Stephen Gostkowski leads NFL in points scored again!
This season marks the fifth time that the Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski has led the NFL in points scored. He kicked 33 field goals and 52 extra points to a grand total of 151 points total, 5 more than second place. Stephen is the third person to accomplish the feat, with the first being the Green Bay great Don Hutson and the second was the multi-talented Patriots kicker/wide receiver Gino Cappalletti. These stats are available through Pro Football Reference.
Stephen Gostkowski led the NFL in points scored for the fifth time. Don Hutson and Gino Cappelletti are the only other players to do that.— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) January 4, 2016The NFL record for leading the league in scoring is impressive, but it has gotten harder for kickers to keep putting up big points since the extra point was moved back from the 2 to the 15-yard line. Extra points were nearly automatic in the past, but this year things changed. Graham Gano was second to Gostkowski in points scored this season, and he missed 3 of his total 59 extra point attempts. This demonstrates how well Gostkowski has been kicking; I had to go back until 2006 (!!) to find the ONLY missed extra point of his career, which was his rookie season. In total he is 502/503 (99.8%) for career extra points.
As Patriots fans we take our fantastic kicker for granted. Next time he kicks one right down the middle from outside 55 yards, let’s cheer a little louder for him.
