KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) – Like most kickers, Josh Brown has a routine.

It’s just that his routine is other people’s extraordinary.

Brown has won five of the Seahawks’ last 19 games with last-second kicks, spanning 13 months. It’s one of the most clutch kicking streaks in NFL history. Only one other kicker has won four games on the last play within 12 months inside this decade: Matt Stover, for Baltimore from 2003-04.

Before each of his last two winners – at St. Louis last month and then at home against the Rams last week – Brown has predicted his heroics an hour before they’ve happened.

Last Sunday, Brown walked up to long snapper Derek Rackley just after halftime, while Seattle was leading St. Louis 14-13.

“Rack, I’ve just got that feeling. This is going to be another one of those field goal games again,” Brown told Rackley.

Almost two quarters later, with 9 seconds to go, Brown was perfect on a 38-yarder for a 24-22 win and a two-game lead in the NFC West. As the kick soared, Brown simply lowered his head into the chest of his holder, Ryan Plackemeier.

No fist pumping. No yelling. No helmet throwing, as he did into the Seahawks’ celebration melee Oct. 23, 2005, when he beat Dallas with a 50-yard field goal as time expired.

Just some quiet words to Plackemeier.

“All right, let’s go. We’ve got a kickoff to do,” Brown told him.

“That’s Josh,” said Plackemeier, who spends more time than anybody with Brown. “He’s got two different personalities.”

He’s got an away-from-work personality where he’s a very fun guy to be around – just a good guy, good-natured. Tells a lot of jokes.

“But when we hit the field, it’s work time.”

Mike Holmgren has been an NFL head coach for the last 15 years. He calls Brown his favorite among his kickers.

“I said I liked him as a kicker, I didn’t say anything about his personality,” Holmgren said, jokingly.

“He is a cocky guy. He is a talker – by that I mean he’s kind of an engaging guy. He is an interesting guy … He does things in the community. He does speaking engagements. He does things for kids. He just likes the whole thing.

“I like him. He’s a good guy.”

Brown has more extraordinary routines.

After home games, he and Plackemeier usually dine at the same seafood and steakhouse. Brown eats, laughs – then helps himself to a seat at the house piano to play for fellow diners.

Rich Antle, Brown’s coach at Foyil High School in rural northeast Oklahoma, reveals more musical talent.

“If people don’t know it out there yet, he can sing,” Antle said. “He could be a professional singer.”

In offseason, he is. Sort of.

Brown hangs out with Joe Don Rooney of the country band Rascal Flatts and has performed vocals with the group. The last time was in March in Lincoln, Neb. Brown met Rooney there while Brown was a kicker and wide receiver for Nebraska from 1999-2002.

And that’s not this 27-year-old bachelor’s only link to country music.

Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has been giving Brown grief for months about Carrie Underwood, the former American Idol winner who is now a country music star. Last summer, Brown had Hasselbeck come with him to an Underwood concert in Spokane, Wash. Brown and Underwood met back stage after the show.

Web sites and blogs say Brown and Underwood are an item – how many kickers are linked to a music star?

The mere mention of Carrie Underwood prompts Brown to roll his eyes and say, “Oh, God.”

Plackemeier divulged that before Seattle’s Monday night game against Oakland, Brown sent flowers from the team hotel to Underwood’s dressing room before a concert.

“He’s going to kill me for putting this in the paper,” Plackemeier said, giggling.

Hasselbeck repeatedly called Brown from a private number that night. When “private” kept showing up on Brown’s cell phone, Brown kept excitedly picking up his phone – only to find Hasselbeck, not Underwood, on the other end.

Brown, the first player at Foyil High School to earn a Division I-A football scholarship, also was a gymnast for eight years. He specialized in the floor routine, with dazzling back handsprings. And Antle said he has seen Brown perform 360-degree dunks of a basketball.

“This guy is a very good athlete,” Antle said.

He’s also as clutch a kicker as the NFL currently has. Just in time, too. His Seahawks contract, paying him $721,600 this year, ends after this season.

His five winning kicks have come since he clanged a potential game-winner from 47 yards off the upright at Washington last September. That forced overtime, in which the Redskins won.

What did Brown learn from that kick?

“Don’t miss,” he said.

“I learned a lot about myself. Just to miss like that one time, it’s a devastating situation. You’re employed to do one job: Make those kicks.”

AP-ES-11-16-06 2023EST

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