PITTSBURGH — OK, now it’s time to worry about Stephen Gostkowski.
The New England Patriots kicker has missed five kicks — two extra points and three field goals — this season, and we’re at the point, seven games in, where Gostkowski’s struggles can no longer be brushed aside due to small-sample size.
Gostkowski didn’t attempt a field goal Sunday but missed one of four extra points against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Patriots’ 27-16 win. If this was his only miss of the year, it could be blamed on the difficulty of kicking in Heinz Field. Gostkowski attempted the extra point into the open side of the stadium, where wind blows off the river.
And if Week 5’s 50-yard miss was his only miscue of the season, the length could be blamed. But these struggles go back to the AFC Championship Game, when he missed an extra point in the Patriots’ loss to the Denver Broncos. He also missed field goals in Weeks 2 and 4 and an extra point in Week 6 this season. The misses are adding up, and, perhaps most concerning, Gostkowski doesn’t have an obvious solution.
“If there was one thing to point to fix it, I would have done it by now,” Gostkowski said. “I just need to be better.”
Mechanics could be the cause of the issues.
“I’m not happy with the way I’m playing, and mechanically, I need to be better,” Gostkowski said. “I’m just not playing good enough for this team right now. I need to keep my head down and keep working. I’m putting the work in, I’m trying the best I can. I need to figure out how to switch it up and be more consistent.”
Despite extra points being moved from 20-yard attempts to 33-yarders, Gostkowski hit 100 percent of the PATs during the 2015 regular season. He’s hitting just 90.5 percent this season. He was hitting 87.3 percent of his field goals in his career through 2015. It’s dropped down to 75 percent this season.
He was asked if there’s anyone to consult to check on his mechanics.
“Personally, I don’t talk about why things go wrong,” Gostkowski said. “Obviously there’s something going on, and I’m going to work my hardest to fix it. That’s all I do. It’s my job. I take it seriously. No one feels worse about screwing up than I do. It stinks to come in when you win and always talk about just the one bad play you had, but that’s the nature of the position. You deal with it, you learn, and if you don’t, that’s how it is. I’ve always held my head high, and I will always go out there with confidence no matter if I miss a hundred in a row.”
Some have suggested increased responsibility on kickoffs to angle the ball closer to the goal line could be to blame. The Patriots replaced their field turf with a softer surface this offseason, but Gostkowski even was struggling during training camp on the grass practice fields.
“Right now I just stink,” Gostkowski said. “I have to figure out how to get better. It’s not working out, kinda piling on, and I’m going to hold my head high, keep working hard and keep doing the best I can as long as I keep getting the opportunities.”
Bill Belichick showed confidence in Gostkowski after the game.
“Nobody works harder than Steve,” Belichick said. “Steve’s a very talented player. He’s mentally tough. He’s a good football player. We’ll work through it. Again, this is a tough place to kick. I’m not making any excuses. The kicker on the other side of the field had trouble too, but we have to hit them.”
Thumbnail photo via Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images
