Jeff Howe on Gostkowski and Mesko

[ctpatsfan77]

Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko Lead Patriots' Specialists Through Strong Season - New England Patriots - NESN.com

A few fun facts:

• "Gostkowski's 143 points this season were the third most in the NFL."
• "It's one thing to just line up and smoke the ball through the end zone for a touchback, but when Belichick is confident in his kicker and the coverage unit, they can put on a play to force a return with the intention of pinning the other team inside the 20-yard line. That could explain why the Patriots ranked 20th in touchback percentage (39.4) despite having one of the league's most powerful kickers. They ranked sixth in the NFL by limiting opponents to 21.6 yards per return."
• "Mesko has one of the strongest legs in the NFL, and he was tied for 10th in the league with an average of 46.5 yards per punt. He was third with a net average of 41.5 yards. Of Mesko's 57 punts, 24 were downed inside the 20 (42.1 percent), 18 were fair caught (31.6 percent), three were touchbacks (5.3 percent) and 26 were returned for an average of 8.5 yards."

 

[Gwedd]

I'll be honest, I really have no complaints about the Patriots kickers. I think that, barring some unfortunate turn of events, we're in good shape for a few more years anyway.

 

[Jackson 2]

Stephen Gostkowski, Zoltan Mesko Lead Patriots' Specialists Through Strong Season - New England Patriots - NESN.com

A few fun facts:

• "Gostkowski's 143 points this season were the third most in the NFL."
• "It's one thing to just line up and smoke the ball through the end zone for a touchback, but when Belichick is confident in his kicker and the coverage unit, they can put on a play to force a return with the intention of pinning the other team inside the 20-yard line. That could explain why the Patriots ranked 20th in touchback percentage (39.4) despite having one of the league's most powerful kickers. They ranked sixth in the NFL by limiting opponents to 21.6 yards per return."
• "Mesko has one of the strongest legs in the NFL, and he was tied for 10th in the league with an average of 46.5 yards per punt. He was third with a net average of 41.5 yards. Of Mesko's 57 punts, 24 were downed inside the 20 (42.1 percent), 18 were fair caught (31.6 percent), three were touchbacks (5.3 percent) and 26 were returned for an average of 8.5 yards."

I like Jeff Howe, period.

 

[Smokeeye123]

The Patriots are really good at drafting kickers/punters for some reason...

 

[JFK]

The Patriots are really good at drafting kickers/punters for some reason...

Those are the easiest positions to draft

 

[Big-T]

Those are the easiest positions to draft

Then why do a number of teams have horrible kickers & punters?

 

[Rob0729]

Mesko may be one of the most underrated punters in the league. He was spectacular this season yet no one ever seems to give him a lot of credit nationally.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Mesko may be one of the most underrated punters in the league. He was spectacular this season yet no one ever seems to give him a lot of credit nationally.

It's hard for a punter to stand out when his team doesn't consistently suck.

OTOH, it's easy for a punter to stand out when his team doesn't consistently suck, but he does.