I posted this in another thread but it's probably more applicable here. Sorry for the repetition if you already read it.
One Side of the Coin.
I've never understood why people "blame" a Placekicker for a loss when he misses on a Field Goal Attempt that would have tied or won a game in the final seconds. Teams execute an average of 67 plays a game on Offense and on Defense. There are far too many variables in a Kick of any distance to lay the outcome of a game on a single missed Field Goal; snap, hold, turf, wind, footing and whether the K ball hasn't been brushed (legally) enough.
Other side of the Coin.
While you don't blame a Placekicker's miss for putting a game in the wrong column, these are the situations in which Kickers distinguish themselves. There's only one (pure) Placekicker in Canton for a reason; too many Kickers are just too good and too consistent to be able reasonably to sort through them.
Since 1989, Kickers have made 90% or more of their FG attempts in a season on 69 occasions; on 16 occasions Kickers have made 95% or more of their FGA's and on on six, they have made 100% (including Shayne Graham last year, 33 for 33). For Local Reference, Gostkowski made 90% of his Attempts in 2008, Vinatieri made 93.9% in 2004, 92.9% in 2010 and 90% in 2002). And, there have been another 18 occasions when a Kicker made 89% of his Attempts.
So, it's pretty hard to distinguish among these guys with so many people kicking so well so consistently over so many years. You'd need a separate wing in Canton for Placekickers if you admitted them on stats alone.
So, it's only when a Kicker comes through time and again when a game, especially a big game, is on the line that you can sort these guys out.
That's why Adam Vinatieri will be in the HOF; no one would have "blamed" him if he had missed the 45 yarder into the teeth of a blizzard that tied the Snow Bowl and no one would have blamed him even if he had missed the 23 yarder that won that game, given the conditions; no one would have "blamed" him if he had missed the first walk off winner in a Super Bowl from 48 yards in SB XXXVI or the game winner with four seconds left from 41 yards (a familiar distance) to win SB XXXVIII, but he made them all.
So, I don't blame Steve Gostkowski for yesterday's loss, but I sure wish he had made that kick.