With two misses and a blocked FG, it was a rough night for Denver Broncos kickers

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It’s a small sample size. And some of the kicks were intermediate to long range.

But for Elliott Fry and Brett Maher, the Broncos’ two kickers engaged in a summer competition, the night didn’t go as hoped.

Both misfired on their first attempts. Maher missed wide right from 47 yards out; Fry was wide right by inches from 50. But while Fry rebounded with a 55-yard blast 11 seconds before halftime, pressure torpedoed Maher’s third-quarter attempt from 52 yards. Arizona’s Carlos Watkins — with help from teammates — overpowered Broncos left guard Luke Wattenberg to block the attempt.

Each kicker also made an extra point, leaving Fry 2-of-3 on his placekicks and Maher 1-of-3.

“Well, look. We had a blocked field goal and we give up penetration at left guard with a young player,” Payton said.

“There were two longer field-goal attempts. But that’s not the whole special teams. We’ve obviously got to be better in that unit.”

Punter Riley Dixon wasn’t immune to the struggles, either. Two of his three punts had hang times below 4.00 seconds as he logged a modest net average of 33.7 yards.

It was a rough night for all placekickers who took part. Arizona’s Matt Prater — who kicked for Denver from 2007-13 — was 1-for-2 on field-goal attempts. He hit a 38-yarder, but missed a 53-yard try wide left.

Overall, the kickers went 2-of-6 on field-goal attempts, including the block.

It was a night to forget. And it came on the heels of special-teams coordinator Ben Kotwica praising their success rate in practice. Each of them had at least a 90-percent success rate — and that reflects a larger sample size, of course.

But overall, the night did little to dispel the idea that the competition remains afoot — not just between Maher and Fry, but with other kickers around the league who could be on the waiver wire or otherwise available when teams trim their rosters at the end of the month.

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