Ka'imi Fairbairn went five and half games without stepping foot onto the field for the Houston Texans to attempt a kickoff, field goal or extra point.
"It felt like a long time," Fairbairn said.
The Texans veteran kicker exited the game on November 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a quad injury. Since then, Fairbairn was listed on the injury report every week and the question was when would he return.
After missing the last five games, Fairbairn was cleared to return for the road contest in Tennessee and in the end scored 12 of the Texans eventual 19 points by nailing four field goals, including a walk-off 54-yarder to seal a 19-16 victory in overtime.
"That was a fun game," Fairbairn said. "Just thankful to be back with my teammates and enjoy the victory. Have a lot more to play for."
Right before he lined up for the field goal, the Texans called a timeout to stop the clock with three seconds left and then the Titans called a timeout to try and ice him.
"They called a timeout and you just go through your routine, like I always say," Fairbairn said about the final kick. "I went one for one, keep it simple."
The final field goal that Fairbairn kicked was his fourth of the game. He also nailed field goals from 23, 27 and 53 yards. This is the seventh game of his career where Fairbairn has made four or more field goals. He did it earlier this season when he went 4 for 4 against Atlanta.
Right before the eventual game-winning field goal in overtime, the Texans started that drive at their own 20. A 41-yard pass from Case Keenum to Devin Singletary is what got Houston into Tennessee territory down to the 39 and got Fairbairn into range.
"Once we got past the 50, we know Kaimi we know he can kick it from however long we need him," Khalil Davis. "Once Devin made the run and got us across we knew it was over."
