Member » Apparently not the Los Angeles Rams.As

NEW YORK (AP) — Who needs a kicker?for the Browns and Vikings http://www.thevikingslockerroom.com/authentic-randy-moss-jersey , who are going with untested youngsters, well, maybe a new guy to handle field goals and extra points will be employed soon.Sure, it’s kind of early to panic about placekicking. The Rams showed how to not rely on placements once Greg Zuerlein went out Sunday with a groin problem. They simply scored touchdowns and then went for 2-point conversions, making three.Still, when it’s early in the schedule and kickers are struggling — there were seven missed PAT kicks Sunday afternoon — despite generally decent conditions, that’s troubling.Minnesota rookie Daniel Carlson twice went wide right on overtime field goals and the Vikings tied top NFC North rival Green Bay 29-29. Even though Packers kicker Mason Crosby matched a career high with five field goals, his potential winner from 52 yards went wide left as time expired in regulation.It’s rarely wise to play for field goals, particularly when you have the two highest-paid quarterbacks in the league, Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins. But circumstances sometimes dictate not gambling. In Green Bay’s case, that pretty much paid off thanks to the veteran Crosby.Not so much for Minnesota as Carlson missed from 49 and 35 yards in OT. He also failed from 48 in the second quarter.“I think I went out each time and it was a new kick,” said Carlson, who was pretty sure he’d never missed three field goals in a game. “Went out there confident, but something obviously was off and I’ve got to fix that and help this team.”Zane Gonzalez , who held FBS records for career field goals made (96) and points by a kicker (494) when he left Arizona State after the 2016 season, hurt his team even more. His Browns lost — yeah, that’s hardly news as it was the 18th time in their last 19 games they flopped, and the other game was last week’s tie with Pittsburgh — and he missed two field goals and, ugh, two extra points.He botched his first extra point after the Browns went up 12-3 in the third quarter at New Orleans. He was wide left on a 44-yard field goal that would have given them a 15-3 early in the fourth quarter. That plagued him on his final two attempts.Gonzalez hooked an extra point wide left with 1:16 remaining, leaving the score 18-18. He pushed a 52-yard field goal try right with 3 seconds to go after the Saints went ahead on Wil Lutz’s 44-yard field goal 18 seconds earlier.“It was on me a hundred percent,” Gonzalez said. “I can’t blame it on anybody else. We were so close to that win and it’s been so long Womens Ameer Abdullah Jersey , and I just let everybody down.“I was cursing myself out in my head. I’m really upset about it.”Gonzalez missed one extra point last season as a rookie in Cleveland.Miami’s Jason Sanders and New York’s Jason Myers were both wide on PATs in the Dolphins’ 20-12 victory over the Jets. Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell missed an extra point against Kansas City in a loss, and Tampa Bay’s Chandler Catanzaro did so, as well, against Philadelphia in a victory.The NFL’s decision to move the extra-point kick back to the 15-yard line has turned it from a gimme into, well, a lengthier putt. Hardly, though, a twisting breaker like at Augusta National.With kickers bombing field goals from well beyond 50 yards with regularity — Myers, who has a spotty record on PATs, tied a Jets home mark with a 55-yard three-pointer — and coaches willing to let them try, what’s up with the 33-yard extra point?It brings up an interesting possibility. Consider what the Rams did without Zuerlein; of course, they have one of the NFL’s best weapons near the goal line in Todd Gurley. The running back and 2017 Offensive Player of the Year scored twice on the 2-point conversions from the 2-yard line.And the Steelers rarely back off from trying for the deuce. Who would mind having Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees overseeing one play from the 2 for a couple of points?Or Cam Newton or Russell Wilson getting creative in that goal-line situation?Pretty exciting options.So maybe teams unsure of their kickers’ reliability — ignore this, Ravens and Rams and Colts fans, for example — will think more about the 2-point conversions. That would be a major culture change, as would not thinking so much about setting up field goals. Seems coaches get burned a lot by that philosophy.Why not get really radical, NFL, and simply eliminate the PAT kick altogether? All 2-point conversions all the time.Never happen, right? MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The passing attack for Minnesota has largely been fueled this season by Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, who have flourished into one of the NFL’s most productive and versatile wide receiver tandems.Kyle Rudolph has again been in mostly a supporting role, often asked to assist a vulnerable offensive line with blocking and rarely the first option while running a route from his tight end spot with more than half of the throws made by Kirk Cousins sent to either Thielen or Diggs.When the Vikings badly needed a spark for their sputtering offense on Sunday in Detroit, Rudolph took full advantage of his rare opportunity as the focal point Marcus Epps Minnesota Vikings Jerseys , a little like a holiday-appropriate red-nosed reindeer tasked with pulling the sleigh through a snowstorm for Santa Claus.