"I lost the ball, I couldn't see it" - Hayne

Hayne

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Coming on as a punt returner in the first quarter against the Dallas Cowboys, Hayne caught the football over his shoulder before turning back up the field, beating a couple of defenders and gaining 27-yards.

After his brilliant first game last week, the play set social media into overdrive.

But, the former Parramatta Eels star says, he almost made a meal of the catch.

“When I was going out there, I was putting my helmet on and I must have smudged the screen, so I was looking for a towel to wipe it but I couldn’t see,” he revealed in the post-match press conference.

“They’re all screaming ‘where are you? Get on the field’ so I’m running out trying to make sure the distances are right and my head’s everywhere.

“When the ball went up, I lost it straight away and as the punt returner, you need to get the read as early as you can, but I’ve lost the ball.

“I couldn’t even see it.

“By the height and the way it was rotating, I thought to myself, ‘gee that’s gone a long way’ and I just turned back and took off, trying to get the read on the way down and literally just putting my hands out and hoping that it landed in my hands.

“I actually thought it was going to roll off backwards but I just had to do my best.”

It was a spectacular save and brilliant play, but it wasn’t even Hayne’s best of the game.

That was reserved for one of two later plays.

One was his second kick-return – a 35-yard effort that saw him beat so many Cowboys defenders that the kicker was forced to tackle him.

“As soon as I came off the boys were into me, saying I had to pay a fine for that one,” Hayne said of getting tackled by the punter.

His other standout play was made from running back, beating a couple of defenders on a 34-yard rush in the third quarter.

Despite the Australian media going into meltdown (there were 20 accredited Australian journos in San Francisco for the game), Hayne says there’s still plenty to work on.

“I’m still a long way off where I want to be,” he said.

“I want to be able to go into every game confident that everything I do I’m comfortable with. I’m still learning, it’s only my second game, it’s still fresh.

“For me, I’m just taking in as much as I can and want to get better every game.”

The two-time Dally M medal winner also believed some of the hype surrounding his two breakout performances was due to people doubting whether he could make it.

“I guess, people had a lot of doubts and people are surprised by the way I’m going,” he said.

“But like I’ve always said, I’ve got confidence in my ability and if I keep learning the game and keep growing every week that I can be an NFL player.”

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