Raiders ice 49ers rookie kicker twice in preseason game

No one told the Raiders the preseason doesn’t count. Las Vegas coach Josh McDaniels iced Jake Moody twice on Sunday, and the 49ers’ rookie kicker missed both field goal attempts in a 34-7 loss.

After the Niners took him in the third round in April, Moody will be under the microscope until he starts drilling kicks in games that count.

Harrison Butker of the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs went just 2-of-6 from the 50-59-yard range last season. Moody’s other miss came from 40 yards.

Niners long snapper Taybor Pepper called McDaniels’ timeouts a “wild move,” although the Raiders coach denied icing Moody, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The 40-yarder came after an incompletion right before halftime. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

When a reporter asked 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan if he had any concerns about Moody, he was pretty direct in his response: “I’m not.”

“It’s unfortunate because I know the pressure on him, everyone’s looking,” Shanahan said. “I know he missed those two today, but he’s been great in practice. He said he was just excited to attempt a long one, which was fun, but the toes missed. But he’s been great and handles himself well, so no issues here with me.”

Moody will have to learn to live with that pressure because of factors outside his control. The Niners decided to make him the first kicker they’ve drafted since 2002 — and the first selected by any team in the first three rounds since 2016. The Niners have been waxing poetic about his talents, to the point where special teams coordinator Brian Schneider criticized Moody’s Michigan teammates just to prop the kicker up. After six years with the reliable but aging Robbie Gould, the Niners elected to go for the higher-upside Moody this year.

It’s fair to wonder whether Shanahan is making this public defense because he genuinely believes it or if he’s doing it to protect the optics of the team’s decision — or maybe even just to avoid more ribbing from his friends. 

At least the man at the center of all this seems rather unfazed. 

“It’s something to learn from,” Moody said. “We’re just going to see if we can go through a different routine, I guess, to deal with the extra time between the kick. But a lot of good learning experiences for the first game, and we’ll just go from there.”