“Just my time,” Rudolph said after the Vikings beat the Lions 27-9 to stay in control of the second wild-card spot in the NFC . “You just prepare each and every week as best you can. We’ve got two really, really good receivers on the outside, and today when the ball came my way I just tried to catch it. I can’t tell you why or give you a reason that happened today, other than it’s almost Christmas. Christmas is usually good to me.”The leaping catch he made in the end zone on the final play of the first half wasn’t close to his only contribution, either, as critical as that desperation catch turned out to be. Rudolph was targeted a season-high nine times, and he snagged all of those passes for a career-high 122 yards and just the third two-touchdown game out of the 115, including the playoffs, he’s suited up for.“I take a lot of pride in preparing myself each and every week when these opportunities do come,” Rudolph said. “I don’t always know when they’re going to come in the passing game. I have a lot of other roles that I have to do that I take advantage of them.”The Vikings (8-6-1) still need one more win to secure a second straight year in the playoffs, a feat they last accomplished in the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Otherwise their fate will be in Washington’s hands, with a loss by Philadelphia in that case the only way in. NFC North champion Chicago will visit U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, with the Bears still playing for a better seed.“We’ve got to empty the bucket, and that’s the way we’ve got to play next week at home,” Rudolph said. “I’m really looking forward to that environment.”Rudolph had seven receptions for 63 yards in the game against Green Bay on Nov. 25 after voicing to the coaching staff a team-success-driven concern about the lack of impact he’d been able to make as a pass-catcher to that point. He had only eight catches for 68 yards combined over the three games that followed, though.With Thielen and Diggs frequently drawing double teams during the second half of the season, and undoubtedly in the playoffs as long as the Vikings continue on, Rudolph’s production is vital for an offense that has been up and down in Cousins’ first year in purple.Since Kevin Stefanski replaced John DeFilippo as offensive coordinator, the Vikings have employed more play-action passes and bootleg rollouts for Cousins, concepts that can only help Rudolph thrive up and down the field.“It just adds another weapon,” coach Mike Zimmer said Minnesota Vikings Jerseys 2019 , adding: “The more guys we can use, the better it is.”Despite such quiet stretches during this season, Rudolph has 60 receptions for 615 yards, both the second highest of his career behind 2016. The longest-tenured player on the offense, Rudolph also has a 77.9 percent catch rate on the throws he’s been targeted on to surge past his previous best of 70.6 in 2014.“He’s a tremendous talent,” Cousins said.If the Vikings beat the Bears (11-4), the probable scenario is the No. 6 seed and an instant rematch in the wild-card round in Chicago.That would change if Seattle (9-6), which opened as 11½-point favorites against Arizona (3-12), loses at home to the Cardinals. Then the Vikings would jump the Seahawks for the No. 5 seed and travel to NFC East champion Dallas (9-6).If the Vikings lose but the Eagles also lose to send them back to the tournament, they will face the Bears unless San Francisco (4-11), which began as a nine-point underdog, wins at Los Angeles (12-3).In that case, the Vikings would play the Rams next weekend with the Bears taking the No. 2 seed and the first-round bye.The NFL set the schedule up to maximize the drama, bumping the Bears-Vikings game to the late-afternoon timeslot so it will be played simultaneously with the Eagles-Redskins, Cardinals-Seahawks and 49ers-Rams games. There will be four other AFC games with postseason impact taking place at the same time, too.“I don’t think I want to get in 8-7-1,” Cousins said. “I think 9-6-1 is a better way to earn your way in, and hopefully we can get the job done.”