Gostkowski to make his point

As they have the past few summers, Stephen Gostkowski and Morgan Cox will spend the next month making periodic trips to football practice fields — at either the University of Memphis or St. George’s Independent School in Collierville — perfecting their individual NFL crafts.

Everything will be the same for Cox, a long snapper for the Baltimore Ravens. As for Gostkowski, entering his 10th season as the place-kicker for the New England Patriots, the routine will be somewhat altered. Expect him to wear out patches of turf near the 33-yard line.

Gostkowski, the Patriots’ career scoring leader, will prepare for the NFL’s first season in which the line of scrimmage for extra-point kicks will be moved 13 yards back to the 15-yard line. The NFL had been considering the move for several years as a means to interject more excitement into the routine point-after try. The new rule gives the defense an opportunity to score two points on returns. Owners approved the change during the league’s spring meetings last month.

“(The NFL) tried it out in a couple of preseason games (a year ago) and it just kind of seemed inevitable,” said Gostkowski, on a winning Super Bowl team last season for the first time. “I can’t control stuff like that, so I’ll just roll with the punches and do the best I can. It’ll make it a little tougher, but not impossible. It will be a fun challenge.”

Gostkowski and Cox, in his sixth season with the Ravens, participated in Monday’s AutoZone Liberty Bowl Golf Classic at Ridgeway Country Club benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Gostkowski, 31, has been automatic with extra-point kicks since being a fourth-round pick out of the U of M. In nine seasons he has made 450 of 451 attempts, his only miss coming on a blocked kick during his rookie year in 2006. He made a league-leading 35 field goals (in 37 tries) in 2014 and surpassed Adam Vinatieri as the Patriots’ career scoring leader.

“Historically, we’ve had a lot of extra points during the year, so that’ll be a spot I’ll practice from every day,” Gostkowski said. “They changed the rule to try and get (teams to attempt) more two-point conversions. I’m sure they’ll achieve that.

“A 20-yard (extra-point) kick was pretty tough to miss. There’ll be a lot more misses from 33 yards, but guys are so good right now, snappers and holders are so good, that there won’t be a drastic (drop-off). But it will be more than three misses a year.”

NFL kickers make 99 percent of their extra-point attempts and were successful 96.7 percent of the time last season from 33 yards.

Gostkowski said he and Cox, a former Evangelical Christian School and University of Tennessee player, have worked out in Memphis with each other the past five summers. If possible, they’ll get in three or four sessions a week, practices that include a mix of running, weightlifting and kicking.

“This is the month before the start of training camp so you have to kick it into high gear,” said Gostkowski, who remains the career field goals and scoring leader at the U of M. “You have to make sure you are at the top of your game when you arrive. They don’t wait on anybody. If you are not ready to go and playing well, they’ll find somebody who can.”

While the line moves for pointafter attempts, the line for two-point conversion attempts will remain at the 2-yard line.

“For me, it doesn’t change things at all,” Cox said. “I’ve still just got to (snap) the ball eight yards.

“As specialists, we are going to prepare for that rule change, but I don’t see it changing for us. We’re still trying to be perfect every time.”