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

[ctpatsfan77]

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.

This article by Sally Jenkins basically explains why Belichick treated Gostkowski with kid gloves in the 2006 playoffs. I'm guessing the same logic explained the decision not to kick in 2007.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

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

As I've said before. . . . the Pats can get a cheaper kicker, but it's basically impossible to get a better kicker. Certainly not as a rookie.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

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.

And yet after beating Martin Gramatica in 2006, he has never faced serious competition.

 

[Sciz]

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.

If I’m counting correctly, there are 9 rookie kickers on NFL rosters right now, 7 undrafted. It shouldn’t be hard to be more specific than “a rookie.” Which one would you want to be competing with Gostkowski right now?

 

[TB_Helmet]

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.

Sure thing Triumph.

 

[supafly]

I believe that the criticism of missing kicks in the biggest game of the year 3 seasons in a row is indeed warranted, but there are some other aspects that prove that Gost is still the best choice, and one of the top kickers in the game.

His ball placement on kickoffs is key. He is reliable as anything in that regard. He can do exactly what the coaches want. Pinning the Falcons down deep, but yet not so deep that the KO went into the EZ late in the SB was a thing of beauty. We see that all of the time. He’s probably the best in the league.

Also, the NE wintry weather conditions at Gillette shouldn’t be taken lightly, and Gost is very experienced in that facet of his game. We’re not going to get that from another kicker, at least until he’s been here awhile.

 

[DarrylS]

Is there a penchant on this board to try to make scapegoats out of players/coaches for every superbowl loss, while ignoring all the great decisions that were made during wins???.. the posts on page #2 by Icy Patriots and Quantum clearly show how effective he is.

IMO this is a byproduct of talk show radio who question and find conspiracy in every Patriot decision made by BB and his staff.. Or just a commentary on over-analysis of what appears to be rather than what actually is (facts)???

 

[Tony2046]

Did I say you weren't?

Your avatar is a perfect match for your commentary.

 

[RayClay]

Gostkowski has 89.47% field goal percentage in the playoffs.

 

[RayClay]

Think about it.

I still say that if it weren’t for him, we beat Denver in 2015. Not only does it become a tie game at the end instead of going for 2, but odds are BB has more faith in letting him kick once or twice rather than constantly going for it on 4th down late in the game so many times. So going for the FG and making it just one of those times would have been enough for us to win in regulation.

In the SB against Atlanta, he misses an extra point again. He’s lucky that Tom was able to somehow pull off two 2 point conversions in a row, otherwise he may have cost us another ring.

And then this last year he goes and misses a chip shot FG, along with yet another missed XP. Can’t completely blame the loss on him obviously, but those points add up.

Come to think of it, has this guy ever done anything clutch in the playoffs?

I understand why we haven’t gotten rid of him, as good kickers can be hard to find. (ask the Chargers) But why do we herald this guy like he’s one of the best? He’s folded under pressure time and time again.

Have you ever heard of selective memory?

 

[RayClay]

It may be instructive to compare him to other kickers in the playoffs over the past five or so years, or at least since the XP got moved back. Does he miss more than average or do we just remember the misses more?

You wouldn't want to use actual statistics, that would take the mania out of it. OK, 3rd all time, playoff average 2 percent higher than that.

NFL Career Field Goal Percentage Leaders | The Football Database

 

[FCB02062]

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? Are you the missing Kraft son?

 

[TennisBallHead]

They wouldn't let him kick in the 2007 SB because he was a mess during the pregame.

He reminds me of Peyton Manning. The stats look great, but he folds in big moments.

 

[luuked]

I still say that if it weren’t for him, we beat Denver in 2015.

And if it was not for the OL being completely injured we win this game. And if it was not for an uncharacteristic amount of drops by WRs we win this game. And if it is not for Brady throwing a dumb INT we most probably win the game. And if it was not for BB deciding to go for it an all fourth downs we win this game.

Jesus there are so many reasons that we lost the game in 2015 it is kinda absurd to emphasize Ghosts missed XP.

Similarly I don't see how anyone can blame him for the missed FG against the Eagles. This was a LS / holder issue where the entire timing of the operation was off and he almost salvaged it.

It is easy to assume someone is not clutch if his successes seem to be not noteworthy because they are more than expected but in those 10% of cases where something goes wrong it is immediately the end of the world.

The stats show that he is at least as good as AV when it comes to kicking and when you add in his precision on kickoffs you can easily say that he is a better overall player than AV. But who cares about the other main job that kickers have, right ?

 

[maust]

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%

Odd that the list doesn't include Tucker since he's today's gold standard and the only current kicker I'd take over Gostkowski. In 6 playoff games he's 8/8 on FG's & 23/23 on XP's

 

[neuronet]

Who gives the Ghost a pass? Have you ever read this board during a game?

 

[Boomer B]

In my opinion Ghost is a great kicker but he’s not a great big game kicker. Missing extra points in consecutive SB’s put the team in bad positions. If we missed that 2nd 2 pt call conversion against Atlanta there would be media and fans calling him out but because we won in such dramatic fashion he skated by on such a poor performance.

That being said unless Tucker comes walking through the doors who else would we want? Vinatieri is the best ever, but he’s near the end. And as others have mentioned, Ghost is the very best at placement on kickoffs.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

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.

But, but, my feels! The way I remember things!!!

 

[SammyBlueCat]

I will have talk with him. So far he has been excluded from my methods.

 

[Joey007]

We wanted to run Chandler Jones out of town for not performing during the postseason, fwiw.