According to MaxPreps.com, it had been 2,251 days since Matt Ammendola kicked for long distance rather than points. That evening, a temperate October in Pennsylvania, Ammendola was a midfielder in North Penn High School’s soccer tilt against Dock Mennonite.
Ammendola likely had no idea or intention of breaking that streak when his New York Jets ventured to Charlotte to battle the Carolina Panthers in their 2021 season opener on Sunday. The football gods cast his best-laid plans aside when Gang Green’s regular punter, Braden Mann, was lost to a knee ailment. Adding insult to literal injury, the Jets were forced to re-kick when Mann got hurt on an incident that led to a New York penalty.