Patriots Special Teams Coach Addresses Chad Ryland’s Kicking Struggles

New England Patriots kicker Chad Ryland continued a season-long trend in Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs by missing another makeable field-goal attempt.

It’s been a rookie campaign filled of struggles for the 24-year-old Maryland product, who the Patriots traded up to select in the fourth round in this year’s draft. Ryland is just 13-of-20 on field goals this season, although he is perfect 19-of-19 on extra-point attempts.

The majority of Ryland’s misses have come from inside of 50 yards, including against the Chiefs when his 41-yarder in the first quarter sailed wide. He also butchered a game-tying 35-yard field goal at the end of regulation against the New York Giants and missed another 35-yard attempt against the Indianapolis Colts.

These relative chip shots are the ones Ryland’s predecessor in Nick Folk made routine, and ones the Patriots expect him to get through the uprights on a more consistent basis.

“There are some kicks there we’ve got to be able to make,” Patriots special teams coordinator Cam Achord told reporters Tuesday, per team-provided video. “… So, it’s the shorter kicks that we’ve got to be able to execute and come through for the team because every point matters in this game.”

Achord did note that most NFL kickers only make about 70% of kicks from longer distances. But the Patriots haven’t shown faith, and rightfully so, in giving Ryland the chance to attempt those opportunities with him hitting just 1-of-3 50-yard-plus field goals on the season.

Even with Ryland’s penchant for missing field goals, Achord explained why he still has belief going forward in the rookie.

“You look at practices and everything and you go out there and you have all the confidence,” Achord said. “I think anytime you put anybody on the field, not just Chad, whether it’s just another position player, if you don’t have confidence in them, you wouldn’t really put them out there. Obviously, he’s done well enough in practice that gives us the confidence that he’s going to go out there and make the kicks, and just knowing where he can kick them from and the distance and the leg.

“So, you just got to take it from the practice field now to the game. That’s where we got to continue to make those improvements. Doing that stuff in the practice and Coach (Bill Belichick) talks about it all the time, we talk about it all the time, stuff you do in practice does usually translate into the game. We’ve got to make sure it is translating to the game and make as many game situations at practice that we can. That way it’s not different in practice than it is the game.”