It was definitely an interesting week four in the NFL, especially for the kickers. Now that the NFL has moved back the kicking spot for the extra point, NFL kickers are struggling every week. Heading into Sunday, NFL kickers have missed a grand total of 27 field goals. This includes the crucial field goal misses in the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers game this past Thursday night that cost veteran kicker Josh Scobee his job in less than 48 hours since leaving the field. These field goal attempts by Scobee helped the Ravens rally for a 23-20 overtime win.
Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Jason Meyers really led the way in misses when he missed two field goals in regulation time, resulting in sending the Jaguars and Colts into overtime. Then he really nailed it when he missed a potentially game-winning kick after Indianapolis had already possessed the ball in overtime, which led Indianapolis to win 16-13. It’s definitely not a coincidence that kickers Dan Carpenter (Buffalo Bills), Caleb Sturgis (Philadelphia Eagles), Nick Novak (Houston Texans), Kyle Brindza (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) also missed field goals in the early games on Sunday that led their teams to be defeated by their opponents.
But the kick that’s being most talked about is the missed chip shot during Sunday night’s Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints game. Since veteran quarterback Tony Romo’s absence, it can be said that Dallas has been struggling on the field, especially after the devastating loss against the Atlanta Falcons last week. One would think after New Orleans kicker Zach Hocker doinked a 30-yarder off the left upright goal post, which most likely would have won the game for the Saints, that the Cowboys had the game in the bag. But it seemed like after the coin toss Dallas took a bit of a nap because in the second play Drew Brees hit C.J. Spiller for a 80-yard touchdown pass, and the Saints won 26-20 in a sudden death win.
After this week of misses, you can probably expect more kicker tryouts and trades for the rest of the season.
