Stephen Gostkowski Named AFC Special Teamer of the Week

How do you follow up the biggest miss of your career? 

Oh how about winning AFC Special Team Player of the Week to start the following season?

Stephen Gostkowski is the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for the fourth time in his career! #Patriots #SG3 pic.twitter.com/JH2g2d9GEN

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 14, 2016

Pretty happy to see SG3 bounce back. I don't think the Pats lost the AFC Championship Game solely because of Gostkowski's missed extra point, but at the same time, if he hits it I think the complexion of that game is extremely different. It just felt like a punch in the gut when he shanked it, like it was going to be a long, shitty day. Which we (Patriot fans) know it ended up being. I hate saying that because he has been so reliable for the last decade.... but I do believe the Pats win that game if they tied the game at 7-7 instead of still being down 7-6 after Steven Jackson scored a TD. Then they aren't relying on a 2 point conversion in the final seconds. Maybe the Pats kick field goals instead of failing TWICE on 4th down in the 4th quarter. Idk how the game plays out, maybe they do still lose, but after not missing an extra point for nearly a decade it was shocking to say the least. Also probably worst possible time to miss an extra point. It happened though, time to focus on the season at hand. 

I think for a confidence stand point this is exactly what you want to see from your kicker. After a big miss with an entire off season to think about it, you come back with a perfect 3-3 night in field goals including a game winner (and two extra points as well). With the new kickoff rules in place, Gostkowski and the kick off team did a fantastic job pinning the Cardinals inside the 20 yard line as well.

With no Brady for 3 more weeks, Gostkowski is going to be huge. Jimmy played very well on Sunday night but the Patriots only had two touchdown drives. Kicking game is going to be very important if the Patriots cannot finish drives. SG3 accounted for 11 of the Patriots 23 points. I'd expect another double digit scoring performance for Steve against the Dolphins on Sunday.