Lost In Wild, Eventful Patriots Loss: Gostkowski Drills Another Clutch Kick - This Time In The Snow
By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)
BOSTON (CBS) -- One player who does not deserve any blame for the Patriots' Sunday night defeat at the hands of the Broncos? Their incredibly mentally tough, consistent, reliable, clutch kicker.
It's understandable to let Stephen Gostkowski's latest big kick slip your mind, considering all of the wild storylines from Sunday night. Horrid calls. Frightening injuries. Muffed punts. But Gostkowski's 47-yard boot should not go unnoticed, because in that particular situation he saved the game with a big-time play.
Even though the Patriots ultimately lost the game in overtime, the biggest reason they got there in the first place was because Gostkowski proved again that he is absolute nails when the Patriots need a big kick. He had been subject to scrutiny and skepticism pretty much every season since Bill Belichick opted to go for it on 4th-and-13 instead of let him kick a reasonable-length field goal in Super Bowl XLII.
Gostkowski has grown into perhaps the best, most dependable kicker in the league. This season he has finally gotten the chances to prove it, and quickly silenced his remaining doubters. It's too bad the Patriots couldn't pull off the win Sunday night, because if they did, Gostkowski's game-tying kick at the end of regulation - the entire preceding drive, really - would have been the stuff of legend.
Think about it: Tom Brady loses Rob Gronkowski, leaving him with an utter dearth of weapons. He feeds Scott Chandler 11 targets with multiple ugly-looking drops. Brandon LaFell practically disappears for most of the game, sucking up even more empty targets. Yet Brady finds a way to get those two the ball down the field to set up Gostkowski for the tying kick, which he knifes through a dense billow of snow. Sound familiar?
All things considered, had the Patriots won the game their final drive would have gone down as one of the greatest of the Brady/Belichick/(insert clutch kicker here) era.
And as Gostkowski drilled the ball straight through the uprights, everyone outside New England groaned "Here we go again." When many poorly-coached, mentally weak teams might wilt in the face of all the egregious flags and disheartening injuries, the Patriots almost always find a way to give themselves a chance to win, if not finish the job. And now, Gostkowski is a player to be supremely trusted (and anywhere else in the country, feared) when the Patriots get into a similar spot in a playoff game.
The fourth quarter of Sunday night's loss turned out to be one of the most frustrating in recent memory, but it did have one big bright spot: Gostkowski now has his own Snow Kick. And if he can nail that kick while making it look easy in the cold and swirling snow of Denver, he can be trusted to do it in a wintry Foxboro - and certainly in the serene skies of Santa Clara.
You want to talk about injuries and indispensable players? It's time to add Gostkowski to the list. Because if the Patriots want to knock off Denver in a potential rematch and make yet another Super Bowl run, they will absolutely need Gostkowski's golden toe to get there.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
