Graham Gano is out to break new ground tomorrow and take the Carolina Panthers one step closer to the Super Bowl.
The Arbroath-born kicker has never won a play-off game in his career but can change that when the Panthers host Arizona Cardinals in the NFC wildcard play-off.
It looked an unlikely scenario just a few weeks ago when the Panthers won only once in nine games but they have now won their last four, including their best display of the season to beat Atlanta Falcons last weekend to clinch a post-season berth.
The Panthers are dark horses for the Super Bowl but have what every team seeks at this time of year - momentum.
Gano will draw inspiration from compatriot Lawrence Tynes, who won two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants, both when they were unfancied.
Gano's only play-off match came against San Francisco 49ers last year when he kicked a field goal but could not prevent his team going down 23-10 in the NFC Divisional Play-off.
The Panthers head coach, Ron Rivera, believes his team has grown as the season has progressed.
"The one thing that's really happened is the development of our leadership," he said. "It's been tremendous. We've been looking for guys, and guys have stepped up. You see these guys emerge, and that's a sign of us maturing. We've matured at the right time."
He continued: "We've found a number of guys to step up and lead us, step up and play for us. We've had guys develop as far as our young offensive line is concerned and our revamped secondary and revamped wide receiver corps. All those things have come to fruition. A lot of it has to do with the personnel getting comfortable."
The Panthers have never won a post-season match since 2005 and only linebacker Thomas Davis remains from that team and Rivera craves victory against the Cardinals.
"Until we can do that, there will always be doubters, always people who will say, 'Well, you can only get them that far," he pointed out. I want to dispel that, not just for me but for the team. I obviously want to go all the way, but we've got to take it one game at a time."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article