A Titans player thought the team's new kicker was just a scout days before he nailed a division-winning kick

• The Tennessee Titans promoted kicker Sam Sloman to the roster after their Stephen Gostkowski was placed on the COVID-19/reserve list.
• Sloman hit all seven of his kicks in Week 17, including the game-winning field goal that clinched the AFC South for the Titans.
• Titans safety Kevin Byard later told reporters that during the week, he didn't know who Sloman was, believing he was a scout.
• Sloman said he had still not met all of his teammates.

Tennessee Titans kicker Sam Sloman made a quick impression on his teammates.

On Sunday, Sloman kicked the game-winning, division-cliching field goal as time expired, as the Titans beat the Houston Texans, 41-38. The kick won the Titans the AFC South, and they will now host the Baltimore Ravens in a Wild Card game on Sunday.

Sloman was signed to the practice squad in November and elevated to the 53-man roster after kicker Stephen Gotskowski was placed on the COVID-19/reserve list on Monday.

After the Titans' win on Sunday, safety Kevin Byard told reporters that he thought Sloman was a scout during the week.

"When we were in practice and I saw him doing his kicks and stuff, honestly, I didn't know who he was," Byard said (via Mike Organ of The Nashville Tennesseean). "Not to be funny or anything like that, but I thought he might have been one of our scouts. Not a scout team player; a scout. I didn't know that we had signed a new kicker."

Sloman said he hadn't yet met everyone on the team as of Sunday's game.

"I spent the week just trying to get to know guys a little bit better. There's a few I still had not met," Sloman said.

Sloman was 5-of-5 on extra points and 2-of-2 on field goals on Sunday. The game-winning kick bounced off the right upright and through to secure the win.

Sloman was drafted with the 248th overall pick in the 2020 draft. He had made 8-of-11 kicks with the Los Angeles Rams before being waived.

NFL Network's Pete Schrager said on "Good Morning Football" on Monday that the Rams locker room was ecstatic in celebration for Sloman.

Sloman called it the biggest kick of his career so far.

"This is No.1 for sure," Sloman said. "That's the first last-second field goal I've ever attempted in my life."

"It's crazy," Byard said. "The guy goes from not having a job and then he comes in here and made the game-winning field goal to make us win the division."

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