Near the end of last season, even Nick Folk could sense the end of his tenure as the Dallas Cowboys’ place-kicker. Folk’s accuracy plummeted after he made 90.9 percent of his field-goal attempts in 2008. He missed at least one field goal -– and two against the Giants -– in Weeks 10 through 15. The Cowboys released Folk before the season ended. “With the way I was kicking?” he said. “It was bound to happen at some point.” Now, Folk is the front-runner to replace Jay Feely, who signed with the Arizona Cardinals in free agency, as the Jets’ kicker next season. Folks hopes to return to his 2008 form.
His struggles actually started with hip surgery 12 weeks before training camp. In a normal season, Folk said he would begin practicing at the end of March, or the beginning of April, allowing for a five-month window to get ready for the season. Last season, because of the surgery, Folk kicked a volleyball 10 weeks before training camp, then a soccer ball, then a flat football. He did not practice with an actual football until camp was one week out. Folk believes he developed bad habits, mainly because of rust, and he said that also led to issues with his holder, because they had little time to develop chemistry. “I had a week to get ready for training,” he said during the Jets’ media availability Thursday. “With my competitive nature, I didn’t want to miss training camp.” Folk said his accuracy issues last season were more technical, more physical, than mental –- and therefore easier to correct. He said he fixed those problems already this off-season, working with his private coach.
Jets Coach Rex Ryan told Folk he would compete for the starting job. As Folk tries to resurrect his career here, he acknowledged there was pressure that came along with that. “It obviously didn’t end the way I wanted it to,” Folk said. “It didn’t start the way I wanted it to, either, with going through surgery and whatnot. So I have to go out and prove myself, which I don’t mind doing. I like it. I want to go out and have a good year.”