During an injury timeout before the kick, Santos tried to tamp down the sand on the field next to the hash mark.
“Each kick, it can be different out there,” Santos said, “because the field really gets torn up.
On Monday night, he’ll play at Heinz Field, which is notoriously different to kick in, particularly at the open end, where the winds rush in off the Ohio River.
Santos knows what lies ahead — “There can be times that the end is challenging,” he said — but he has some inside knowledge.
Santos has made 38 consecutive field goals in the regular season, the longest active streak in the NFL and only six shy of the all-time record set by Adam Vinatieri in 2016 with the Colts.
As a rookie in 2014, he missed a kick in each of his first two games.
“That’s been the mentality — just like I can’t get to whatever the record is, or 40, unless I get to 39 first,” he said.