Stephen Gostkowski keeps kicking his way to the top
When you think NFL single-season points scored leaders, who leaps to mind?
After last year’s historic performance it must be Peyton Manning, right? I mean, he tossed 55 TDs last year. But no, not Manning. In fact, you won’t even find him in the top 250.
The single-season points scored leaders archive is a list comprised of players who either scored points by breaking the plane of the goal line or who kicked that little prolate spheroid through the uprights.
So unless the Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees of the world decide to go all LaDainian Tomlinson and punch it in 25 times per season you’ll never find a quarterback on this list. And in case you were wondering Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham and Fran Tarkenton, some of the best rushing quarterbacks of all-time, didn't crack the top 250 either, but your New England Patriots placekicker Stephen Gostkowski has on multiple occasions.
When it comes to fantasy football, which I’ve participated in since 1995 when Herman Moore was the star of my squad, I’ve always waited for the last round to grab a kicker, but Gostkowski has me rethinking that strategy. Amazingly Gostkowski is the only player to show up three times on the top 20 NFL single-season points scored list. He first grabbed a spot near the top back in 2008 before stringing together back-to-back outstanding seasons in 2012 & 13. Adam Vinatieri’s watermark season has him slotted in a 40th place tie on the list, a season he put together with the 2004 Patriots.
When we think elite football players we naturally gravitate toward quarterbacks, running backs and superior defensive studs, and for good reason, they are on the field the bulk of the time. We almost never think of a kicker in terms of being elite. We may say a guy is clutch, but never elite. What Gostkowski is doing is re-writing the standard for placekickers. Yes, he is part of an offense that gives him amble opportunity to shine, but he must convert on those chances, and the numbers suggest he does just that.
Had Coach Bill Belichick believed in his second year kicker back in Super Bowl XLII, Tom Brady may have already added a fourth ring to his collection. Remember when Belichick inexplicably opted to leave Brady on the field to try and convert a fourth and 13 instead of attempting a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter up 7-3?
Belichick earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Wesleyan University, and having an economics minor to my credit, I know he took a statistics class, which discusses the basic laws of probability. And I also know there is no law of averages that would have supported his fourth and 13 decision, even with Tom Brady at the helm.
Stephen Gostkowski is one of the best closers in the game, but here in New England we still romanticize about Vinatieri’s kick in the snow and how he was part of three championship teams (two ending on his right leg). We think of Vinatieri as being better than Gostkowski when the numbers suggest otherwise. Gostkowski has a better career FG% than Vinatieri, 85.6% to 83%. He is an unsung hero who quietly goes about his business one kick at a time. Make no mistake, Gostkowski is elite, the numbers don’t lie.
Follow me on Twitter @dbonvie
To find more of my articles, click here
After last year’s historic performance it must be Peyton Manning, right? I mean, he tossed 55 TDs last year. But no, not Manning. In fact, you won’t even find him in the top 250.
 |
| Stephen Gostkowski is one of the best kickers in the NFL. Photo via: ninerfans.com |
So unless the Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees of the world decide to go all LaDainian Tomlinson and punch it in 25 times per season you’ll never find a quarterback on this list. And in case you were wondering Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Steve Young, Randall Cunningham and Fran Tarkenton, some of the best rushing quarterbacks of all-time, didn't crack the top 250 either, but your New England Patriots placekicker Stephen Gostkowski has on multiple occasions.
When it comes to fantasy football, which I’ve participated in since 1995 when Herman Moore was the star of my squad, I’ve always waited for the last round to grab a kicker, but Gostkowski has me rethinking that strategy. Amazingly Gostkowski is the only player to show up three times on the top 20 NFL single-season points scored list. He first grabbed a spot near the top back in 2008 before stringing together back-to-back outstanding seasons in 2012 & 13. Adam Vinatieri’s watermark season has him slotted in a 40th place tie on the list, a season he put together with the 2004 Patriots.
When we think elite football players we naturally gravitate toward quarterbacks, running backs and superior defensive studs, and for good reason, they are on the field the bulk of the time. We almost never think of a kicker in terms of being elite. We may say a guy is clutch, but never elite. What Gostkowski is doing is re-writing the standard for placekickers. Yes, he is part of an offense that gives him amble opportunity to shine, but he must convert on those chances, and the numbers suggest he does just that.
Had Coach Bill Belichick believed in his second year kicker back in Super Bowl XLII, Tom Brady may have already added a fourth ring to his collection. Remember when Belichick inexplicably opted to leave Brady on the field to try and convert a fourth and 13 instead of attempting a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter up 7-3?
Belichick earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Wesleyan University, and having an economics minor to my credit, I know he took a statistics class, which discusses the basic laws of probability. And I also know there is no law of averages that would have supported his fourth and 13 decision, even with Tom Brady at the helm.
Stephen Gostkowski is one of the best closers in the game, but here in New England we still romanticize about Vinatieri’s kick in the snow and how he was part of three championship teams (two ending on his right leg). We think of Vinatieri as being better than Gostkowski when the numbers suggest otherwise. Gostkowski has a better career FG% than Vinatieri, 85.6% to 83%. He is an unsung hero who quietly goes about his business one kick at a time. Make no mistake, Gostkowski is elite, the numbers don’t lie.
Follow me on Twitter @dbonvie
To find more of my articles, click here
Stephen Gostkowski is only player in #NFL history to show up 3 times in Top 20 in single season pts scored. #Patriots http://t.co/FJxEM4j3z7
— Christopher Price (@cpriceNFL) July 14, 2014
Shout out: Biography.com
