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November 8, 2012
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – 2012 obviously hasn’t gone according to plan to this point for the Eagles. They are 3-5, mired in a four-game losing streak and plagued by struggles on both sides of the ball.
However, second-year kicker Alex Henery has been a consistent bright spot and really has been since he arrived in 2011.
Drafted by the Eagles in the 4th round of the 2011 draft out of Nebraska, you can literally count the number of field goal misses Henery has had on one hand. He is 38 of 42 in his NFL career, including 14 of 15 here in 2012.
“Been pretty happy with the way I’ve been kicking the ball, especially field goals,” Henery tells KYW Newsradio. “Kick-off wise I’ve kind of been up and down, but I’m pretty happy how I’m hitting the ball.”
The Eagles drafted Henery to replace the most successful kicker in franchise history in David Akers, who is now in San Francisco. Despite the big shoes to fill, Henery says he didn’t feel any added pressure to succeed when he came in as a rookie.
“Tried not to worry too much about it,” Henery says. “People try to build it up more than it really is. I was just coming in here to do my job and help out the team any way I can. David was here for a good number of years and was a great kicker here, so I respected that. But I was here to do my job and not really put too much more added pressure on than I needed to.”
Kicking outdoors in the northeast can prove to be a challenge and he says the Linc has its moments.
“It’s probably one of the harder places (to kick)” Henery says. “But I’m from Nebraska and it’s kind of like Nebraska’s stadium. You get your winds coming through the corners and it’s just one of those things, on the day of the game, you go out there and see which way it’s blowing, trust it, and go on kicking like you normally do.”
Henery has had to adjust a bit here in 2012 as his holder changed when the Eagles switched punters from Chas Henry to Mat McBriar, but that change hasn’t interfered with his success.
“It was nice that I was able to work with him in camp. So it made the transition a little bit easier since it was during a game week. Other than that it’s just getting used to the rhythm and the timing and going with it from there.”
Henery and the Eagles host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at 4:25pm at the Linc.
