Morten Andersen

Morten Andersen (born 19 August 1960), nicknamed "the Great Dane", is a Danish former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 25 seasons, most notably with the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons.

He visited the United States in 1977 as a Youth For Understanding exchange student.

He first kicked an American football on a whim at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.

He was so impressive in his one season of high school football that he was given a scholarship to Michigan State University.

Andersen, with his left leg as his dominant kicking leg, starred at Michigan State, setting several records, including a Big Ten Conference record 63-yard field goal against Ohio State University.

Anderson and Andersen have nearly identical last names, were born within a year of one another outside the United States (Anderson was born in South Africa), came to the United States as teenagers, had long and successful NFL careers throughout the 1980s and 1990s (and both retiring in the 2000s decade), and hold first or second place in a number of NFL records for scoring, field goals, and longevity.

Their overall accuracy is also nearly identical; their career percentage being within .5% of each other on both FGs and PATs.

He was named an All-American in 1981.

His success landed him the kicking job with the New Orleans Saints.

Following a career from 1982 to 2007, Andersen holds the NFL record for regular season games played at 382.

He also ranks second in field goals (565) and points scored (2,544).

In addition to his league accomplishments, he is the Saints' all-time leading scorer at 1,318 points.

On his first NFL kickoff to start the strike-shortened 1982 season, Andersen twisted his ankle and missed eight weeks of the season.

Despite the early setback, he soon emerged as one of the strongest and most reliable placekickers in the NFL.

In his years with the Saints, he was named to six Pro Bowls, kicked 302 field goals, and scored 1318 points.

In 1991, against Chicago, Andersen kicked a 60-yard field goal, tying him with Steve Cox for the second-longest field goal in league history at the time, behind 63-yard record-holder kicked by Tom Dempsey.

Andersen's kick has since been matched by Rob Bironas, Dan Carpenter and Greg Zuerlein, and surpassed by Sebastian Janikowski (twice), Jason Elam, Justin Tucker, Jay Feely, Matt Bryant, David Akers, Matt Prater, Jake Elliott, Graham Gano, Brett Maher, Brandon Aubrey and Stephen Gostkowski.

Andersen's proficiency with field goal kicking earned him the nickname "Mr. Automatic."

Following the 1994 season, he was released by the Saints for salary cap purposes and because his accuracy had started to decline.

Following his release by the Saints, Andersen signed with the Atlanta Falcons.

He silenced those who felt him to be washed up and was once again named a Pro Bowler during his time in Atlanta.

In December 1995 against the Saints, he became the first player in NFL history to kick three field goals of over 50 yards in a single game.

In Week 17 of the 1996 season, Andersen missed a 30-yard field goal that enabled the Jacksonville Jaguars to make the playoffs.

Two years later, he kicked a game-winning field goal in overtime in the 1998 NFC Championship Game to beat the Minnesota Vikings and send the Falcons to their first-ever Super Bowl appearance, falling to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.

There are a number of interesting coincidences between Andersen and former NFL placekicker Gary Anderson.

Also, Anderson missed a field goal in the 1998 NFC Championship Game for the Minnesota Vikings before Andersen kicked his winning kick, both from the same distance as well (38 yards).

Andersen went on to play with the New York Giants for the 2001 season, followed by the Kansas City Chiefs the following two seasons.

In the 2004 offseason, Andersen was beaten out for the kicking job by rookie Lawrence Tynes.

He was released by the Chiefs for the final roster cut, and was subsequently signed by the Vikings.

Although his leg strength had declined greatly with age, he continued to prove himself accurate for field goals.

Having not been signed by a team following the 2004 season, he became a free agent and did not play in 2005.

He announced NFL Europe games in the 2005 season.

In January 2006, Andersen was inducted as the first member of the Danish American Football Federation Hall of Fame.

Later that year, Andersen returned to the NFL, re-signing with the Atlanta Falcons; Andersen was brought in to help Michael Koenen, who was at the time performing double duty as punter and kicker (an extremely rare occurrence in the NFL) missing several field goals in that capacity, and Koenen reverted to strictly punting after Andersen's signing.

On 24 September 2011, he was inducted into the Michigan State University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Andersen's NFL career got off to a rocky start.

Andersen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

Along with Jan Stenerud, he is one of only two exclusive placekickers to receive the honor.

Andersen was born in Copenhagen and raised in the west Jutland town of Struer.

As a student, he was a gymnast and a long jumper, and just missed becoming a member of the Danish junior national soccer team.