Gould’s kicking gets S.F. in gear
Perfect postseason record on field goals, PATs over 18 seasons takes stress off teammates
Less than an hour after his latest playoff gem, after he kept his long run of postseason perfection intact, San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould stood at his locker and contemplated the task ahead in next Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
The weather and kicking conditions can be unpredictable in Philadelphia, especially in late January. And the fans there, well, they’re entirely predictable — famously and profanely hostile to visiting players.
“There will be a lot of cussing, but I like it,” Gould said. “I call it poking the bear. … I went
to Penn State, so you’d think they’d be a lot easier on me, but it’s actually probably worse.”
Philadelphia fans won’t find fodder examining Gould’s postseason history. He made four more field-goal tries without a miss in Sunday’s 19-12 playoff victory over Dallas, including one from 50 yards and one from 47 — no easy feat on a windy day in Santa Clara. He also sent another extra point routinely sailing through the uprights.
That extended Gould’s remarkable reliability when the pressure rises. He’s 29-for-29 on field-goal attempts and 38for-38 on extra-point tries in his playoff career. Do the math: He’s lined up for some sort of postseason kick 67 times and made every … single … one.
Denver’s Brandon McManus is the only other kicker in NFL history to have attempted 10 or more field goals in the playoffs without missing an extra point or field goal, according to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press. McManus is 10-for-10 on postseason field-goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra-point attempts (all in the 2015 playoffs).
Gould’s accuracy is easy to take for granted, but Sunday’s game at Levi’s Stadium offered a vivid reminder of how much kicking matters. Dallas’ Brett Maher arrived in the wake of a brutal display in the wild-card round, when he missed four extra-point tries in his team’s win over Tampa Bay.
Then, on his first extra-point attempt against the 49ers, Maher had the kick blocked. (In fairness, he later made two field goals.)
So while Dallas players, coaches and fans fretted every time their offense moved past midfield, the 49ers reaped the benefit of clinical efficiency. They have learned to lean on Gould in the past six seasons, with no suggestion he’s slowing down.
Gould has made 86.5% of his regular-season field-goal attempts (eighth on the all-time list), including going 27-for-32 this season. Asked how he becomes sharper in the playoffs, Gould sounded almost Michael Jordan-like in his search for external motivation.
“I just play pissed off — that’s who I am,” he said. “I try to find something that upsets me. It’s really hard to do that during the season sometimes, just because it’s so mundane week in and week out. …
“But I always try to find something during the week to drive me. And a Super Bowl ring is what I want; I’m missing that in my career. That would be pretty nice to enjoy with my family.”
This will be Gould’s fifth trip to the NFC Championship Game. He went 1-1 with the Chicago Bears in the 2006 and ’10 seasons, then won with the 49ers in the 2019 season and lost last year.
Gould’s teams fell in the Super Bowl both times, the Bears to Indianapolis and the 49ers to Kansas City.
If he finally earns his ring now, at age 40, he will share in the credit. He scored 15 points in the wild-card round against Seattle (four field goals, three extra points), then 13 more Sunday against Dallas.
Along the way, Gould provided evidence to support why he and his teammates view him as a football player and not merely a kicker.
Early in the fourth quarter, after the 49ers moved ahead 16-9, Dallas’ KaVontae Turpin found room to run on his kickoff return. Gould made the tackle, knocking down Turpin at the 44-yard line.
That’s why offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey, one of Gould’s best friends on the 49ers, described him as “one of the guys in this operation.” It was meant as a compliment, a way of bunching him with the teammates who engage in physical combat on every play.
McGlinchey recalled seeing Gould on the sideline during last year’s playoff game in Green Bay, where his 45-yard field goal on the final play (in frigid conditions) sent the 49ers to the NFC title game
“He’s ice cold when it matters,” McGlinchey said. “I remember him looking at me in Green Bay and saying, ‘Let’s go!’ He just wants that moment.”
Or, as fullback Kyle Juszczyk put it, “When we get to that 35yard line, I don’t even think twice. I just feel like we’re going to get three points. … I tell you, it relieves a lot of stress.”
In this regard, Gould and other top kickers are akin to elite closers in baseball — the football equivalent of Dennis Eckersley or Mariano Rivera back in the day. They perform their job so reliably, it’s a shock when they stumble.
But, inevitably, they all stumble at some point. Gould understands. So he struck an empathetic tone as he considered Maher’s sudden struggles after his strong regular season for the Cowboys.
“Yeah, it’s a fraternity,” Gould said. “What he’s going through is not fun for any kicker to watch. We’ve all been there.”
Even so, Maher and the Cowboys are heading home for the offseason. Gould and the 49ers are heading to Philadelphia for another NFC Championship Game, their third appearance in the past four seasons. The early forecast is for 49 degrees and partly sunny, unseasonably warm.
And, yes, he’s ready for all the cussing.