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| No. 5, 10, 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Position | Placekicker | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1956-04-11)April 11, 1956 (age 69) Sacramento, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 161 lb (73 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
| High school | Sacramento | ||||||||||||||||||
| College | California (1974–1977) | ||||||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1978: 8th round, 206th overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||||
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James Thomas Breech (born April 11, 1956) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aplacekicker in theNational Football League (NFL) for theOakland Raiders[1] in 1979, and for theCincinnati Bengals from 1980 to 1992. Breech playedcollege football for theCalifornia Golden Bears. He was notable among kickers for wearing a different size cleat on his kicking foot. He wore a smaller size 5 cleat on his right kicking foot (his normal size was 7) which he felt gave him more control and stability kicking the football.
At theUniversity of California, Berkeley, Breech was the starting kicker for theCalifornia Golden Bears from 1975 to 1977, making 58 of 59 extra points and 32 out of 51 field goals (62%) in his final two seasons. Breech was selected in the 8th round of the1978 NFL draft by theDetroit Lions, but was cut by the team before the start of the season. He spent the 1979 season with theOakland Raiders, but they cut him in the 1980 pre-season in order to signChris Bahr, who had just been cut by the Bengals. Breech was later asked byCleveland Browns personnel directorPaul Warfield to possibly join the team as a replacement for injuredDon Cockroft. However, not hearing back from Cleveland, he received a phone call from the Bengals assistant personnel director Frank Smouse. Breech was signed by the Bengals, and ended up staying there for the remainder of his career.
In his 14 NFL seasons, Breech made 243 of 340field goals (71.4%), 517 of 539extra points (95.9%), and scored 1,246 total points. His 1,151 points with the Bengals are a franchise record. He is second all-time scoring in consecutive games with 186 consecutive games, and he was a perfect 9 for 9 inovertime field goals, an NFL record. Breech played in 9 postseason games during his career. In all of them combined, he missed just 2 field goals out of 11 attempts and never missed an extra point. Breech also played inSuper Bowl XVI andSuper Bowl XXIII, was perfect in both games, not missing a field goal or extra point in either one. In Super Bowl XXIII, he kicked 3 field goals and scored 10 of Cincinnati's 16 points in the game. When his third field goal gave the Bengals a 16–13 lead over theSan Francisco 49ers with just 3:10 left in the game, it appeared there was a strong possibility he would become the first kicker ever to win theSuper Bowl MVP award. However, the 49ers ended that chance by driving 92 yards and scoring the winning touchdown with 34 seconds left in the game.In 1999, he was inducted into theUniversity of California Athletic hall of fame.[1]
Career high/bestbolded
| Regular season statistics | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team (record) | G | FGM | FGA | % | <20 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | LNG | BLK | XPM | XPA | % | PTS |
| 1979 | OAK (9–7) | 16 | 18 | 27 | 66.7 | 1–2 | 7–7 | 7–10 | 3–7 | 0–1 | 47 | 0 | 41 | 45 | 91.1 | 95 |
| 1980 | CIN (6–10) | 4 | 4 | 7 | 57.1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 42 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 91.7 | 24 |
| 1981 | CIN (12–4) | 16 | 22 | 32 | 68.8 | 0–0 | 9–11 | 7–9 | 5–11 | 1–1 | 51 | 0 | 49 | 51 | 96.1 | 115 |
| 1982 | CIN (7–2) | 9 | 14 | 18 | 77.8 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 5–6 | 3–5 | 1–2 | 50 | 0 | 25 | 26 | 96.2 | 67 |
| 1983 | CIN (7–9) | 16 | 16 | 23 | 69.6 | 2–2 | 7–7 | 5–7 | 2–5 | 0–2 | 47 | 0 | 39 | 41 | 95.1 | 87 |
| 1984 | CIN (8–8) | 16 | 22 | 31 | 71.0 | 0–0 | 9–10 | 10–12 | 3–4 | 0–5 | 48 | 0 | 37 | 37 | 100.0 | 103 |
| 1985 | CIN (7–9) | 16 | 24 | 33 | 71.0 | 0–0 | 7–8 | 12–13 | 4–6 | 1–6 | 53 | 0 | 48 | 50 | 96.0 | 120 |
| 1986 | CIN (10–6) | 16 | 17 | 32 | 53.1 | 1–2 | 4–5 | 5–7 | 5–14 | 2–4 | 51 | 0 | 50 | 51 | 98.0 | 101 |
| 1987 | CIN (4–11) | 12 | 24 | 30 | 80.0 | 0–0 | 6–7 | 12–12 | 6–11 | 0–0 | 46 | 0 | 25 | 27 | 92.6 | 97 |
| 1988 | CIN (12–4) | 16 | 11 | 16 | 68.8 | 1–1 | 5–5 | 3–4 | 2–5 | 0–1 | 45 | 0 | 56 | 59 | 94.9 | 89 |
| 1989 | CIN (8–8) | 12 | 12 | 14 | 85.7 | 0–0 | 9–9 | 3–4 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 38 | 0 | 37 | 38 | 97.4 | 73 |
| 1990 | CIN (9–7) | 16 | 17 | 21 | 81.0 | 0–0 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 6–9 | 0–0 | 46 | 0 | 41 | 44 | 93.2 | 92 |
| 1991 | CIN (3–13) | 16 | 23 | 29 | 79.3 | 0–0 | 9–10 | 8–10 | 5–6 | 1–3 | 50 | 1 | 27 | 27 | 100.0 | 96 |
| 1992 | CIN (5–11) | 16 | 19 | 27 | 70.4 | 0–0 | 8–8 | 7–7 | 4–11 | 0–1 | 48 | 0 | 31 | 31 | 100.0 | 88 |
| Career (14 seasons) | 197 | 243 | 340 | 71.5 | 7–9 | 91–98 | 90–109 | 49–98 | 6–26 | 53 | 1 | 517 | 539 | 95.9 | 1,246 | |
Breech is a sales executive for the Hauser Group, an insurance firm in the Cincinnati suburb ofBlue Ash, Ohio. He also heads the Cincinnati chapter of NFL Alumni and is also on the board of directors for Kicks for Kids, an organization to help needy kids started by fellow formerCincinnati Bengals kickerDoug Pelfrey. He also is a kicking coach for the Lakota East High School football team in Liberty Township, Ohio.