Bill Belichick On Replacing Stephen Gostkowski With Mike Nugent
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick admitted Friday that he's been pretty lucky in terms of employing kickers while with the Patriots. During his dynastic run in New England, he's counted on Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski, only needing to seek an injury replacement once in 20 years.
That tally is now up to two, with Gostkowski landing on IR this week with a hip injury. Mike Nugent has been brought in to replace the team's all-time leader in points, after playing for three teams over the last two seasons.
"Mike has a lot of experience," Belichick said of the veteran replacement on Friday. "I felt like he was the best option."
That isn't exactly a glowing endorsement from Belichick, but he did exert a little more confidence in his new kicker later in his Friday press conference. Though Belichick did admit that Nugent has a pretty big kicking shoe to fill.
"Stephen Gostkowski is one of the greatest kickers of all-time and has been great for this franchise. Unfortunately he isn't available so we'll move on. Mike has done a good job and has a lot of experience. I have all the confidence in mike, otherwise we wouldn't have signed him," he explained. "If you're not going to put him out there, then you shouldn't have him on your team at any position. If you don't have confidence in the player, you should get someone you have confidence in and put them out there.
"I think Mike will do a good job, but we all have to prove it every week," said Belichick. "That's the way it is for all of us."
The Patriots welcomed in a herd of unemployed kickers on Wednesday and Thursday, ultimately deciding on Nugent. The 37-year-old has been kicking around the NFL for 15 years, and is an 81.7 percent kicker on his field goal attempts.
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