Boling: Unflappable placekicker makes believer out of combustible head coach

Eighteen field goals since his last miss, Olindo Mare’s performance has been acceptable, acceptable, entirely acceptable.

Sunday, the Seahawks placekicker won the game against San Francisco in the final moments with his second field goal of the afternoon.

In a game that featured nearly 900 yards of punts, it figured that this one would be decided by somebody’s foot.

And after a 32-yard pass to rookie Deon Butler set it up, Mare booted through a 30-yard field goal that gave Seattle the 20-17 win.

Mare acted like it was just another day at the ballpark for a placekicker. No, he said, it made no difference that he set the team’s record for consecutive made field goals, snapping the tie he’d been in with Todd Peterson and Josh Brown.

And he likewise claimed that he’s been in no way driven to this success by the noted outburst his head coach made after he missed two field goals in a 25-19 loss at home to Chicago in Week 3.

Fans will recall that Mare’s misses that day caused coach Jim Mora to label his performance “not acceptable, not acceptable, absolutely not acceptable.”

Had there been a wagering proposition on the matter, most would have bet the “under” on Mare’s continued employment with the Seahawks. Good thing the Seahawks stayed with him.

“I think it has very little to do with my very direct and probably overbearing criticism of him on that day,” Mora said after the win over San Francisco. “I think it’s just a testament to the type of professional that Olindo is. Whether I said anything to him or not, he has a lot of pride in his performance and he takes it very seriously. That’s some of the reasons he’s had so much success in this league as a kicker.”

Mare was unruffled by Mora’s statements and the public commentary they triggered.

“My feeling was that if I had been mentally weak, it would have hurt me,” Mare said. “I took it as a challenge. Not from coach, but to myself. He said he wanted me to make (the kicks) more than anybody. That’s not true. ... I want to make it (more than anybody). I try to make them all. Whether he yelled or anybody else yelled, or the fans or media ... anybody ... the only person who could correct it was me.”

What was there to correct?

Not much apparently, as he’s now connected on 21 of 23 this season.

“It was early in the year,” he said of the Chicago game. “We didn’t kick a lot of field goals in the preseason. We had a lot that game (six) and it was a windy game, too. It feels like a long time ago.”

Mare’s value extends well beyond field-goal accuracy. He’s one of the best in the game at kickoffs, and on Sunday he even pooch-punted the ball down near the San Francisco goal line.

He originally went to Syracuse University on scholarship as a punter, he said. “It doesn’t really have to look pretty; you just have to get it on the ground rolling in that direction and see what happens.”

When he pooched it out of field-goal formation, tight end John Carlson made a nice play to get the ball pinned down at the 2-yard line.

Mare has two qualities crucial to a kicker: He’s focused and extremely confident.

Record? Nah, never enters his mind. Distances? Hey, he hits them all the same.

“I have to make kicks anyway, whether it’s to make 50 in a row or 10 in a row,” he said. “Whether it’s a streak or not, I go into every game 100 percent. You want to be better than the guy across from you, and do the best job you can do.”

These are the reasons Mare has been so successful through 14 NFL seasons, Mora said.

“We’re reaping the benefits of that now,” said Mora, now the president of the Olindo Mare fan club.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440

dave.boling@thenewstribune.com