San Francisco 49ers general manager and Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee John Lynch shared details about the team’s recent preseason win against the Las Vegas Raiders, highlighting a notable moment involving fullback Kyle Juszczyk and kicker Jake Moody.
According to Lynch, Juszczyk approached him during the fourth quarter and predicted that Moody would secure a walk-off field goal. “It was awesome. It really was,” Lynch said Thursday morning on KNBR’s “Murph & Markus.” He continued, “Sometimes I’ll venture down to the sideline early. It’s nice to feel the team and see things from a different perspective. A lot of the starters were out and had their pads off, and Kyle Juszczyk came to me in the fourth quarter, and he goes, ‘Wouldn’t it be perfect for Moody to have a walk-off?’ At that point, we thought it might be a walk-off tie. Kind of uneventful, but that’s NFL preseason football. Juice called his shot and he got it. (…) And we thought, wow, that’s really cool for him and his confidence. It got even better when [49ers safety Jaylen] Mahoney picked off that ball and Chase Lucas tackled him for some reason instead of letting him run. And it became a 59-yard field goal. Such a cool moment. It’s preseason football, but our team was into it. The Raiders were into it and he nails a 59-yarder — and did so with some room to spare. The reaction from our team, I think that tells you that those guys believe in Jake Moody. The guy’s been through it a little bit. Last year was rough, but he’s done a great job of moving forward.”
Moody made five of his six field goal attempts during Saturday’s game in Las Vegas, including a 44-yarder that tied the game followed by his career-best 59-yard game winner.
Lynch also discussed competition at the kicker position following the addition of veteran Greg Joseph during the offseason: “We had Greg Joseph in here, and because of injuries, a lot of people said there wasn’t competition. There actually was a great competition,” Lynch said. “I thought it made Jake Moody better. And we’re very grateful to Greg Joseph for that. But Jake was solid. And he’s had a really, really good camp. The one miss in that game was a 53-yarder. 53-yarders are hard to make. He expects himself to make it. But what did he do? He came back and made a number of kicks after that.”
Lynch added: “I think it’s huge for his confidence. I think it’s huge for our team, and it was a really cool moment to see our team rally around our guy. One of the fun preseason moments that I’ve had.”
Moody struggled with consistency last season but appears poised for improvement as the regular season approaches.
