Phil Dawson
Encyclopedia
Philip Drury Dawson is an American football
placekicker
for the Cleveland Browns
in the National Football League
. He holds the franchise record for most field goals made, passing Hall of Famer Lou Groza
in 2010. He is the only player that has been on the Browns roster since their return to the NFL in 1999.
in Dallas, Texas
and was a letterman in football. He graduated in the class of 1993 whereas the Modellian Cleveland Brown placekicker Matt Stover attended the same high school, graduating in 1986. As a senior, he was a starter at both kicker and offensive tackle until he hurt his knee in a preseason scrimmage. He thought he might have to have season ending surgery, but he gutted it out, stuck to kicking, and was named as an All-American and the Southwest Region Offensive Player of the Year by SuperPrep.
, where he was a four-year letterman in football
. After redshirting
his freshman year, he scored 80 points his first year of playing. He also tied a school record with 54 consecutive extra point
s. The following season he made honorary All-America
honors while leading the Longhorns in scoring. He made first-team All-America his junior and senior years, while simultaneously making All-Big 12. He earned a B.A. in political science. Dawson is famous for his 1995 game-winning field goal against University of Virginia; booting a 50-yarder against a 30-MPH wind to give Texas a dramatic 17-16 victory as time expired.
, who then waived him. He was picked up by the New England Patriots
and assigned to the practice squad, but never appeared in a game for them. The Cleveland Browns
signed him as a free agent
in March 1999, and he has remained with the team ever since (and is the only player left from the 1999 squad). Dawson holds the team record for most consecutive field goals
made (27) and most field goals in a game (6). Dawson is currently the 7th most accurate kicker in the NFL. On October 10, 2010, Dawson tied Lou Groza
for the Browns' career field-goal record with 234. The two are tied for 35th in NFL history.
Dawson scored the first points in the history of the "new" Cleveland Browns in 1999. On October 10 of that year, he scored the only touchdown of his career on a fake field goal against the Bengals in a 18-17 loss. His official career long was a 56-yard field goal on November 17, 2008, which would prove to be the game-winner against the Buffalo Bills
on Monday Night Football
. However, he did hit a 58-yard field goal on an August 14, 2010 preseason game.
Dawson would have become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2010 season, but he was given the franchise tag
on February 22, keeping him for the 2011 season.
Phil Dawson recently launched PhilDawsonEdge.com to help coaches improve their special teams play and developing high school and college kicking specialists into clutch kickers through kicking camps.
Phil is also a featured speaker at coaching clinics including the American Football Coaches Association Convention (AFCA)], Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, DFW Coaches Clinic and Alamo City Coaches Clinic.
. The kick carried through the air and hit the left upright and then the rear curved post (stanchion
), which bounced the football over the crossbar and into the end zone
, in front of the goalpost. The kick was originally ruled no good. Under NFL rules, the play was not reviewable. Officials discussed the play among themselves for several minutes and decided that, since the ball had indeed crossed the crossbar within the goal, whatever happened afterward to the ball did not matter. The kick was considered good, as announced by referee
Pete Morelli
. However, as the play is not technically reviewable, referee Pete Morelli announced that the play was reversed "after discussion," as opposed to "after further review," as is usually stated. At this point the Ravens, already celebrating in the locker room (they would have won 30-27 if the field goal was no good), were called back out onto the field to proceed to an overtime period. The Browns went on to win the game, 33-30 in overtime
, as Dawson came through again with a more visible 33-yard field goal.
Phil Dawson finished 4 for 5 in FG's whereas fellow Lakeland High School Alumnus finished with the Ravens 3 for 3 in FG's.Box Score
Later in the season, on December 16, Dawson kicked another field goal that hit the same support bar. This field goal helped the Browns achieve an 8-0 win over the Buffalo Bills in blizzard
conditions. Hitting this same structure twice in the same season has led some members of the Cleveland press to begin referring to the support bar as "The Dawson Bar."
Prior to the 2008 season
, the rule was changed to allow field goal and extra point attempts that hit the uprights or crossbar to be reviewed. This new rule is dubbed the "Phil Dawson Rule."
with his wife, Shannon, and sons, Dru (born 4/13/01) and Beau (4/28/03), and daughter Sophiann (6/23/06) .
Dawson kicks right-footed but throws left-handed.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
placekicker
Placekicker
Placekicker, or simply kicker , is the title of the player in American and Canadian football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals, extra points...
for the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He holds the franchise record for most field goals made, passing Hall of Famer Lou Groza
Lou Groza
Louis Roy Groza was an American football placekicker and offensive tackle who played his entire career for the Cleveland Browns....
in 2010. He is the only player that has been on the Browns roster since their return to the NFL in 1999.
High school years
Dawson attended Lake Highlands High SchoolLake Highlands High School
Lake Highlands High School is a secondary school serving grades 10-12 located in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas, Texas, United States, primarily serving the Lake Highlands community. The school is part of the Richardson Independent School District and is located centrally within Lake Highlands...
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
and was a letterman in football. He graduated in the class of 1993 whereas the Modellian Cleveland Brown placekicker Matt Stover attended the same high school, graduating in 1986. As a senior, he was a starter at both kicker and offensive tackle until he hurt his knee in a preseason scrimmage. He thought he might have to have season ending surgery, but he gutted it out, stuck to kicking, and was named as an All-American and the Southwest Region Offensive Player of the Year by SuperPrep.
