Here we go again.
Suddenly on Sunday, NFL kickers were unable to find the uprights with a GPS. They missed or had been blocked on seven — count ’em, seven — attempts in the first half of the early Sunday games. Shortly after the second half of the early games began, an eighth was missed and then a ninth.
And the 4 p.m. games were barely underway when Stephen Gostkowski of the New England Patriots missed in the rain in Santa Clara, Calif., for No. 10, tying the NFL’s dubious achievement record, and Steven Hauschka broke the mark, missing in Seattle. The Washington Redskins’ Dustin Hopkins extended the total to 12 with a fourth-quarter miss against the Green Bay Packers in the Sunday night game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN), the record (since 1970) of 10 missed extra points in a week was set most recently in 1985. And Week 11 wasn’t even over yet.
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That Week 11 total of 12 misses through Sunday’s games is four more than the total number of PATs missed in all of the 2014 season, so you can see how truly special this is and how well the NFL succeeded in making extra points harder before the 2015 season, when ESPN says there twice were weeks with eight misses.
This week, Mike Nugent of the Cincinnati Bengals appeared to be trying to get a one-way ticket out of town, missing two.
There were two in the Bears-Giants game. Chicago’s Connor Barth missed one, and, not to be outdone, New York’s Robbie Gould — signed to replace Josh Brown — clanged one off an upright in the game in MetLife Stadium. Gould missed a second time just after the second half began.
Gould's PAT try hit the left upright.
Two touchdowns here at MetLife, two missed PATs.
Mike Tomlin be like ... see!!!!
At Detroit’s windy Ford Field (JK, it’s an indoor joint), Lions kicker Matt Prater’s PAT was hardly extra special. Nor was his counterpart, Jason Myers of the Jaguars. He missed one wide right.
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Minnesota cut hard-luck kicker Blair Walsh last week and brought in Kai Forbath. And, sure enough, one of his first three extra-point attempts was blocked. (Can’t blame the wind this year with the Vikings playing in their new indoor stadium.)
You knew that somehow the Cleveland Browns were going to come into play, and, in the second half of their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cody Parkey missed an extra point. That was No. 9, if you’re keeping score at home.
And just think, there’s one game left in Week 11, Monday night in Mexico City.
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