Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Jaguars have peace of mind in kicking game with Josh Lambo

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars may not yet be 100 percent certain they’ve found their quarterback, but there’s no debate that they’ve found their kicker.

Josh Lambo posted one of the best seasons by a kicker in franchise history despite being added in midseason as a replacement for Jason Myers. The former Chargers kicker missed just one field goal and came up big for the Jaguars with a game-winning field goal in just his third game with the team.

“I guess if I would have [known Lambo was going to perform that well] I should have picked him up earlier, right?” special-teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis said. “I would have been a lot smarter. He did a great job for us. It’s a credit to the guy. He works his tail off, he really does. He’s open to suggestions, which some of those guys are not. He has been a real pleasant surprise, for sure.”

Lambo made 19 of his 20 field goal attempts after joining the Jaguars on Oct. 17. His only miss was a 41-yard attempt in Cleveland in blustery and snowy conditions. He made two other kicks against the Browns, though. Lambo also made 22-of-24 PATs.

Lambo made two clutch field goals against the Chargers, a 34-yarder with three seconds remaining to force overtime and a 30-yarder in overtime to give the Jaguars a 20-17 victory.

Lambo, who kicked at Texas A&M, signed with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2015 and made 26-of-32 field goal attempts in both 2015 and 2016. However, the Chargers opted to go with Younghoe Koo and cut Lambo before the season began.

Lambo had five workouts, including one with the Jaguars in Week 2. The Jaguars were not happy with Myers, who struggled during training camp and preseason. He got off to a solid start but missed a 52-yard field goal attempt against the New York Jets in a game the Jaguars lost 23-20 in overtime and missed a pair of 54-yard field goal attempts in the Jaguars’ 27-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Both misses were wide left by a significant margin and three of his four misses were from 50 yards or longer. In his 37-game career with the Jaguars, Myers missed a total of 27 kicks: 12 PATs (including seven in 2015) and 14 field goals.

Lambo doesn’t have as strong a leg as Myers, but he’s more accurate: His career field goal percentage of 84.5 is slightly better than Myers (81.0), but Lambo has hit on 60 percent of his field goals from 50-plus while Myers is at 52.6 percent.

Those numbers may not seem drastically different, but it was clear the Jaguars had lost confidence in Myers. Lambo exceeded expectations -- his 95 percent field goal success rate is the best single-season mark among kickers with at least 10 attempts in franchise history -- and he’s under contract through the 2018 season.

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