As Piñeiro answered questions about his missed extra point in the waning seconds of regulation and a chip-shot field goal in overtime, Baker Mayfield, Derrick Brown, Johnny Hekker and JJ Jansen surrounded the Panthers kicker. It was a show of support after a 37-34 overtime loss to the Falcons.
“It hurts,” Piñeiro said, via Augusta Stone of the team website. “I love this team, and I know they’ve got my back. I know this is not going to define me as a kicker, and everybody misses kicks. Unfortunately, mine was today, and my time was today. [I’m] going to bounce back and be ready to kick.”
Piñeiro missed a 48-yard extra point after DJ Moore removed his helmet to celebrate a miraculous 62-yard touchdown catch with 12 seconds, drawing a 15-yard penalty. That sent the game to overtime, where Piñeiro had a chance to win it with a 32-yard field goal. It was wide left.
“I just came across it,” Piñeiro said. “My hips came across it and I should have kept my hips forward.”
Piñeiro said he took accountability after the game, telling his teammates the loss was on him. His teammates disagreed.
“It sucks [to] try to put it on Eddy when all of us had a hand in this,” Brown said. “That’s how it goes, but this doesn’t fall on him. . . . Dude has made a hundred kicks. He missed two, and everybody wants to go haywire. But in this situation, we’re still together. We’re going to get back to work tomorrow.”
Piñeiro had made all 12 extra points and 14 of 15 field goals since replacing Zane Gonzalez in the preseason. Until Sunday.