Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker’s huge faux pas allows the Texans to return a blocked extra point

Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker’s huge faux pas allows the Texans to return a blocked extra point

Los Angeles Chargers placekicker Cameron Dicker (11) shoots a field goal against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL wild card playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

Cameron Dicker made a bad mistake for the Chargers. (AP Photo/Eric Christian Smith)

The Los Angeles Chargers had one of the strangest drives in NFL playoff history on Saturday.

In the fourth quarter, he was down 23-6 against the Houston Texans as the chances of a win became increasingly slim. The Chargers’ quarterback Justin Herbert took a sack, then another sack, then threw an 86-yard touchdown to rookie Ladd McConkey to narrow the deficit to 11 points.

That was the good thing for the Chargers.

The worst came on the extra point, when the Texans got their hands on Cameron Dicker’s kick and sent it flying straight into the air. Dicker was in perfect position to receive the ball as it came down and decided to hit the ball rather than catch it.

That would have been the right decision if he had thrown the ball or if he had crossed the line.

Unfortunately for Dicker and the rest of the Chargers, the ball was still alive when it hit the ground, as it never crossed the line of scrimmage. Texans special teams player D’Angelo Ross then caught the ball on the rebound and ran it all the way back to give the Texans two more points. Judging by the way some Chargers ran, they didn’t know the ball was live.

And then the Texans offense got the ball back.

That’s the beauty of touchdowns. You can gain up to eight points with a single point, but you may effectively be left with four if you screw up the extra point enough. The Chargers lost 32-12.

Not many football fans would have known if the ball was live, but the fact that Dicker didn’t know he had to catch the ball is quite the faux pas for a player who has been doing it since he was in high school. He is currently in his third season with the Chargers after earning first-team All-Big 12 honors in his college career at Texas.

According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, the play is the first blocked extra point since at least 2000 and the ninth overall in that span. This time it happened again this season, in Week 4 between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That was just one of the Chargers’ mistakes on Saturday. Four interceptions by Herbert and many more errors in all three phases of the game spelled doom for a team that was considered the favorite to win.

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