Stephen Gostkowski's Long-Distance Kicking

IdiotKicker

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Nov 21, 2005
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Thought you guys would like to get a look at this. Broke down both of Gostkowski's 54-yard attempts this year - the made one against the NYG, the missed one against BUF.

But beginning in 2013, Gostkowski has been nothing short of outstanding. His accuracy over the last three seasons reads like an atlas for the interstate highway system: 93%, 95%, 96%. Gostkowski has also been tremendous from long-distance, dialing up 85.7% accuracy on kicks longer than 50 yards since 2012, while the rest of the league has hit at only a 63.1% rate.

What makes Gostkowski so good from this range? It is a combination of an incredibly quiet approach, nearly-perfect form, and the best follow-through in the NFL.
 

pappymojo

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Jul 28, 2010
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That was a very good read. Thank you.

As a football fan with the most rudimentary understanding of the kicking game, does Bill Belichick's coaching style impact Ghost's success? It seems that Belichick will forgo kicking opportunities at times but I don't know (1) if that is true (2) if it is due to Belichick adjusting his game plan based on his opponent (if for example he thinks he will need more points to win the game) or (3) if Belichick is making an adjustment based on the probability of success for the kick (based on field position, weather, wind, etc.).
 

IdiotKicker

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There are definitely certain coaches that help with putting their kickers in a position to be successful more than others. Jeff Fisher is notorious for trotting his kickers out there for 60+ yard attempts despite the incredibly low likelihood of success (there have only been 15 kicks in NFL history made from this distance). But most coaches generally trust what their kickers and special teams coaches are telling them after pre-game warmups.

One of the key parts of the warmup routine for kickers is testing out maximum distance going in both directions so the coach can know what his range is on a given day. Wind, temperature, precipitation, and humidity all play into the equation here, so while a kicker may be able to boom a 58-yard kick one weekend, he may be limited to 51 yards in the next. I haven't seen any specific data regarding coaches who are more or less agressive than others based on this (probably because there are too many variables to do a good analysis), but coaches absolutely take into account things like weather, game time, and opponents in making these decisions.
 

edmunddantes

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Since the buffalo kicker missed almost identically earlier in the game (I think even in the same direction), does his tape show that same hip lag or was it something else that pulled his off?
 

IdiotKicker

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Carpenter has always had funky mechanics, I liken him to the Bubba Watson of kickers in that he's slightly above-average but looks terrible doing it. Carpenter's faded slightly, but it was lined up dead-center and likely due to wind that put it off the right upright.
 

edmunddantes

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Jul 28, 2015
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Thank you for the response. My original thought in game was that it was wind that threw off the kick, and Gostkowski saw that and would adjust for his kick.

Thus surprised when it looked like he missed in the exact same manner and side. I was a little perplexed to see it, and I wondered "did he misjudge the wind? Did it change? Overcompensate in his kick to try to push through the wind? etc" Interesting to see how all the moving parts work together.