Stover's Notes Explain Success

"You need to count them, you need to know where you are, because otherwise complacency sets in," Stover said. "You start thinking you're fine, and then you find yourself going into a game and you're 0 for 3, and you say, 'Uh-oh, I better start working.' "

Newsome credits Stover's longevity not just to the kicking technique he is constantly working to perfect, but also to the way he works out consistently to keep himself in excellent physical condition. The Ravens take care not to wear out his leg during preseason; he kicks once a day during training camp.

Stover is in the weight room for three hours a day, no less than four days a week, year-round. He does the same kind of upper body work as his teammates, and he does a lot of leg weights. He also has a series of ankle and shin exercises. The goal is to stay durable and healthy. Stover spent his rookie season with the New York Giants on injured reserve with a quadriceps pull, but since then, he hasn't missed a game because of injury.

"He's a technician," linebacker Bart Scott said. "He does so much maintenance work throughout the year and in the offseason, not so much the stuff in the weight room, but the stuff he does in the training room with his feet, his toes, his shins, all that weird stuff. But it must work because it's kept him in the league so long and kept him as one of the most accurate kickers in history."

After the season, Stover resumes kicking May 1, and he doesn't stop when his family goes on vacation. The Stovers -- wife Debbie, daughter Jenna (age 12) and sons Jacob (11) and Joe (4) -- traveled to Montana and Wyoming for three weeks this summer, and Matt brought along an extra bag that contained six footballs and his automatic holder.

Sometimes Stover's eldest son -- who, naturally, is learning how to kick -- helps shag the balls as his father practices. Debbie, whom Stover started dating when she was 14, used to hold for him when they were in high school. But in Montana and Wyoming this summer, more often than not, Stover worked out on his own at area high schools or colleges, kicking the six balls and then retrieving them himself.

"It's like a golfer who has a tournament coming up," said Stover, who often uses golfing analogies to help people understand what he does as a kicker. "He can't hang his golf clubs up right before the tournament. You wish you could and you taper a little bit, but you don't."

After Stover kicked five field goals -- including two 50-yarders -- in the Ravens' preseason opener against the Philadelphia Eagles, Coach Brian Billick joked he doesn't bother to watch Stover in the preseason. Scott said when he sees Stover trot out for a field goal attempt, he knows he will have an extra two minutes of rest, because it will be the kickoff unit -- and not the defense -- that takes the field following Stover.

"We get on him because he really only has one play, so he doesn't have to practice," Scott said. "But I guess after 18 years, he should have his one play down pat by now."