FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots aren’t panicking after Stephen Gostkowski’s rough afternoon in Miami.
Head coach Bill Belichick on Wednesday expressed confidence in Gostkowski, who missed an extra point and a 42-yard field goal in Sunday’s 34-33 loss to the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Steve’s kicked in the league a long time,” Belichick said. “There’s a lot of aspects to kicking — three people involved, not just one. It’s not like a kickoff where you just put the ball on the tee. So just collectively, we’ve got to — obviously, expectations are high, and hopefully we’ll be able to convert on all of our scoring opportunities. That’s the goal. But nobody takes it more seriously than Steve does. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
(The same cannot be said for the Patriots’ next opponent, the Pittsburgh Steelers. They’re holding kicker tryouts this week after Chris Boswell missed his 11th kick of the season in a 24-21 loss to the Oakland Raiders on Sunday.)
Gostkowski also missed a 48-yarder in last week’s 24-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings, and his 82.8 percent field goal success rate would be his lowest since 2010 if it holds through the end of the season.
That number is slightly deceiving, however. Gostkowski had been perfect on kicks from inside 50 yards before the Vikings game, and Sunday’s missed extra point was his first of the season. His five missed field goals this season have come from 54, 50, 52, 48 and 42 yards out.
After struggling in 2016 following his costly missed extra point in the 2015 AFC Championship Game, Gostkowski rebounded to have one of the best years of his career last season, converting on 92.5 percent of his field-goal attempts and 95.7 percent of his extra points.
Gostkowski, who turns 35 next month, has spent his entire 13-year career in New England. He’s set to hit free agency in March.
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