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

[captain stone]

I mean if that fella is the best available, I don't see the team making a switch

Neither do I...but 10 months from now might be different.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Chris Brown (Pitt '01), John Kasay (Carolina '03) and Billy Cundiff (Balt '11) have a collective "Boo 'effing hoo" about Patriots kickers postseason lack of clutchness.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Deus Irae]

When you must sugar coat the 2017 season and recent truth with past history you have lost the debate.

I'm not sugarcoating anything, you troll. I'm noting that the O.P. isn't ONLY about 2017, and that cherry picking that one season isn't what the thread was about.

 

[PatsDeb]

It there's one person who doesn't get a pass around here it's Ghost. Despite his missteps (and he does have some clunkers), he's the best there is out there and most of the time he's pretty great.

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

I prefer to deal with what actually happened and not what might have happened "had" something else occurred or "if" another set of circumstances had arisen or what we "would" think if things were different...

You're right that #4 is lionized because of the opportunities he had that Gostkowski never had. But, the bottom line is that Vinatieri delivered when those opportunities arose. That can't be changed and that can't be taken away from him. He will be the first K to go into Canton on his first ballot.

Gostkowski's stats are awesome and I am not aware of another K I'd rather have running out on the field for the Patriots...but I still do close my eyes and cross my fingers whenever he has to make a clutch PAT or FG.

Oh I'm definitely not trying to minimize how great Vinatieri was for us. I'm also not trying to make a case that Gost is better. It's just easy to forget that Adam wasn't perfect in the playoffs. He had his share of misses, but the makes in the closing seconds always made up for it. Until Gost doesn't come through in those moments as well (he hasn't missed anything in the 4th quarter, right?) I think it's unfair to judge his clutchness.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Oh I'm definitely not trying to minimize how great Vinatieri was for us. I'm also not trying to make a case that Gost is better. It's just easy to forget that Adam wasn't perfect in the playoffs. He had his share of misses, but the makes in the closing seconds always made up for it. Until Gost doesn't come through in those moments as well (he hasn't missed anything in the 4th quarter, right?) I think it's unfair to judge his clutchness.

All I said was that I'm nervous when he has to make a PAT or FG in an important situation. He's never had a chance to send a playoff game into OT in the teeth of a blizzard from 45 yards or win a SB as time expired. That's not judging "his clutchness," just stating a couple of facts, one of which is purely subjective and the other of which can be measured.

There's nothing you or anyone can say that will change how I feel when Gostkowski has to make a big kick and nothing that changes the fact that AV made the big kicks he had to make when he made them. His kick to tie the snow bowl is rightly called the greatest kick under pressure in the history of the NFL

First Ballot HOFer. Nothing else to say.

 

[goheels22002]

I'm not sugarcoating anything, you troll. I'm noting that the O.P. isn't ONLY about 2017, and that cherry picking that one season isn't what the thread was about.

He had a fine 2017 - #2 in points scored with virtually the same success rate as #1 on the list Greg Zuerlein of the Rams. His body of work is stellar. I agree with you that the thread is fairly bogus because people remember only the misses, of which there are few. Place kicking is not an issue for this team.