Pats should consider extending Gostkowski, not replacing him

pherein said:

Just a reminder, but a kicker, not Gronk won the patriots a couple SB's. Just saying, for thought, not trying to be disrespectful. Good ones are worth the money.
You let Vinatieri go to early.
Adam Vinatieri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Love your contributions Pherein, but you're off here. Vinatieri made the field goals that won the first two Super Bowls, and that can never be taken away. But Gostkowski never really provided the moment to regret not having Vinatieri. Also he has mostly been the more productive of the two throughout Vinatieri's tenure as a Colt, during which time Vinatieri has been highly paid, at times injured, and (pre-rule change) necessitated a kickoff specialist because his kickoffs in a dome were so poor.

His rookie season Gostkowski drilled a big 50 yarder in San Diego, then hit the game winner to help upset a 14-2 team on the road. Vinatieri was an excellent Patriots kicker, the best they've ever had. I have the utmost confidence that Gostkowski would knock down those kicks in a Super Bowl if given the chance as well.

Another good example of why you stick with good players through their struggles. I think the Patriots will lock up Gostkowski, I don't see him going anywhere. Belichick loves him and you want a proven kicker for big games, and the rest of Brady's career is going to be about big games. Going to a rookie kicker to save money makes no sense in the context of this Patriots team.

Hercules Rockefeller said:

Love your contributions Pherein, but you're off here. Vinatieri made the field goals that won the first two Super Bowls, and that can never be taken away. But Gostkowski never really provided the moment to regret not having Vinatieri. Also he has mostly been the more productive of the two throughout Vinatieri's tenure as a Colt, during which time Vinatieri has been highly paid, at times injured, and (pre-rule change) necessitated a kickoff specialist because his kickoffs in a dome were so poor.

His rookie season Gostkowski drilled a big 50 yarder in San Diego, then hit the game winner to help upset a 14-2 team on the road. Vinatieri was an excellent Patriots kicker, the best they've ever had. I have the utmost confidence that Gostkowski would knock down those kicks in a Super Bowl if given the chance as well.

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Not to mention the fact that Goskowski holds a higher made FG percentage than Vinateri, especially on 50+ yarders where it's not even close. Gostkowski is the much better kicker for the longer range FG's and has one of the highest accuracy rates for any kicker all-time (IIRC). I thought for sure that he was in the top 5, but I could be mistaken.

The point that you made about Gostkowski being much more effective than Vinetari in terms of long kickoffs to help with field position is also very important to Bill Belichick.

Either way you look at it, both kickers are very effective but the opportunity to take a cheap rookie deal with a draft pick just couldn't be passed up by Belichick. Decisions like that are very comparable to what we saw with Mesko this year, as it saved almost a full million dollars against the cap.

Ivan said:

Another good example of why you stick with good players through their struggles. I think the Patriots will lock up Gostkowski, I don't see him going anywhere. Belichick loves him and you want a proven kicker for big games, and the rest of Brady's career is going to be about big games. Going to a rookie kicker to save money makes no sense in the context of this Patriots team.

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I agree with you. As long as Gostkowski's request is reasonable and not too expensive of course.

Won't lie I was pretty down on Gostkowski at a point. Whether the stats showed it or not, He didn't really look good at times last year. This year I certainly have to give him props. He has been near perfection.

Not that this matters to the thread topic....but a great memory of mine, one that I will have forever...makes me type this!

Christmas weekend 2006 the Colby family rambles on down to Jacksonville, FL to watch the Pats play the Jags. By a Priceline coincidence the less than socially sophisticated Colby's ended up in the same hotel as the Patriots. Most of the Pats were graceful folks....some of the lesser known Pats hung out in the lobby. My 14 year old brother (at the time) was talking to a then rookie kicker named Gostkowski, who was sitting and chatting with some ex baseball teammates from the University of Memphis. To make a long story short, when my brother (not 14 year old knucklehead) started to leave my youngest brother (yeah my 14 year old brother) told Gost that "Yeah, no one knows you are now, but keep your head up, someday they will". My other brother and I looked at each other, got him the hell out of there. Shaking our heads explaining to him that, that kid just replaced a legend and that was the best you could come up with?

Any how he was a very polite kid and has become a machine that we don't appreciate. News Flash Adam did miss Field Goals KC in 98/99 comes to mind. Adam was not infallible.

supafly said:

I agree with you. As long as Gostkowski's request is reasonable and not too expensive of course.

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I actually think this will be one of the easier deals for them to get done. The new CBA is really kicking in and high end salaries are no longer exploding, so Gostkowski really shouldn't be looking at some big new deal, more likely it will be in line with what he is making. To me he is a tried and true kicker, and he is strong both in terms of accuracy and field position. Good kickers last, and you don't want question marks at the core of your special teams.

If you can't afford to pay your kicker then you are in bad shape, and I don't believe this Patriots team is in that bad shape.

ctpatsfan77 said:

Fortunately for us Patriots fans, the Raiders just gave stupid money to Sebastian Janikowski (again!), so they're out of the market.

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Well when all you do is kick field goals, you probably want a good kicker.

PATS16N0 said:

Well when all you do is kick field goals, you probably want a good kicker.

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Plus he's a complete piece of !@#$ as a person, so Janikowski fits in with the Raiders perfectly.

doesntmatter1 said:

... his kicks seem to look better in general. I wonder if the new holder, Ryan Allen, is playing a large role in his consistency this year.

