Ain’t this gig a kick
Turnover just part of job
Two games into his second NFL season, kicker Zane Gonzalez was dumped by the Cleveland Browns after missing two field goals and two extra points in their 3-point loss to the Saints. The Browns had a new kicker in place Thursday night against the Jets.
NFL NOTES Karen Guregian
Rookie Daniel Carlson also got the boot from the Vikings after missing three field goals in their Week 2 showdown in Green Bay.
Stephen Gostkowski? He missed a 54-yarder against the Jaguars during the Patriots’ opening drive in Jacksonville last Sunday, but made two others in the 31-20 loss, so he’s safe for now.
The Patriots kicker certainly understands the cruelty of the business, but he also knows the job and what it takes to succeed. That’s why he’s still the top man in Foxboro, and one of the best in the league 12 years after being selected in the fourth round of the 2006 draft.
If you make most of the kicks, especially the ones with the game on the line, you’ll stick around. If you don’t, teams aren’t going to mess around and wait for someone to turn clutch. They’ll kick you to the curb and find someone else.
“I know how hard it is. Anybody can miss. I’ve missed plenty of kicks before. You feel bad for the guys. But it’s part of the job. It’s a reality for all of us,” Gostkowski told me last week. “We’re all a couple bad games away from being on the street. You feel bad, but that’s the nature of the position.”
With that kind of job description, longevity should be applauded. Gostkowski is one of 11 kickers in the NFL with 10 or more years in the league, joined by the man he replaced — Adam Vinatieri, in his 23rd NFL season and 13th with Indianapolis — Arizona’s Phil Dawson (20th season), Seattle’s Sebastian Janikowski (19th), Atlanta’s Matt Bryant (17th), San Francisco’s Robbie Gould (14th), Oakland’s Mike Nugent (14th), Green Bay’s Mason Crosby (12th), Detroit’s Matt Prater (12th), Buffalo’s Steven Hauschka (11th), and Tennessee’s Ryan Succop (10th).
Needless to say, it’s not easy to survive. Either you can handle the pressure of making kicks week to week, or you can’t.
After the fiasco in Cleveland, Gonzalez got slammed by former Cavaliers star LeBron James. That drew a response from former NFL kicker Martin Gramatica, who chastised the L.A. Laker for picking on the kid.
“When I see guys piling on like LeBron . . . LeBron, c’mon,” said Gramatica, who won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay. “You’re, like, the biggest figure in sports, and you know it’s gonna be painful for this kid to hear probably from one of his heroes.”
Gostkowski, the Patriots alltime leading scorer, said he is long past paying attention to the critics. He’s a big boy. He can handle it.
“What people say about you, or your position, is what they’re gonna say. It’s a preconceived notion. I’m over all that garbage and nonsense that people want to think. A lot of people don’t like us because of what we do on the football field. That’s their prerogative,” he said. “I don’t play into the pity party, feel sorry for us kind of thing. Either you do your job or you don’t. If you don’t, you take blame for it just like any other player would on the field. I don’t like to be treated differently than other people just because of the position I play.”
Gostkowski, in the final year of his current deal, doesn’t separate kickers from football players like some do, but that’s another argument entirely. He’s certainly one who isn’t afraid to get his nose dirty and make tackles when the need arises.
He also believes having played other sports — he played baseball at the University of Memphis — helps him, particularly with the mental aspects of making the tough kicks and having confidence to succeed.
“You can’t go out there scared to screw up, and scared to have the game come down to you, because it might,” he said. “You just have to be able to do it when your time is called. I just try to worry about what I do, and not what everyone else does. You just ignore the noise, and try and go out and do your job. And when I do screw up, it’s all about how I can get over it as soon as possible.”
Case in point: Last Sunday, when Gostkowski missed his first kick badly, sailing it wide right, before nailing the next two.
For him, the secret to surviving comes down to this: “To me, it’s not who can never miss, it’s who can get over the misses.”
Gostkowski works on it both physically and mentally, because being a successful kicker means having mental toughness.
