Sid Hartman: Longwell feels for opposing kicker

Ryan Longwell, who kicked the winning field goal in the final seconds in the Vikings' 30-27 victory at New Orleans on Monday night, said he felt for Saints kicker Martin Gramatica, whose failed attempt minutes earlier enabled the Vikings to get the ball back with a chance to win.

Gramatica missed a 46-yarder wide left at the two-minute warning, giving the Vikings the ball at their own 37. They then drove 51 yards on six plays, with most of the yards coming on a 42-yard pass interference penalty on a deep ball intended for Bernard Berrian.

The score was tied 27-27 with 1:58 left when Martin missed a 46-yard field after he made 53-yard and 35-yard field goals.

"I've played against Martin a lot, when he was in the division with Tampa," said Longwell, who now has 13 game-winning kicks in his 12 NFL seasons. "... He's a good guy. You just feel for the guy in that situation, because with missing at Denver a couple weeks ago and then with Monday night, he's going through some stuff right now."

In Week 3 at Denver, Gramatica missed a 43-yard field goal with 1:55 remaining, and New Orleans lost 34-32. Then, against the Vikings, his 46-yard attempt in the first quarter was blocked by Kevin Williams and returned for a 59-yard touchdown by Antoine Winfield. The Saints placed Gramatica on injured reserve Wednesday, replacing him with former Taylor Mehlhaff, their sixth-round pick from Wisconsin this year who lost the kicking job in training camp to the veteran Gramatica.

Regarding his winning kick, Longwell said: "Obviously you know the situation, you know the game-winner, but you've just got to approach it the same way and hit a good ball."

Longwell said the Superdome is one of his favorite places to kick. "I've always had fun playing in the Superdome, the times I've been down there, and that turf is a really good surface," he said.

"The thing that's really vitally important is you have to keep your head about you," Longwell said. "You can't get excited about a win like that or disappointed over the loss last week. You've got to stay pretty flatlined and pretty even-keel. You've got to be able to deal with prosperity and go into every game with a clean slate."

Yes, it was a lucky break for the Vikings when the Packers decided not to bring Longwell back in 2006.

Booty not surprised Vikings reserve quarterback John David Booty was a teammate of Reggie Bush at Southern California, and though Booty saw the running back make some great runs with the Trojans, he said he had never seen him make two punt returns like he did Monday, when Bush returned punts 71 and 64 yards for touchdowns in the second half.

"You get him open out in space and he makes some guys miss," Booty said. "I was there for three years at SC, but that's the first time I've really seen him go off like that, having several in one game. ... Just an unbelievable athlete. He's the real deal."

As chronicled in the Los Angeles Times before USC beat Illinois in the Rose Bowl earlier this year, Booty and Bush were part of the same 2003 recruiting class under Pete Carroll, a class that helped the Trojans win five Pacific-10 Conference championships and two national titles.

Brewster homecoming Gophers football coach Tim Brewster was a tight end on the 1983 Illinois football team that went 9-0 in Big Ten play and met UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

So this will be an unusual feeling for Brewster as he makes his first appearance as a coach at his alma mater.

"I know that Tim is very fond of this university, as is his wife," Illinois coach Ron Zook told reporters at his weekly media luncheon Tuesday. "I've gotten to know him a little bit when we were recruiting his son [Clint] two years ago."

Zook said he isn't surprised with Gophers quarterback Adam Weber.

"I thought last year he was one of the better quarterbacks we faced," Zook said. "... He's very accurate, a big strong guy, runs the offense, knows where to go with the football, competitive winner and all those kind of things you'd expect to have."

Former Lakeville High School player Kevin Kaesviharn, the Saints safety who had the pass interference call against Berrian that set up the Vikings' winning field goal Monday, is in his eighth season in the NFL. Kaesviharn, 32, was a substitute math teacher coming out of Augustana before catching on in both the Arena Football League and the XFL. In 2001, four years out of college, he caught on with the Bengals, playing in 10 games, and he stayed with Cincinnati for six years before joining New Orleans last year. After stating only three games last year, he has started every game for the Saints this year. He has 16 career interceptions, including one this year.

Among former Gophers players in the Canadian Football League, receiver Arland Bruce III, tackle Jerome Davis and cornerback Willie Middlebrooks are with Toronto, although Davis is injured. Bruce is the Argonauts' leading receiver, with 74 receptions for 952 yards and five TDs, while Middlebrooks has 44 tackles and two interceptions. ... Ryan Thelwell has 17 receptions for 321 yards and three touchdowns in his second year with the Calgary Stampeders.