LONDON — The Jaguars beat the Eagles 19-17 in London on Sunday, on a 57-yard field goal by Cam Little as time expired at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Jacksonville is now 4-1.
Carl Wendt, 48, an insurance adjuster from Orange Park, Fla., said he was the one who made the kick. He said he made it from his couch, in Jacksonville, with his right foot, while the game was on a tablet propped against a bag of pretzels. He said the distance was not a problem.
“I was the one who kicked it. Cam just stood there and took the credit, which is what a kicker does,” Wendt said. “The ball went through the uprights in London. My foot was in Florida. Nobody has explained that to me, and I have not asked for an explanation.”
The game was close all the way. Philadelphia took a 17-16 lead on a 48-yard field goal by Jake Elliott late in the fourth quarter, and a long kickoff return left the Jaguars one second on the clock. Little’s kick then decided it. Nobody in the stadium has offered a competing account of the kick.
Wendt said he had been watching Jaguars games from the same couch since 2001. He said he keeps a legal pad beside the cushion, with a column for each season, and that he wrote “London” at the top of this year’s page in July. He said he did not write down a score. He said he wrote the word “foot” under it, and then drew a line.
Dr. Marjorie Teller, director of the Center for Measured Outcomes, said the Center has no category for a kick made by proxy from a different continent. She said the Center would need to see the leg. “A fan can be emotionally present for a field goal,” Teller said. “Physically present is a different measurement. The distance between a couch in Orange Park and a field in London is not a question of effort. It is a question of geography, and geography has not been consulted.”
Wendt disagreed with the premise. He said he had spent three hours on the couch, and that his legs were tired afterward, which he said was the strongest evidence available. He said he had not stood up during the kick, and that he did not plan to stand up for the next one.
Wendt said he had called the team’s ticket office after the game to ask whether the win should be credited to his season account. A representative told him the franchise does not credit wins to season-ticket holders, and that the account would be reviewed. He said he was told the review would take about four weeks, which he said was a reasonable amount of time for a kicker to recover.
Wendt said he did not expect the team to comment, and that he would not be offended if it did not.
Asked whether he would kick the next field goal from the same place, Wendt said the couch was already in position and the remote was on the armrest. He said he has never missed one from there.