“It is a very mental position. There are times when it’s easy to give in. That’s not how some people are wired,” he said. “Not a lot of people can do it. Not a lot of people have the mental stamina that can do it week in and week out.”
Those people are looking for jobs.
Taking Gordon gamble
Whether Josh Gordon makes his Patriots debut tonight against the Lions or not, it’s going to be interesting to follow his story and see if he can manage the substance-abuse issues that derailed his career.
It’s a big if.
In Cleveland, he was the megastar, but he won’t have to worry about carrying the load here. Rodney Harrison believes that will help the wide receiver as he tries to make good on his last chance.
“In Cleveland, there was pressure on him to be the guy,” the NBC commentator and former Patriot said when we spoke last week. “In New England, he doesn’t have to be the guy. He can just fit in. They have running backs. They have Rob Gronkowski. They have other guys that contribute. One week it’s one guy, another week, it’s another guy.
“He doesn’t have to come in and have 75 catches for 1,100 yards and eight touchdowns,” Harrison went on. “He can slowly but surely come into his own as he builds his confidence, picks up the offense and gets familiar with everything. Then you’ll see his real talent start to shine.”
The Patriots took a chance. Other teams inquired with the Browns when they heard Gordon was available, but passed. Niners GM John Lynch said he backed away because of Gordon’s extensive off-the-field issues.
Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan was the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2014, one of many Browns staffers then that are now in San Francisco.
“I think in that situation, like any situation, if there’s a chance to improve your team, you always look into it,” Lynch said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “But in certain situations, particularly when you have knowledge of a player, you sit back and you weigh it. Sometimes it’s intriguing. But then . . . particularly when you have knowledge of someone, the more you look into it: You know what — we’re going to stay away from that.”
Before the 2014 season, Gordon had a DUI arrest and was suspended for the first 10 games of the season for a second violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He was then suspended by the Browns for their regular-season finale for missing a practice.
“They were with him in Cleveland, and so they knew the player very well,” Lynch said. “Obviously, (he’s) an unbelievable talent. Obviously, had a lot of issues. So you try to weigh that, and you kind of have to say, ‘OK, what’s it worth, number one?’
“‘Number two, is it something’ . . . we’ve got a really good thing in our building in terms of the guys and the type of guys we’ve got in here. And do you want to mess with that?”
Decade down the tubes
ESPN analyst Damien Woody is still steaming over Vontae Davis leaving his Buffalo teammates at halftime and retiring without finishing the game. Davis didn’t even stick around. He left, and informed everyone via social media.
“He just left all his brothers hanging out there,” said Woody. “He left them hanging on the field, where everyone is fighting their tails off. And the sad part is, you play 10 years in the National Football League and that’s what you’re going to be remembered for. No matter what you’ve done in your career, people are going to remember that you quit at halftime. That’s it. That’s your legacy.
“Maybe he’s good with that. I sure wouldn’t want that legacy.”
Baker sold ’em quick
Cleveland won for the first time in 635 days on Thursday night after Baker Mayfield came on in relief of Tyrod Taylor and provided the necessary heroics, but head coach Hue Jackson wants to “watch the tape” before he names his starter for next week’s game at Oakland.
Amid Mayfield mania in Cleveland, this isn’t sitting well. With Taylor suffering a concussion and Jackson giving the players the weekend off, he probably wants to tell Taylor face-to-face he’s losing his job. There’s no other logical reason to hold this kid back and not announce him as the starter next week. Mayfield not only lifted the crowd when he entered the game, but there was a lift in the huddle. The players responded to him much different. They believe he’s a winner. “Never doubt (Number) Six,” receiver Jarvis Landry said. “Just the mentality, the attitude he’s had since he’s stepped into the building. I don’t think there’s a coach or a player that’s doubted him or felt like we were at a disadvantage when he came onto the field. That’s something you gotta love about him. That’s why he’s the first pick. That’s why he’s the Heisman Trophy winner. You saw it tonight. First hand.”