Stephen Gotkowski (1 Viewer)

[timschochet]

As part of a bigger trade I completed, I added Gotkowski to my team. My logic: Although New England doesn't kick a lot of field goals, they do put up tons of points. It's better to know you're going into the FF playoffs with a consistent score each week from your kicker rather than gamble that a guy like Bironas might have a big week one week and not many points the next week. It seems to me Gotkowski, Folk, and Reed are the best kickers to have for the playoffs. Viniatieri would be too, except his consistency has fallen off of late.

Does anyone agree with me here, or am I not looking at this correctly? It is EXTREMELY important right now not to make a single mistake in your lineup in the next few weeks! Consistency is everything...

 

[Jim Durum]

That's the exact reason that I drafted Gostkowski this year and he hasn't disappointed. In my league, he's averaging just under 9 ppg and hasn't scored lower than 6 (when they played the colts). Definitely nice to not have to worry about my kicker laying a big ol' goose egg and losing my week!

We've got negative scoring defenses to take care of that instead...

 

[DropKick]

Depends on your scoring system. I like Gostkowski; the team scores consistently and often; if a few extra points morph int FG chances you're in great shape.

One concern, I don't recall the Pats taking too many long FG attempts (even last year).

ETA: I think they have at least 3 home games in December, could be tougher weather conditions.

 

[the spanker]

Depends on your scoring system. I like Gostkowski; the team scores consistently and often; if a few extra points morph int FG chances you're in great shape.One concern, I don't recall the Pats taking too many long FG attempts (even last year).ETA: I think they have at least 3 home games in December, could be tougher weather conditions.

Good observation about weather. I think Crosby should also be considered. Pack is putting up nice points and isn't as consistent as PATs in getting into the endzone.

 

[the spanker]

Depends on your scoring system. I like Gostkowski; the team scores consistently and often; if a few extra points morph int FG chances you're in great shape.One concern, I don't recall the Pats taking too many long FG attempts (even last year).ETA: I think they have at least 3 home games in December, could be tougher weather conditions.

Good observation about weather. I think Crosby should also be considered. Pack is putting up nice points and isn't as consistent as PATs in getting into the endzone.

Weekly average in my league1. Bironas - 9.6562. Folk - 9.2673. Crosby - 8.9444. Brown - 8.5445. Graham - 8.5226. Gost - 8.4337. Reed - 8.267

 

[fatness king]

Weekly average in my league1. Bironas - 9.6562. Folk - 9.2673. Crosby - 8.9444. Brown - 8.5445. Graham - 8.5226. Gost - 8.4337. Reed - 8.267

The problem is you are using average instead of median. Since the OP is referencing consistency, median is more important than average. Bironas and Graham are skewed because of their big single games.A quick median scan with basic scoring (3/FG,1/PAT):Folk = 9Crosby = 9Gotz = 8Vini = 8Brown = 8Bironas = 7Graham = 7

 

[Mike Herman]

Lowest weekly score so far this year by each of the top ten kickers:

6 Gostkowski

5 Folk

5 Crosby

4 Bironas

4 K. Brown

3 Graham

3 Hanson

2 Reed

1 Vinatieri

0 J. Brown

 

[richn]

look at Graham's Schedlue weeks 14-16 (FF Playoffs)....St Louis, SF, Clev.....see if you could get him in a minor trade under the radar...nice schedule.

 

[Mystery Achiever]

last week i looked at crosby vs gostkowski week-by-week in my scoring and ended up with s.g. with a slight edge to consistency -- it was pretty much a coin flip though.

 

[CrazyHorse1581]

last week i looked at crosby vs gostkowski week-by-week in my scoring and ended up with s.g. with a slight edge to consistency -- it was pretty much a coin flip though.

I did the same thing and went with Crosby. I'm sick of watching the Patriots go for it on 4th down instead of taking the field goal.

 

[meanjoegreen]

I'm sick of watching the Patriots go for it on 4th down instead of taking the field goal.

Same here

 

[Mystery Achiever]

last week i looked at crosby vs gostkowski week-by-week in my scoring and ended up with s.g. with a slight edge to consistency -- it was pretty much a coin flip though.

I did the same thing and went with Crosby. I'm sick of watching the Patriots go for it on 4th down instead of taking the field goal.

well, at least one of us will be right.

 

[Andy Herron]

That's the exact reason that I drafted Gostkowski this year and he hasn't disappointed. In my league, he's averaging just under 9 ppg and hasn't scored lower than 6 (when they played the colts). Definitely nice to not have to worry about my kicker laying a big ol' goose egg and losing my week!

I did the same thing, but recently added Josh Brown for an option in case of weather factors down the stretch.

 

[Norman Einstein]

ETA: I think they have at least 3 home games in December, could be tougher weather conditions.

weather a concern....look at Jason Hanson5 of the remaining games are in domes, 1 at SD, and the last game at Packers11 home vs. Giants 12 home vs. Packers 13 away vs. Vikings 14 home vs. Cowboys 15 away vs. Chargers 16 home vs. Chiefs 17 away vs. Packers

 

[the spanker]

I'm sick of watching the Patriots go for it on 4th down instead of taking the field goal.

Same here

Ditto. Plus I think Crosby has the potential to put up better scores the rest of the year because the PATS go for TDs.

 

[Krewe]

As part of a bigger trade I completed, I added Gotkowski to my team. My logic: Although New England doesn't kick a lot of field goals, they do put up tons of points. It's better to know you're going into the FF playoffs with a consistent score each week from your kicker rather than gamble that a guy like Bironas might have a big week one week and not many points the next week. It seems to me Gotkowski, Folk, and Reed are the best kickers to have for the playoffs. Viniatieri would be too, except his consistency has fallen off of late.Does anyone agree with me here, or am I not looking at this correctly? It is EXTREMELY important right now not to make a single mistake in your lineup in the next few weeks! Consistency is everything...

I took him late in my $$$ league and this is what he's scored for me.8, 8, 8, 10, 10, 12, 7, 10, 6 .Pretty much the model of consistency, I'll take that any day of the week. Especially on Sunday.

 

[redman]

Kickers from high scoring offenses are valuable. It's much tougher to correctly identify good kickers from mediocre or bad offenses as some are good because their teams' offenses consistently stall inside FG range, while others are bad because they aren't able to get into FG range in the first place.

Edit to add: Even good teams' kickers are hard to predict before the season, which is why if you're going to trade for a kicker it's best to wait until you're weeks into the season to see what pattern develops.

For example, look at Vanderjagt. The ridiculous offensive year that Peyton and the Colts had was in 2004, but that was only an average year for Vandy, who blew up in 2003:

+----------+------------------+------------+--------+| Year  TM | Made ATT	PCT  | Made  ATT  | Points |+----------+------------------+------------+--------+| 1998 ind |  27   31   87.1  |   23   23  |   104  || 1999 ind |  34   38   89.5  |   43   43  |   145  || 2000 ind |  25   27   92.6  |   46   46  |   121  || 2001 ind |  28   34   82.4  |   41   42  |   125  || 2002 ind |  23   31   74.2  |   34   34  |   103  || 2003 ind |  37   37  100.0  |   46   46  |   157  || 2004 ind |  20   25   80.0  |   59   60  |   119  || 2005 ind |  23   25   92.0  |   52   52  |   121  |+----------+------------------+------------+--------+|  TOTAL   | 217  248   87.5  |  344  346  |   995  |+----------+------------------+------------+--------+