Why do we give Gostowski a pass for how unclutch he has been in the playoffs?

[oldrover]

Who says people give him a pass? He's had bad moments in the playoffs... but the guy's scored a crapload of points playing outdoors.

And what about his kickoffs? He's gotten great at costing the other team 5 yards or so at the start of every drive. That adds up.

You'd rather save a coupla million and get, who? Seriously. Gostkowski ain't perfect. But who is?

You don't get HOFers at every position. If you're lucky, you get them at one or two key positions.

Thank God we are lucky.

 

[Froob]

I read this as Gronkowski and was about to be done with this board permentally lol. It’s a fair point, he’s been real bad these past few seasons missing some huuuuge kicks. As I recall, only one of the misses on the Philly game was his fault (there were two short ones, right?) but still...he’s super lucky we made both conversations in the Falcons Super Bowl.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The 3 xps are definitely cause for concern but as far as fg’s go I don’t think hes ever missed a really crucial one in the postseason. He hit 2 pretty clutch fgs in 2006, the one to beat sd and then the 4th quarter go ahead one the next week in indy, before indy eventually won at the end. Its actually a little strange that other than that its hard to think of any real crucial fg situations in the playoffs since then.

All that being said, even adam v had some strange misses in the Carolina sb and another easy miss in the 2005 nightmare at mile high which at the time in that game was a major miss. And hes the clutchest kicker in history.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I read this as Gronkowski and was about to be done with this board permentally lol. It’s a fair point, he’s been real bad these past few seasons missing some huuuuge kicks. As I recall, only one of the misses on the Philly game was his fault (there were two short ones, right?) but still...he’s super lucky we made both conversations in the Falcons Super Bowl.

Going for it in SB42 and in Denver twice in the fourth quarter are not his fault, and I believe he would have made them all had he been given the chance. Including Adam, things even out, and when you get an uncharacteristic miss, you're going to get things right the next time. With good kickers. Like Adam. And Ghost.

Ghost has been a horse. Easily the busiest kicker on Earth in his career, with the most PAT's and the most kickoffs, and usually the most points scored too. That's what happens when you're on a good team. I attribute the misses to him being human. Like all of us, he's older now than he was, and this is the key to his continued success. Lots of other guys have had extended careers kicking in the NFL, and obviously I hope we do not experience a Gary Anderson-like miss at the most important time this season.

 

[BradytoMosstoGronk]

You have to think on that strip sack series, calls go differently having 4 extra points on the board and only needing a FG. What ifs, but still a bummer.

He’s definitely not had his finest years the last few. Must be some kind of Ray finkle thing going on?

 

[bresna]

Remember that time Vinatieri went 1/3 in a Super Bowl

Yup. And I remember that two years later, the Patriots drafted a kicker and let AV walk.

 

[Froob]

Going for it in SB42 and in Denver twice in the fourth quarter are not his fault, and I believe he would have made them all had he been given the chance. Including Adam, things even out, and when you get an uncharacteristic miss, you're going to get things right the next time. With good kickers. Like Adam. And Ghost.

Ghost has been a horse. Easily the busiest kicker on Earth in his career, with the most PAT's and the most kickoffs, and usually the most points scored too. That's what happens when you're on a good team. I attribute the misses to him being human. Like all of us, he's older now than he was, and this is the key to his continued success. Lots of other guys have had extended careers kicking in the NFL, and obviously I hope we do not experience a Gary Anderson-like miss at the most important time this season.

The 4th and 13 was inexcusable. I know everyone in hindsight would have kicked it in Denver but, it was the right call in my opinion. The way we had struggled so much moving the ball that game, it was not a good bet we’d make it back down there again. I’d have done the same thing.

 

[maust]

Maybe I would like him more if he wasn't one of the top paid players at his position.

That’s my point. We pay this guy a lot. And he doesn’t perform to the level he’s being paid to peeform at in the postseason.

"We pay this guy..." No offense I know it's just a turn of phrase but that expression always cracks me up. 'We' don't pay anyone on that roster. We are talking about a kicker here, salary is the least of all considerations. Gostkowski is the highest paid kicker this season but we are still only talking kicker salaries, they don't break the bank. Outside of Tucker who is making all of $100k less in AAV who would you rather have? Lets view the $ with a little perspective, the difference between Gostkowski's salary and a middle of the road veteran kicker like Bailey or Dawson is right around the veteran minimum. Salary is a red herring in this conversation

 

[Joey007]

The 4th and 13 was inexcusable. I know everyone in hindsight would have kicked it in Denver but, it was the right call in my opinion. The way we had struggled so much moving the ball that game, it was not a good bet we’d make it back down there again. I’d have done the same thing.