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I agree, too often the role of a holder can be overlooked. Gostkowski's kicking has been excellent all season and I think Ryan's role has played its part. We need to extend the man and tie him up long term.

doesntmatter1 said:

We should replace him with that guy from Alabama. Stud

But on a serious note, his kicks seem to look better in general. I wonder if the new holder, Ryan Allen, is playing a large role in his consistency this year.

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Maybe, on InsideAccess or whatever they call it when they show video, Belichick mentioned both of them in the locker room after the Denver game......

I'll start by saying I just absolutely love how Gost has been playing this season and we have a reason to be confident in him no matter the situation.

But here's what I'll also say about him . . . I yearn to see him do it in a big-time, playoff situation. That's where Vinatieri did some of his best work. That's where he earned being discussed as only the second kicker to be inducted into the HOF. And this is the type of win I believe the Pats will have to grind out in the playoffs. They've improved offensively, but they're not a juggernaut that's going to have big leads in games when it comes playoff time. There may be a game or two or three that come down to Gost having to make that game-winning kick. Can he do it? I sure believe so.

Getting rid of the Gost would be an idiotic move. Guy is money. He has had rough patches, like every other kicker, but guy is awesome.

Folks can be excused for thinking that Gostkowski isn't worth $3M a year. Perhaps they pay no attention to teams who don't have a solid kicker. With AV and Gost, we've been pretty spoiled. For me, I have no questions.

I expect that Gost will be here in 2014 and at least through 2015. I expect an extension. But if one cannot be reached, I would expect a franchise tag in 2015.

mgteich said:

Folks can be excused for thinking that Gostkowski isn't worth $3M a year. Perhaps they pay no attention to teams who don't have a solid kicker. With AV and Gost, we've been pretty spoiled. For me, I have no questions.

I expect that Gost will be here in 2014 and at least through 2015. I expect an extension. But if one cannot be reached, I would expect a franchise tag in 2015.

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Ghost is so important to our winning the field position battle also, most times he kicks off it results in a touchback, that has tremendous value that goes unnoticed by many.

Hercules Rockefeller said:

Love your contributions Pherein, but you're off here. Vinatieri made the field goals that won the first two Super Bowls, and that can never be taken away. But Gostkowski never really provided the moment to regret not having Vinatieri. Also he has mostly been the more productive of the two throughout Vinatieri's tenure as a Colt, during which time Vinatieri has been highly paid, at times injured, and (pre-rule change) necessitated a kickoff specialist because his kickoffs in a dome were so poor.

His rookie season Gostkowski drilled a big 50 yarder in San Diego, then hit the game winner to help upset a 14-2 team on the road. Vinatieri was an excellent Patriots kicker, the best they've ever had. I have the utmost confidence that Gostkowski would knock down those kicks in a Super Bowl if given the chance as well.

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Thanks, yours to HR, I am routinely off , lol. Well I added the AV later, but my real point was that Kickers/punters desurve to be very well paid if they are clutch, and change the field position in a game. Though you cant go wrong with AV 18 season career either, amazing stats.
I might be off again, but I would pay more for a Gostkowski or Justin Tucker/Thomas Morestead than I would for the best kickoff/punt returner in the NFL Devin Hester . I just believe they have a larger impact on the game as a whole.

have to seriously consider how much of his issues last year laid with Mesko.

IIRC the Cardinals kick was a bad hold.

this year, Ryan has handled some pretty bad snaps and managed to set the ball up pretty well in spite of that.

feel like its when people **** on mccourty despite most of his issues lying with poor safety play rather than poor personal play.



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After last year i was not sure about Ghost but as of now he has definitely shown improvement. I think we should extend his contract.

Hercules Rockefeller said:

Love your contributions Pherein, but you're off here. Vinatieri made the field goals that won the first two Super Bowls, and that can never be taken away. But Gostkowski never really provided the moment to regret not having Vinatieri. Also he has mostly been the more productive of the two throughout Vinatieri's tenure as a Colt, during which time Vinatieri has been highly paid, at times injured, and (pre-rule change) necessitated a kickoff specialist because his kickoffs in a dome were so poor.

His rookie season Gostkowski drilled a big 50 yarder in San Diego, then hit the game winner to help upset a 14-2 team on the road. Vinatieri was an excellent Patriots kicker, the best they've ever had. I have the utmost confidence that Gostkowski would knock down those kicks in a Super Bowl if given the chance as well.

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Except of course when you consider having Gostkowski instead Vinatieri ended up costing the Patriots the biggest game in the history of football. Had the Patriots had Vinatieri in that situation, there's no doubt in my mind they would have kicked the field and and that he would have made; instead Belichick elects to go for it on 4th and 13 because he had no confidence in his kicker.

Also, it was inconsequential because the Giants ended up turning the ball over, but he also kicked the ball out of bounce.

Free_Pacman said:

Except of course when you consider having Gostkowski instead Vinatieri ended up costing the Patriots the biggest game in the history of football. Had the Patriots had Vinatieri in that situation, there's no doubt in my mind they would have kicked the field and and that he would have made; instead Belichick elects to go for it on 4th and 13 because he had no confidence in his kicker.

Also, it was inconsequential because the Giants ended up turning the ball over, but he also kicked the ball out of bounce.

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OTOH, how many extra yards would the Pats have given off on Vinatieri's kickoffs?

To put it in perspective, in 2006 and 2007, Vinatieri averaged just a half-yard more on KOs than Gostkowski, and that's WITH the advantage of kicking in a dome half the time.