Kicker Daniel Carlson likely will need a strong finish in the Las Vegas Raiders’ regular-season finale on Saturday to lead the NFL in scoring for a third consecutive season. But it hasn’t just been about the quantity of the former Auburn standout’s points this season; it’s the quality, too.

In the Raiders’ 37-34 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Carlson connected on a 57-yard field goal, equaling the longest of his career. He first achieved that distance in an NFL game in Las Vegas’ 22-16 overtime victory against the Denver Broncos on Nov. 20.

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They’re two of the 10 field goals of 50 or more yards that Carlson has made this season. That ties the NFL single-season record established by the Minnesota Vikings’ Blair Walsh in 2012 and equaled by the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Tucker in 2016.

Five of those field goals have gone through from at least 55 yards. Only two other kickers in NFL history have made as many as five field goals of 55 or more yards in the same season – Jason Myers for the New York Jets in 2018 and Matt Gay for the Los Angeles Rams this season.

Carlson has made seven field goals of at least 55 yards in his career, which leaves him one away from entering the top 10 in NFL history.

Carlson said missing a long-distance field-goal attempt can be doubly damaging for a team.

“I think those are important field goals, obviously, because, hey, three points is always important, but the field-position battle,” Carlson said during an appearance on “Upon Further Review with Eddie Pashal” for the Raiders’ official website. “If you miss a kick from 55 yards, all of a sudden, they get the ball on the 45-yard line, the far 45-yard line, versus missing – hopefully I never miss a 20-yard field goal anytime soon – but if you miss it there, they’re only getting the ball on the 30-yard line, so glad I’m able to help the team in that way.”

Carlson has made 23-of-28 field-goal attempts from at least 50 yards during his career, including connecting on 10 out of 12 in 2022.

Carlson is appreciative for being able to kick indoors at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for half his games every season.

“Hopping off that flight from Pittsburgh after being frozen, kind of thawing out on the flight home, it’s nice to be in Vegas this time of year sometimes,” Carlson said. “We always welcome guys in as they come in from San Francisco, and we’re like, ‘Hey, glad you’re playing here instead of Green Bay, right?’ We love not having to battle the elements at Allegiant Stadium.”

Carlson will be kicking at Allegiant Stadium again on Saturday when the Kansas City Chiefs visit Las Vegas at 3:30 p.m. CST.

Carlson enters Las Vegas’ final game with 130 points this season. On the NFL leaderboard, he trails Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher, who has 137, and Tucker, who has 132 points for Baltimore.

Last season, Carlson and New England Patriots kicker Nick Folk finished tied for the NFL points lead with 150 apiece. In 2020, Carlson tied with Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo and Miami Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders for the league scoring lead with 144 points each.

Stephen Gostkowski is the only player who has led the NFL in points for at least three consecutive seasons since the NFL/AFL merger. Gostkowski was the league’s leading scorer annually from 2012 through 2015 while kicking for the Patriots.

If Carlson scores 10 points against Kansas City on Saturday, he would become the fifth player in NFL history to have at least 140 points in three seasons, joining Gostkowski, Tucker, David Akers and Mason Crosby, and he’d join Gostkowski and Tucker as the players who have done so in at least three consecutive seasons.

Carlson started his fifth season tied with Cam Newton for sixth on Auburn’s NFL scoring list with 460 points. This season, Carlson has passed James Brooks, Cody Parkey and Neil O’Donoghue to move up to third in NFL points among Auburn alumni.

Ahead of Carlson are Al Del Greco, who scored 1,584 points from 1984 through 2000, and Rob Bironas, who scored 1,032 points from 2005 through 2013.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.