PUGH’S IMPACT
Kicker has been good as Gould Since Justin’s return,
If Robbie Gould walks onto the Lambeau Field grass early Sunday afternoon and starts kicking field goals wide right, do not be alarmed.
He would be missing them on purpose, gauging the wind through a routine crafted over 11 years kicking for the Chicago Bears at windy Soldier Field.
“Sometimes I’ll try to hit it outside the upright to know that it’s gonna come back a certain distance,” said Gould, who’s approaching his fourth career postseason and first as a Giant. “There are certain things that I’ve learned over playing in a bad-weather place that give you confidence to go and hit a few knowing that you might miss them in the warmup or in your routine to know, ‘Ok, this is what it’s gonna be like.’ So it’s not like every kick that I go out there pre-game I’m attempting to make. I’m attempting to judge something that (helps me) make the next kick from that distance.”
Truly, when it comes to kicking, class is in session, and Professor Gould has the floor.
The 35-year old out of Penn State, originally from Jersey Shore, Pa., was signed midseason after the NFL put admitted domestic abuser Josh Brown on the commissioner’s exempt list. He kicked his first game as a Giant in London in Week 7 at Twickenham Stadium, a foreign venue, but don’t be concerned that Gould might be surprised by anything in this year’s playoffs.
He knows Lambeau Field well, having played there every year in the NFC North as a Bear, even down to his adjustments for the Packers’ most recent expansion to the stadium in 2012.
“Green Bay’s different now because they have put on a section above, so the wind’s different than it was when I first played there, so there are little things that you learn as you play in them,” he said. Gould truly has kicking down to a science. “When you’ve played long enough, you know the winds in each stadium,” Gould said. “I’ve been lucky enough to play in the NFC a lot, which helps. So the places we might play in the playoffs, they’re not foreign to me.”
It seems Gould remembers everything from each stadium, such as where he needs to aim in each venue to feel most comfortable splitting the uprights.
Gould said at his current home stadium, for example, the MetLife Stadium letters on the top of the building are too high to use as a marker.
“You get nervous looking at the lower section because wherever your eyes take you, that’s usually where your trajectory or your ball goes,” he said. “But that Metlife Stadium sign is just way too high.”
Gould is a perfect 10-for-10 on field goals and 20-of23 on extra points this season.
In his postseason career, he is 6-for-6 on field goals in six games with the Bears and a perfect 19-of-19 on extra points. He hit all six of those field goals during Chicago’s run to the Super Bowl in 2006 before losing to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.
Could he win his first Super Bowl with Peyton’s younger brother as his quarterback? If he sticks to his routine and the details, he thinks so.
“It’s just about being a pro and talking about wanting to be the best to ever play and wanting to be successful,” Gould said, “those are the things you have to get very good at to become successful. I’m just doing my job.” The Giants’ offensive line is clicking at the right time. The unit enters this weekend’s playoff game at Green Bay fresh off its best three-game stretch of the season. Big Blue totaled at least 114 yards on the ground in each of the past three weeks, including the regular-season finale in Washington, when rookie Paul Perkins exploded for a career day as part of a season-high 161-yard showing from the