Report: Patriots Kicker Stephen Gostkowski May Be Dealing With Injury
BOSTON (CBS) -- With Stephen Gostkowski struggling, the Patriots will reportedly work out some kickers on Wednesday. But Bill Belichick didn't want to talk about that.
Gostkowski has missed four extra points so far this season, on top of a missed field goal. With the Patriots offense struggling over the last six quarters, it doesn't help that their kicker can't seem to put the ball through the uprights on extra points when they do score.
Belichick was asked about the team checking in on some kickers at his Wednesday morning press conference, but didn't really want to answer anything that NBC Sports Boston's Tom E. Curran or any other reporter was kicking his way on the subject.
Here is how the exchange went down at Gillette Stadium:
Curran: What led you to decide to bring in some kickers for a workout?
Belichick: Yeah, I don't think we worked anybody out yet, Tom.
Reporter: Are you saying you're not working out kickers today?
Belichick: No, the question was have we worked them out, and I said I don't think we've worked any out; no.
Reporter: Why bring them in for later today then?
Belichick: Yeah, look, I'm not confirming anything, denying anything. We haven't worked any kickers out, so that's the answer to that question.
Reporter: Do you feel the need to give Stephen Gostkowski some competition in the kicking game?
Belichick: I don't really think any of that's related to competition; no.
Reporter: Do you have any concern with how the last couple of weeks have gone with the field goal unit?
Belichick: Yeah, I think as a team, there's a lot of things that we can do better, so we're working every area to improve. I think we can improve in all three phases of the game and within those phases there's a lot of things we can work on there as well. We need work on everything. It's barely October. We've got a long way to go.
While the Patriots technically hadn't worked out any kickers when Belichick stepped to the podium shortly before noon, ESPN's Mike Reiss reported early Wednesday morning that the team is welcoming in a group of kickers for a look today.
The move makes sense given Gostkowski's struggles, and makes even more sense given a new report by Curran, who believes that Gostkowski is dealing with injury. That would explain the missed extra points from the usually reliable Gostkowski, who before the 2016 season, hadn't missed an extra point since his rookie year in 2006. After nine straight seasons of perfection, Gostkowski has now missed 10 extra points over the last four seasons.
Adding to Curran's report, Gostkowski was not on the field for Wednesday's practice in Foxboro.
Update: Later on Wednesday, the Patriots placed Gostkowski on injured reserve.