Sebastian Janikowski Sebastian Janikowski ( ; born March 2 , 1978 ) is a Polish - born American football placekicker for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He played college football for Florida State University , and was a two - time consensus All - American . He is nicknamed The Polish Cannon because he is considered to have one of the strongest kicking legs in the league , and leads the NFL in kickoffs for touchback s . On September 12 , 2011 in a " Monday Night Football " game against the Denver Broncos , he tied the previous NFL record for the longest field goal at 63 yards , sharing the record with Tom Dempsey , Jason Elam and David Akers . The record stood for just under two years when it was broken by Matt Prater on December 8 , 2013 . Early years . Sebastian Janikowski was born in 1978 as an only child to Henryk and Halina Janikowski in Wałbrzych , Poland . Sebastian ' s father was a professional soccer player , and moved to the United States in the early 1980s in the hopes of reviving his career . Years after Sebastian ' s father emigrated from Poland , his parents divorced and Henryk married an American citizen . Left at home with just his mother , Sebastian began to excel at soccer himself . In 1993 , 15 - year - old Sebastian earned a spot on the Polish under - 17 team . His father ' s marriage to an American meant that Sebastian could legally emigrate to the United States . He spoke very little English , but learned quickly by taking a three - week night class and by watching television . Janikowski played in only five games for the Orangewood Christian soccer team , but led them to the Class A State Championship game by scoring 15 goals , where they lost to Lakeland Christian in penalty kicks ( 3 – 2 ) . Then living in Orlando , Florida with his father and stepmother , Sebastian joined the Orlando Lions , an under - 19 soccer club coached by Angelo Rossi . Rossi was also the soccer coach at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach , and he convinced Henryk that his son would be better off there . Henryk agreed but was unwilling to move , so Sebastian moved in with Rossi ' s family . During his senior year at Seabreeze , Janikowski played both soccer and football after being recruited by the school ' s football coach . As the team ' s placekicker , he quickly earned a reputation by kicking four field goals of 50 + yards . One of them was for 60 yards , third - best in Florida prep school history . During a practice at Seabreeze High , he kicked an 82 - yard field goal . " USA Today " named Janikowski to its 1996 All - American team . After being heavily recruited by some of the top collegiate football programs , Janikowski decided on Florida State University . College career . Janikowski attended Florida State University , where he played for coach Bobby Bowden ' s Florida State Seminoles football team . In three seasons , he amassed a career scoring total of 324 points ( 3rd all - time for the school ) . In 1999 he became the first kicker to win the Lou Groza Award twice , an honor given annually to the nation ' s top collegiate kicker . He became popular with fans for being able to placekick a kick - off through the endzone uprights , having done it so often that the stadium monitors would display field goal graphics even though it was a kick - off and not an actual field goal attempt . Janikowski ' s career at FSU was not without incident . In August 1998 , he got into a fight outside of a Tallahassee bar and was charged with failure to leave the premises ; he pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor offense . That same year , the night after a season - ending win over rival Florida , Janikowski got into a fight at a local bar and was charged with battery . In the 1999 season , FSU was again in contention for a national title . Prior to the team ' s appearance in the national championship game ( the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans , Louisiana ) , Janikowski declared his intentions to declare himself eligible for the 2000 NFL Draft , saying his primary reason for foregoing his senior year was to pay for his mother to come to the United States . Although Janikowski ' s skill as a kicker was unquestioned by NFL scouts , his off - the - field behavior was a cause of concern . In January 2000 , Janikowski was partying with a group of friends when his high school friend was arrested at a nightclub . Janikowski , who later said he was thinking he could save everyone paperwork and the trouble , approached the arresting officer and asked how much it would take to let his friend go . He was then arrested for attempting to bribe an officer , a charge that carried a $ 5 , 000 fine , up to five years in prison , and possible deportation . Janikowski claimed that he thought he could pay a fine to have his friend released , but the officer interpreted the action