Patriots place Gostkowski on injured reserve

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots kicking situation went from troublesome to worse.

The Patriots announced Wednesday afternoon that they are placing Stephen Gostkowski on the injured reserve. This move is likely the reason why the 35-year-old kicker has struggled this season. A four-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro, Gostkowski has long been one of the best kickers in the NFL. This season, however, something has been off.

This year has been a struggle for Gostkowski. In four games, he’s made just 11of-15 (73.3%) of his extra point attempts and 7of-8 (87.5%) of his field goal attempts. Overall, Gostkowski has missed five kicks in the last three games. Last weekend, in Buffalo, he missed an extra point attempt — wide right from the left hash. In a 16-10 win, the Patriots certainly could’ve used that extra point.

“Yeah, I think as a team, there’s a lot of things that we can do better, so we’re working every area to improve,” Bill Belichick said when asked about the field-goal unit. “I think we can improve in all three phases of the game and within those phases there’s a lot of things we can work on there as well. We need work on

everything. It’s barely October. We’ve got a long way to go.”

Gostkowski will be eligible to return off the injured reserve in Week 14, but it remains to be seen if that’ll be possible. The Patriots are allowed to bring back two players off their IR. Their options right now are N’Keal Harry, Isaiah Wynn, James Develin and Gostkowski. — Mark Daniels, The Providence Journal

(Providence, R.I.)