Thursday was an exciting night for the Las Vegas Raiders, as they escaped with a win over the Houston Texans in a hard-fought 22-20 contest. Although it was a preseason game, Klint Kubiak notched his first win as an NFL head coach, and the vibes in the locker room were incredibly high.
And while there are naturally winners and losers every time the Raiders take the field, an extreme case of the latter presented itself in the form of Kansei Matsuzawa. The fan-favorite kicker needed to have a bounce-back game after last week's rough showing, but things went from bad to worse.
Matsuzawa has been entrenched in a battle with Matt Gay since he was brought to Las Vegas as a UDFA, and early reports from training camp indicated that all was well. Raider Nation is quickly remembering, though, just how different live action is and how much more it matters.
As such, Matsuzawa's inevitable doom with the Silver and Black appears to be lurking.
Raiders' Kansei Matsuzawa is headed toward release as struggles continue
In his first preseason appearance, The Tokyo Toe's initial kickoff didn't hit the landing zone and went out of bounds, giving the opponents the ball at the 40-yard line. Shortly after that, he missed wide right on a 38-yard field goal, which an NFL kicker should make in his sleep.
Some fans wrote him off immediately after that sequence of plays. Others gave him the benefit of the doubt, recognizing that it was his first NFL game and the Japanese-born kicker was under a lot of pressure. But Matsuzawa fared even worse in his second appearance.
On Thursday evening, the Raiders' rookie kicker missed an extra point following Dylan Laube's third-quarter touchdown, which was unfortunate for him and the team. Making matters even worse is that he failed to connect on a second extra point after Aidan O'Connell's go-ahead score at the very end.
Now, Matsuzawa did boot all three of his kickoffs in the landing zone against the Texans this time. But every other time his foot has hit the ball, he's come up short. You just can't miss a 38-yarder and two extra points in the preseason as a UDFA. One whiff is understandable. Multiple is a pattern.
Las Vegas is likely to roll into the season with Gay, who made a 52-yard field goal in Houston and has been better, albeit not perfect, during training camp. Some wanted former kicker Daniel Carlson back, and we've brought up some other outside-the-box options. Gay is likely the guy for now, though.
Special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis made it clear earlier in training camp that Matsuzawa could still stick around on the practice squad as a developmental player if he loses the battle, especially because he carries an exemption for being part of the International Player Pathway.
And it is possible that the Silver and Black still see promise in The Tokyo Toe's ability, and they just need to work on his nerves and mental approach to NFL kicking. But the chances of that feel slimmer and slimmer every time Matsuzawa makes another mistake.
His triumphant story made him an endearing player to Raider Nation, and this fanbase certainly wants Matsuzawa to figure it out and become great in this league for Las Vegas. But the NFL is a cold world, and the adage that it stands for "Not For Long" is incredibly apt.
Matsuzawa may soon find that out the hard way.
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