CHARLOTTE, N.C. — With his four game-winning kicks and cool confidence, Ryan Fitzgerald gives off the vibe of someone with a slow heartbeat.

Which seemed like an apt description for the Carolina Panthers’ rookie kicker, if it were only true.

“When I look at my WHOOP (fitness tracker) after games, it’s not the case. But it feels like it during the game. I feel calm and relaxed,” Fitzgerald said. “I think it’s just being in those moments, playing at a high level in college. It’s a different level here, for sure, but just being in those moments more and more, it’s good to have that adrenaline and those nerves.

“I think that’s when people perform their best is when you have that adrenaline. So just learning to channel that is what helps.”

Fitzgerald has been a quick study since arriving in Charlotte in the spring as an undrafted rookie from Florida State. Fitzgerald beat out veteran Matthew Wright as the successor to Eddy Pineiro, who was not re-signed despite a field goal percentage that ranked among the top three of all time.

Pineiro has had a solid season since signing with the San Francisco 49ers in September. But the Panthers like what they have in Fitzgerald, who has a chance to make history Saturday at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game that could decide the NFC South.

Only two other rookies have made four game-winning field goals since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970: the Dallas Cowboys’ Dan Bailey in 2011 and Washington’s Chip Lohmiller in 1988. And if the game comes down to Fitzgerald’s foot against the Buccaneers, his teammates and coaches have faith that Fitzgerald again will come through.

“He’s cold-hearted. I like him a lot,” safety Nick Scott said. “He’s a young dude, smaller build and kind of carries this innocent demeanor. But he’s a killer, man. He’s got some of the best self-talk that I’ve ever heard. His confidence is through the roof.”

Asked to explain what he meant by self-talk, Scott pointed to a practice when Fitzgerald had missed a kick or two.

“Just hearing him talking, he was like, ‘Ah, it doesn’t matter. I make the ones in the game.’ I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s my guy right there. And he’s not wrong,’” Scott said. “When you have a young guy that’s already talking like that, but being serious and meaning it, I’m with him — wrong, right or indifferent.

“Whether that thing goes through the goal posts on game day or not, I know he’s gonna get the next one. And he’s thinking the same thing.”

Most of Fitzgerald’s kicks this season have gone through the uprights. He’s 24-of-28 on field goals and 25-of-28 on extra points. And though that’s not a ton of attempts — eight kickers have attempted 34 field goals or more, including ex-Panthers Pineiro and Joey Slye — it’s more than the 13 field goals Fitzgerald attempted and made during his final season at Florida State.

Rookie kicks: Most game winners since 2000

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