Kickers are a weird lot. But I find the level of frustration with Ghost to be a bit confusing.
Yes, Ghost has been shakier than expected. He's not having his best season obviously. But he's had similar seasons, and not just the injury year in 2010. His 80% this year isn't great, but it's not dramatically different from his 82.9% in 2012 (which capped a 4-year string of finishing under 85%).
The 3 missed XPs hurt, but again, if he makes one more of them, he's at 93.9%, just a touch below the 94.7% league average on the new distance XPs. And obviously he's not the only one missing kicks. There are records being set for missed XPs. Hauschka is another quality kicker who has struggled this season.
Again, not great, but hardly worth the freak-out level some chicken littles around here are exhibiting. As I mentioned earlier, he's had rough years and bounced back to have great seasons afterwards.
He's had fewer attempts this season (1.8 per game vs. 2.25 last year), so each miss is magnified that much more percentage wise. And it's clear he's struggling and not his All Pro self. But it's not as if he's been terrible. He's been average, but I wouldn't give up on him just yet. This isn't even his worst season percentage wise in terms of FG kicking. It would be his 3rd-worst if the season ended today.
Kickers are a bit inconsistent, and small sample sizes can lead to misleading assumptions being made.
Vinatieri missed 3 XPs last year, but has been perfect so far this year. If Ghost makes 2 more kicks, we're not even talking about this because he's up to 90%. So obviously, he's not playing to a Pro Bowl level, but he's not exactly a garbage fire either. Based on the track record, it's way too early to give up on him.