Morten Andersen Career Scoring Leader
Danish-American Hall of Fame kicker who played 25 NFL seasons, mostly for the Saints and Falcons.
Morten Andersen (born 19 August 1960), nicknamed "the Great Dane", is a Danish-American former professional football kicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 25 seasons, most notably with the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. He holds the NFL record for regular season games played at 382, ranks second in field goals (565) and points scored (2,544), and is the Saints all-time leading scorer at 1,318 points. Andersen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
- Tenure
- 1995–2000, 2004–2005
- Key Achievement
- Second in Points Scored in Falcons History (806)
Lore & Background
Andersen was born in Copenhagen and raised in Struer, Denmark. He visited the United States in 1977 as an exchange student and first kicked an American football at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. He played college football at Michigan State University, setting a Big Ten Conference record with a 63-yard field goal against Ohio State, and was named an All-American in 1981. He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fourth round (82nd overall) of the 1982 NFL Draft.
In Their Own Story
The Georgia Dome air was thick with humidity and tension as the fourth quarter wound down. The Falcons trailed by four points, and the clock ticked past two minutes left. Morten Andersen walked onto the field, the noise of the crowd fading into a singular focus on the uprights. He didn't need a speech; his routine was muscle memory honed over thousands of kicks. As he placed the ball, the world seemed to hold its breath. With a clean strike that echoed off the stadium walls, the ball sailed through the uprights, sealing another victory and adding yet another chapter to his legendary tenure in Atlanta.
Reader's Guide
Andersen played for the New Orleans Saints from 1982 to 1994, earning six Pro Bowl selections and scoring 1,318 points. He then played for the Atlanta Falcons from 1995 to 2000, where he became the first player in NFL history to kick three field goals of over 50 yards in a single game. He later played for the New York Giants (2001), Kansas City Chiefs (2002–2003), and Minnesota Vikings (2004). He returned to the Falcons for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He retired in 2008.
Did You Know?
- Andersen kicked a 60-yard field goal in 1995 (while with the Falcons), tying for the second-longest in NFL history at the time.
- He kicked a game-winning field goal in overtime in the 1998 NFC Championship Game to send the Falcons to Super Bowl XXXIII.
- Andersen passed Gary Anderson to become the NFL's all-time leading scorer on December 10, 2006.
- He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, one of only two exclusive kickers to receive the honor (as of 2017).
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