Nick Folk Honored As AFC’s Top Special Teamer After Patriots Beat Texans

Nick Folk was recognized Wednesday as the AFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 5.

The veteran kicker earned that honor by going 4-for-4 on field-goal attempts in the New England Patriots’ 25-22 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, atoning for an early missed extra point. Included in those makes were two 52-yarders and a 21-yard game-winner with 15 seconds remaining.

Folk earned Special Teams Player of the Week honors twice last season, after his game-winning kicks against the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals. The 36-year-old has been nearly perfect on field-goal tries over the past year, making 40 of his last 41 dating back to last September.

On Sunday, he became just the second Patriots kicker to convert multiple 50-plus-yard field goals in a game, joining Stephen Gostkowski.

“Nick’s mentally tough,” Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord said Tuesday. “He knows how to take care of his body and what he has to do to get ready every day and every week. Obviously, we have all the confidence in the world in putting him out there every week, and he’s doing everything he can to keep himself there and maintain his body and be ready to go. Obviously, he’s delivered some big kicks for us, and hopefully he’ll continue that moving forward.”

Through five weeks, Folk leads all NFL kickers in fields goals made (14), field-goal attempts (15) and ranks sixth in field-goal percentage (93.3%). His field goals have accounted for 42 of the Patriots’ 96 points this season.