Nick Folk delivers game-winning kick for Patriots despite bad back

Leave it to the 36-year-old kicker with the bad back.

Nick Folk drilled a 51-yard, game-winning field goal Monday night to lift the Patriots over the Jets as time expired on a game the team desperately needed. Folk knew it before anyone else did, shooting his arms into the air before the ball even reached the apex of its flight path toward the uprights.

“I hit it pretty well right away, and then as soon as I saw it kind of go 20 yards down the field, I knew it was going to stay pretty true,” Folk said. “I knew I had enough leg to get it there.”

A former Jet, Folk explained he knew the winds at MetLife Stadium are typically calmer during night games. That gave him confidence, especially after an uncertain end to last week, when he was held out of Saturday’s practice and punter Jake Bailey was considered as a possible kicking replacement. Instead, Bailey never came close to taking field goals Monday, according to Folk.

“[I] felt good enough to kick. I didn’t want to let the guys down. I wanted to play, help them out any way I could,” he said. “We came up with a good plan, and I think it worked out. I think Jake was more of an uber emergency, super emergency.”

After hitting all three field goals and a trio of extra points in New York, Folk hasn’t missed a kick in five straight games. Monday’s 51-yarder was the longest he’s made dating back to 2016. According to ESPN, it was also the longest go-ahead or game-winning kick he’s hit in the fourth quarter since 2011.

Quietly, Folk has grown into one of the Pats’ most consistent players.

“Nick did a great job. He’s a tough kid. He came through for us obviously in a big way,” Pats coach Bill Belichick said post-game. “He’s really been consistent for us over the last year and a half. There couldn’t be a bigger kick, and he put it right down the middle. Awesome job on his part.”

Folk wasn’t expected to kick for the Patriots this year until late this summer, when he re-signed amid a disastrous training camp for fifth-round rookie Justin Rohrwasser. The 13-year veteran appeared to be shaking some rust off early in the season, misfiring on field goals in Weeks 1 and 2, then an extra point in Week 3. Yet while the Pats have struggled since — losing every game until Monday night — Folk’s game has strengthened.

The Patriots can now count on him to deliver in tight games — the exact kind they’ve been playing — provided they can continue to compete into the fourth quarter. At 3-5, pressure is on every player to perform, especially the now surging kicker.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/35h2zq8