Struggling Stephen Gostkowski placed on IR by Patriots
New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski has struggled through the team’s first four games, and it appears his season is over.
The Patriots placed Gostkowski on injured reserve Wednesday, as first reported by Jim McBride of The Boston Globe. The move came after word surfaced that the team would be hosting kickers for workouts.
Gostkowski is 7-for-8 on field goal attempts this season, but he has already missed four extra points. It’s unclear if he is dealing with an actual injury, but McBride noted that he did make a tackle on his missed PAT against the Buffalo Bills Sunday and appeared to get up slowly.
Bill Belichick indicated on Wednesday that it would not have to do with competition for Gostkowski if the Patriots hosted kickers for workouts, but the coach may have been playing coy. He did express concern over how the kicking game gas been through the first month of the season, however.
“Yeah, I think as a team, there’s a lot of things tha we can do better, so we’re working every area to improve,” Belichick said. “I think we can improve in all three phases of the game and within those phases there’s a lot of thing we can work on there as well. We need work on everything. It’s barely October. We’ve got a long way to go.”
Gostkowski had been reliable for the Patriots in years past, so perhaps an injury has something to do with his inconsistencies this season.
