James Thomas Breech (born April 11, 1956) is an American former
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
placekicker
In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...
who played in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
(NFL) for the
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...
in 1979, and for the
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...
from 1980 to 1992. Breech played
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
for the
California 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.
Early life
Breech was the starting kicker for the
California 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 the
1978 NFL draft
The 1978 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 2–3, 1978, at the Roosevelt Hotel ...
by the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
, but was cut by the team before the start of the season. He spent the 1979 season with the
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...
, but they cut him in the 1980 pre-season in order to sign
Chris Bahr, who had just been cut by the Bengals. Breech was later asked by
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
personnel director
Paul Warfield to possibly join the team as a replacement for injured
Don 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.
NFL career
In his 14 NFL seasons, Breech made 243 of 340
field goals
A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, a ...
(71.4%), 517 of 539
extra point
Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* Extra (newspaper), ...
s (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 in
overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:
*by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
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 in
Super Bowl XVI
Super Bowl XVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Cincinnati Bengals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
and
Super 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 the
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
with just 3:10 left in the game, it appeared there was a strong possibility he would become the first kicker ever to win the
Super 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 the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
Athletic hall of fame.
[
]
Career regular season statistics
''Career high/best bolded''
After football
Breech is a sales executive for the Hauser Group, an insurance firm in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue 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 former Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...
kicker Doug Pelfrey. He also is a kicking coach for the Lakota east football team in liberty township ohio.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breech, Jim
1956 births
Living people
Players of American football from Sacramento, California
American football placekickers
California Golden Bears football players
Cincinnati Bengals players
Oakland Raiders players