Browns’ Cade York’s has a calm placeholder in Corey Bojorquez – Akron Beacon Journal
BEREA − Cade York’s dramatic kick to beat the Carolina Panthers has been viewed from seemingly every angle. It’s been watched by a thousands of pairs of eyes.
No pair of eyes had a better view of the kick than Corey Bojorquez.
As important as Bojorquez’s view of the kick was, it was his hands that may have been even more important. The Browns punter was the the one responsible for holding the ball as York delivered the 58-yard field goal to provide the winning points in the opening-day victory.
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Bojorquez knew the stakes when he kneeled down eight yards behind snapper Charley Hughlett to provide York his spot with 13 seconds remaining. What he wasn’t going to do was allow that to change the mechanics of the operation which the three specialists had done literally hundreds of times up until that point.
“For me personally, I treat it the same as any other kick, PAT, field goal during the game,” Bojorquez told the Beacon Journal Friday. “Even though, yeah, the situation is a little bit different, I feel like if I start treating it as, you know, this big kick, a game winner or whatever, I feel like you tend to overthink things. So I kind of just keep it simple. It’s the same as any other kick for me.”
Bojorquez was signed in the offseason after a one-year stint with the Green Bay Packers after they had to let him go due to cap space issues. He was 11th in the NFL a year ago with a 46.5-yard average, which was the best single-season mark in Packers history.
His leg, obviously, also was a factor in the win over the Panthers. He averaged 46.8 yards on four punts in the game.
However, it was Bojorquez’s hands which were crucial to pulling off the biggest play of the game for the Browns. Although so much faith was placed in York’s leg, York had faith in those hands when he needed them most.
Browns kicker Cade York has trust in his snapper and holder
“You have to have trust in your snapper and holder,” York said. “I’ve got lots of trust in Charley and Corey and able to basically just go out there and worry about myself because I know they’re going to do their job just like I’m supposed to do mine. We’ve got a great relationship in the group, and it’s been pretty great.”
That trust started back in May after Bojorquez was signed and York was picked in the fourth round of the draft. Hours of work was put in to develop the synergy, not only between kicker and holder, but also Hughlett as well.
The operation between snapper, holder and kicker can be an unheralded one. That is, until it ends up being a decisive factor in a loss on Sunday.
The Browns’ AFC North rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals, showed that when their operation was thrown off-kilter by an injury at long snapper. It proved costly in a 23-20 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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Bojorquez can point to his own experience during a couple-week stretch a year ago in Green Bay when he struggled at times while holding for Mason Crosby. Those experience were something he had taken as a learning lesson now that he’s with the Browns.
“We get to work on the low JUGS for 20 minutes a day or so and we’re getting the laces in different spots because typically have a consistent miss,” Bojorquez said. “You kind of know what to do every now and then, their miss is going to be somewhere else and you can’t rely on it being in the midst of the thing that he’s going to do. You just have to react, and I think that’s something that kind of got me last year, that I would assume the miss was going to be somewhere and it was somewhere else and we’re like, oh crap, you have to adjust now. So that’s kind of changed the way I think about it.”
The thought process began for York’s game-winner well before the field-goal unit ran onto the field. Those conversations, though, are much more routine than the high-pressure moment may indicate.
Much of the discussion is more about going over things that have already been discussed in multiple conversations in the past few months. The only adjustment is based as much on weather conditions as it is on game conditions.
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“The conversation starts really just about what kind of lean he wants,” Bojorquez said. “Depending on the wind, that sort of things, where he wants the laces aimed at. Kind of what he’s feeling that day and just communicating to me what it is for each kick.”
That’s the biggest adjustment for Bojorquez. What York wants in various moments is different than what Crosby wanted a year ago, or what Stephen Hauschka wanted during his time holding for him with the Buffalo Bills.
Even during his training-camp stints with the New England Patriots in 2018 and the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, he learned about it while working with Stephen Gostkowski and Matt Gay. All of those past conversations have also given Bojorquez a window into the mind of a great kicker.
So, how does York compare to those kickers?
“The only really big different, I feel like, it’s just the experience that they have,” Bojorquez said. “I mean, you’ve seen with Cade, he kind of has that no-flinch mentality. It doesn’t matter if it’s a PAT or a 58-yarder to go up at the end of the game. He kind of, from what I see, treats it all the same, just attacks it and that’s what I’ve seen from all those other guys, too. They do a really good job of not letting the moment be bigger than it is.”
Even a moment as big as a 58-yard kick with 13 seconds remaining to win a season opener.
Contact Chris at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com.
On Twitter: @ceasterlingABJ