College career
Dawson attended the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, where he was a four-year letterman in football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
. After redshirting
Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...
his freshman year, he scored 80 points his first year of playing. He also tied a school record with 54 consecutive extra point
Extra Point
Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...
s. The following season he made honorary All-America
All-America
An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
honors while leading the Longhorns in scoring. He made first-team All-America his junior and senior years, while simultaneously making All-Big 12. He earned a B.A. in political science. Dawson is famous for his 1995 game-winning field goal against University of Virginia; booting a 50-yarder against a 30-MPH wind to give Texas a dramatic 17-16 victory as time expired.
Pro career
Dawson was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Oakland RaidersOakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, who then waived him. He was picked up by the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
and assigned to the practice squad, but never appeared in a game for them. The Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
signed him as a free agent
Free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player whose contract with a team has expired and who is thus eligible to sign with another club or franchise....
in March 1999, and he has remained with the team ever since (and is the only player left from the 1999 squad). Dawson holds the team record for most consecutive field goals
Field goal (football)
A field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...
made (27) and most field goals in a game (6). Dawson is currently the 7th most accurate kicker in the NFL. On October 10, 2010, Dawson tied Lou Groza
Lou Groza
Louis Roy Groza was an American football placekicker and offensive tackle who played his entire career for the Cleveland Browns....
for the Browns' career field-goal record with 234. The two are tied for 35th in NFL history.
Dawson scored the first points in the history of the "new" Cleveland Browns in 1999. On October 10 of that year, he scored the only touchdown of his career on a fake field goal against the Bengals in a 18-17 loss. His official career long was a 56-yard field goal on November 17, 2008, which would prove to be the game-winner against the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
on Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
. However, he did hit a 58-yard field goal on an August 14, 2010 preseason game.
Dawson would have become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2010 season, but he was given the franchise tag
Franchise Tag
In the National Football League, the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are met. Each team has access each year to only one franchise tag and one...
on February 22, keeping him for the 2011 season.
Phil Dawson recently launched PhilDawsonEdge.com to help coaches improve their special teams play and developing high school and college kicking specialists into clutch kickers through kicking camps.
Phil is also a featured speaker at coaching clinics including the American Football Coaches Association Convention (AFCA)], Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, DFW Coaches Clinic and Alamo City Coaches Clinic.
The Dawson Bar
On November 18, 2007, Dawson attempted a 51-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter to tie the game against the Baltimore RavensBaltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
. The kick carried through the air and hit the left upright and then the rear curved post (stanchion
Stanchion
A stanchion is an upright bar or post, often providing support for some other object.* An architectural term applied to the upright iron bars in windows that pass through the eyes of the saddle bars or horizontal irons to steady the leadlight. A stanchion is an upright bar or post, often...
), which bounced the football over the crossbar and into the end zone
End zone
In gridiron-based codes of football, the end zone refers to the scoring area on the field. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field...
, in front of the goalpost. The kick was originally ruled no good. Under NFL rules, the play was not reviewable. Officials discussed the play among themselves for several minutes and decided that, since the ball had indeed crossed the crossbar within the goal, whatever happened afterward to the ball did not matter. The kick was considered good, as announced by referee
Referee
A referee is the person of authority, in a variety of sports, who is responsible for presiding over the game from a neutral point of view and making on the fly decisions that enforce the rules of the sport...
Pete Morelli
Pete Morelli
Peter "Pete" Morelli is the principal of Saint Mary's High School in Stockton, California and better known as an American football official in the National Football League since the 1997 NFL season....
. However, as the play is not technically reviewable, referee Pete Morelli announced that the play was reversed "after discussion," as opposed to "after further review," as is usually stated. At this point the Ravens, already celebrating in the locker room (they would have won 30-27 if the field goal was no good), were called back out onto the field to proceed to an overtime period. The Browns went on to win the game, 33-30 in overtime
Overtime (sports)
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw. In most sports, this extra period is only played if the game is required to have a clear winner, as in single-elimination...
, as Dawson came through again with a more visible 33-yard field goal.
Phil Dawson finished 4 for 5 in FG's whereas fellow Lakeland High School Alumnus finished with the Ravens 3 for 3 in FG's.Box Score
Later in the season, on December 16, Dawson kicked another field goal that hit the same support bar. This field goal helped the Browns achieve an 8-0 win over the Buffalo Bills in blizzard
Blizzard
A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
conditions. Hitting this same structure twice in the same season has led some members of the Cleveland press to begin referring to the support bar as "The Dawson Bar."
Prior to the 2008 season
2008 NFL season
The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on February 1, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out victorious over the...
, the rule was changed to allow field goal and extra point attempts that hit the uprights or crossbar to be reviewed. This new rule is dubbed the "Phil Dawson Rule."
Personal
Dawson resides in Westlake, OhioWestlake, Ohio
Westlake is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. The population was 32,729 at the 2010 census. It is an affluent suburb of Cleveland, Ohio and is located 12 miles from Cleveland's downtown.-Geography:Westlake is located at...
with his wife, Shannon, and sons, Dru (born 4/13/01) and Beau (4/28/03), and daughter Sophiann (6/23/06) .
Dawson kicks right-footed but throws left-handed.