as an attempted bribe . Professional career . Oakland Raiders . Janikowski was drafted by the Oakland Raiders with the 17th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft . He was the fourth placekicker in NFL history to be taken in the first round of the draft . Shortly after the draft , Janikowski was acquitted of his bribery charge . He had testified on his own behalf , stating that he was simply trying to pay his friend ' s fine ( as opposed to bribing the arresting officer ) . Just eight days after his acquittal , Janikowski and two friends were arrested in Tallahassee on suspicion of felony possession of the drug GHB . Once again , he faced prison time or deportation if convicted , but was acquitted of all charges in April 2001 . Janikowski ' s professional career got off to a rough start : in 2000 , only 68 . 8 % of his field goal attempts were successful . His accuracy improved dramatically in 2001 , when 82 . 1 % of his attempts were successful . Janikowski reached Super Bowl XXXVII with the Raiders in 2002 , and kicked an early field goal . His kick briefly gave the Raiders a 3 - 0 lead over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . This was be the Raiders ' only lead of the game ; they lost 48 - 21 . As of 2013 , Janikowski and Charles Woodson are the only current Raiders to have also played on the team ' s 2002 Super Bowl roster . Records and attempts . On November 4 , 2007 , Janikowski attempted to kick a 64 - yard record field goal before halftime against the Houston Texans on a windless Oakland afternoon in McAfee Coliseum . It would have broken the all time NFL field goal record of 63 yards . However , it bounced off the right upright and came back out . On September 28 , Janikowski unsuccessfully attempted a 76 - yard field goal against the San Diego Chargers into the heavy wind right before halftime . This is presumed to be the longest attempt in NFL history ; though the league keeps no such records on attempts , the longest known attempt previous to this was a 74 - yard fair catch kick by Mark Moseley in 1979 . On October 19 , 2008 , Janikowski broke his own Raiders team record , making a 57 - yard field goal in overtime to defeat the New York Jets , 16 – 13 , the longest overtime field goal in NFL history . On December 27 , 2009 , he again broke his own team record by kicking a 61 - yard field goal against the Cleveland Browns before halftime . On December 26 , 2010 , Janikowski converted a 59 - yard field goal in the second quarter of a home game against the Indianapolis Colts making him the second player with two 59 + yard field goals ( Morten Andersen ) . On January 3 , 2010 , Janikowski reached his 1 , 000th career point with a 39 - yard field goal against the Baltimore Ravens . He is the highest scoring player in Raiders history . On September 12 , 2011 , as a rainy first half against the Denver Broncos came to a close , Janikowski made a 63 - yard field goal and tied the NFL record set by Tom Dempsey in 1970 and previously tied by Jason Elam ( 1998 ) and afterwards by David Akers ( 2012 ) , but which has subsequently been broken by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos . On November 27 , 2011 , in a game against the Chicago Bears , Janikowski made field goals of 40 , 47 , 42 , 19 , 37 and 44 yards to break the team record of most field goals in a single game he shared with Jeff Jaeger . Janikowski attempted a 65 yard field goal on December 18 , 2011 , against the Detroit Lions , but Ndamukong Suh blocked it to end the game . Three contract extensions . After the 2004 season Janikowski was given a five - year contract extension reportedly worth $ 10 . 5 million . This made him ( at the time ) the highest paid kicker in NFL history . In February 2010 , Janikowski extended his contract with the Raiders for $ 16 million over the next four years , including $ 9 million in guaranteed money , making him the highest paid placekicker in NFL history . On August 2 , 2013 , Janikowski signed a four - year contract extension with the Oakland Raiders for $ 19 million over five years , including $ 8 million guaranteed . Accuracy . In addition to being powerful , Janikowski has been very accurate throughout his career , his best year in terms of field goal percentage being 89 . 7 percent ( 26 of 29 ) in 2009 and his next best 89 . 3 percent ( 25 of 28 ) in 2004 . His highest number of field goals was 33 ( out of 41 ) in 2010 , when he was named after the regular season as an alternate in the 2011 Pro Bowl behind Billy Cundiff . His next highest was 26 ( in 2009 and 2002 ) . He is currently ranked 41st all - time in field goal accuracy at 79 . 31 % , behind the leader Nate Kaeding , at 86 . 5 % . Janikowski was named the starting kicker for the 2012 AFC Pro Bowl team on December 27 , 2011 . In that game , he hit a Pro Bowl record eight extra points and a field goal in the 59 - 41 AFC victory .