I think we all agree that AV was – is – a clutch kicker but he was not as automatic as I remembered him to be. I looked up his post-season stats since 2001. The Pats made the playoffs 4 times (01, 03, 04 and 05). Here are his stats for those years:
Year G 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ FGM FGA Pct Lng
2005 2 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-2 0-0 2 3 66.7 40
2004 3 0-0 2-2 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 5 100 48
2003 3 0-0 3-3 2-4 2-3 0-0 7 10 70 46
2001 3 0-0 2-2 1-1 3-3 0-1 6 7 85.7 48
Tot: 11 0-0 7-7 6-8 7-9 0-1 20 25 80 48
Again, not to bash him because the guy made some clutch kicks but he was not as automatic is I think we all believed him to be. Over the 11-playoff games, on kicked 30+ yards he was 13-18 (72.2%). This is nothing to be embarrassed about but it is far from perfect. Over that same period David Akers of Philly is 12-14 (85.7%) from 30+ and John Kasey of Carolina is 11-13 (84.6%) and 2 of the 11 were from 50+. AV had the snow kick and won 2 S.B.s on last second kicks but he was not perfect.
AV was an icon here and he made some of the most clutch kicks in NFL history but maybe, just maybe he is not the god we all made him out to be.
Year G 0-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+ FGM FGA Pct Lng
2005 2 0-0 0-0 1-1 1-2 0-0 2 3 66.7 40
2004 3 0-0 2-2 2-2 1-1 0-0 5 5 100 48
2003 3 0-0 3-3 2-4 2-3 0-0 7 10 70 46
2001 3 0-0 2-2 1-1 3-3 0-1 6 7 85.7 48
Tot: 11 0-0 7-7 6-8 7-9 0-1 20 25 80 48
Again, not to bash him because the guy made some clutch kicks but he was not as automatic is I think we all believed him to be. Over the 11-playoff games, on kicked 30+ yards he was 13-18 (72.2%). This is nothing to be embarrassed about but it is far from perfect. Over that same period David Akers of Philly is 12-14 (85.7%) from 30+ and John Kasey of Carolina is 11-13 (84.6%) and 2 of the 11 were from 50+. AV had the snow kick and won 2 S.B.s on last second kicks but he was not perfect.
AV was an icon here and he made some of the most clutch kicks in NFL history but maybe, just maybe he is not the god we all made him out to be.