But our defense was doing the job late in the game. Denver was completely unable to move the ball in the second half. We should’ve taken the points as they came IMO.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

But our defense was doing the job late in the game. Denver was completely unable to move the ball in the second half. We should’ve taken the points as they came IMO.

Ghost (again) was treated like a total chump.

One missed kick, in the first half?

Throwing away three points, then doing it again, guarantees losing. That thing in Denver was worse than Butler, and worse than 4th-and-two.

 

[Triumph]

Neither of these two sentences makes any sense at all.

Do I really need to explain?

Gostowski has missed due to injuries.

If he was a horse he would pull up lame.

He is not a clutch kicker and I pray it does not come down to him deciding the game.

 

[micronin127]

Well, he is a free agent after 2018, so we shall see. They could bring in competition for him anytime, players are routinely brought in for tryouts leading up to training camp.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

From PFR, field goal stats for all playoff games from 2006-2017 (I believe the Games field here only counts game in which at least one field goal attempt occurred, so the games for these kickers will probably be lower than the actual number of playoff games they appeared in. This list is ordered by FGA.

Tm G AvgDist FGM FGA
Stephen Gostkowski NWE 19 34.59 33 37 89.2%
Adam Vinatieri IND 13 37.44 30 34 88.2%
Mason Crosby GNB 15 35.97 26 29 89.7%
David Akers 2TM 11 34.88 22 26 84.6%
Steven Hauschka 2TM 11 35.24 20 21 95.2%
Shaun Suisham 3TM 8 38.24 12 17 70.6%
Lawrence Tynes 2TM 8 32.53 12 17 70.6%
Shayne Graham 4TM 6 36.06 12 16 75.0%
Graham Gano 2TM 7 37.53 12 15 80.0%
Chris Boswell PIT 5 36.00 15 15 100.0%
Matt Prater 2TM 7 39.33 13 15 86.7%
Neil Rackers 2TM 7 39.57 9 14 64.3%
Billy Cundiff 2TM 7 31.23 11 13 84.6%
Matt Stover 2TM 6 34.69 12 13 92.3%
Nate Kaeding LAC 7 37.00 7 13 53.8%
Matt Bryant ATL 6 37.17 12 12 100.0%
Brandon McManus DEN 3 38.60 10 10 100.0%
Nick Novak 2TM 4 36.11 8 9 88.9%

 

[QuantumMechanic]

As for PATs in the playoffs, Ghost never missed a single one until 2015. Then he missed 1 in 2015, 2 in 2016, and 1 in 2017.

The playoff FG misses were 1 in 2007, 1 in 2009, and 2 in 2017. That's it.

 

[IcyPatriot]

2006 - 8 / 8
2007 - 1 / 2
2009 - 0 / 1
2011 - 5 / 5
2012 - 4 / 4
2013 - 1 / 1
2014 - 1 / 1
2015 - 4 / 4
2016 - 7 / 7
2017 - 3 / 5

Total - 34 / 38
https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/stephen-gostkowski-player-stats?seasonType=2

Not to shabby ... 4 misses in 25 games ... I will give him a pass.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

And here's a query for regular season PATs in 2015-2017 (since they made the change), minimum of 10 attempts:
Player Season Finder Query Results | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[QuantumMechanic]

And a query for regular season FGs also in 2015-2017, again with a minimum of 10 attempts:
Player Season Finder Query Results | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[ralmat55]

Remember that time Vinatieri went 1/3 in a Super Bowl

Remember that one of those kicks was blocked and he was dealing with a 3rd string LS in Brian Kinchen who they had signed out of a classroom a few weeks earlier.

The one kick he made was pretty important also, and I had little doubt he would make it at the time.

You gotta love “best interest Bill”. He brought a 2nd punter into camp to challenge his reliable punter and perhaps save $400 000 but didn’t bring a rookie in to challenge his unreliable $6 million kicker and perhaps save $5 million.

“Best interest Bill” was stingy and let his iconic HOF kicker leave for a hated rival presumably because Vinatieri wanted too much money only to end up paying as much or more to a worse kicker. “Best interest Bill” sure doesn’t like to keep people around who might steal some of his glory, does he?

 

[Bruins29]

only to end up paying as much or more to a worse kicker. “

Actually Ghost is better than AV. I am not sure how anyone couldnt see this. And Quantum posted up several things showing that Ghost is still the best kicker in the game. What is BB supposed to do? Get someone better than the best?

If you want to argue that the money spent on him "could" go to other things....sure...it could be debated.

 

[InRodWeRust]

Some people like to dump on Brady for Vinatieri winning playoff games and Superbowls for him. Gostkowski is holding back to make Tom look better