Stephen Gostkowski didn't need to do much last season. Like punter Chris Hanson, with whom he shares a corner of the locker room, the Patriots' explosive offense meant he didn't have to do much in the way of difficult kicks.
He attempted more than one field goal in just eight of the Patriots' 19 games; he attempted more than two field goals just twice. For the season, he was 21-for-24 in field-goal attempts and 74-for-74 in extra-point attempts -- not once during the regular season did he attempt more field goals than extra points in a game.
This season has been, to say the least, very different.
Gostkowski is 30-for-33 in field-goal attempts and 34-for-34 in extra-point attempts; he has attempted more extra points than field goals nine times already. (He kicked seven extra points in Sunday's rout of Oakland, his highest total of the season by a fair margin.) With the Patriots' offense less explosive and more inconsistent, Gostkowski's field-goal kicking has become all the more important -- hence his first Pro Bowl berth.
"I have had to kick more field goals," he said, "but it's not something you can prepare extra for. You've just got to take the opportunities that are given to you, and when you get them, take advantage of them. That's what I've been trying to do this year. I've tried to do that every year. It was cool kicking 74 extra points last year. That was a blast, winning games like that. But it's also fun when you get to kick three or four field goals in a game and the result is winning by three or by five or something like that. That's cool, too.
"Anytime I have a day where I have no misses or bad kickoffs is when I feel like I'm helping the team, and I just try to be as consistent as possible. I don't go into the season looking at what our offense is and how many field goals I'm going to have to try. I just go out there when they send me."
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