Foxborough, Mass. – He had a brilliant night. He couldn’t stand it.
“I hate punting,” Josh Miller said.
Since that is his job description, his sentiments would seem to be something of an impediment. Not that he’s lazy, or ready to return his paycheck unsigned to Bob Kraft. It’s just that the less often he’s employed, the better off he is.
“My first year here,” Miller said, “I punted once or twice a game. That was fine. I was happy with that.”
Miller knows that whenever his statistics are bulging, the Patriots’ fortunes are fading. If he’s kicking, the offense isn’t moving. So as good as he was Sunday night, things were proportionately bad for his team. The result: a 17-7 loss to the Broncos in which Miller was the Patriots’ most effective weapon.
He nailed the Broncos inside their 5-yard line three times. He put them in retreat inside their 20 four times. On another punt, he stuck them at their 21. And he boomed a couple of other attempts from the neighborhood of his end zone, enabling his team to escape precarious situations. For the evening, he averaged 43.7 yards on seven kicks, and the statistics would have been more impressive if he hadn’t been working from around midfield so often.
In this kickers’ duel, field position was at a premium, just as Miller and the Patriots figured it would be.
“We stressed special teams during the week,” Miller said. “They’re an explosive team on offense, and you’ve got to stretch the field on them, try to give them a long field to work with. If they’d started at the 50, who knows what the score would have been?”
That remained a hypothetical because of Miller’s stratospheric shots and pinpoint accuracy.
“Sometimes you can get a good roll down there, pick up a few extra yards if you sneak it in there,” Miller said. “I practice that a lot, sneak into the stadium in practice to work on it during the week.”
Miller’s precision was especially evident in the third quarter with the Patriots trailing, 10-0. Kicking from his 47, he nailed a boomer to the Denver 6, where Darrent Williams fielded the ball, much to his regret.
Lonie Paxton and Willie Andrews tag-teamed him to the mat in the end zone, but the officials ruled that Williams was down at the 2 as Denver barely averted a safety.
“It’s funny,” he said. “I always prepare for the worst and then I’m not called upon. I practice kicking like this all the time. But it’s especially important against the Broncos. They’re a good team. They beat us twice last year. Their offense is always explosive and their defense has had our number the last couple of games.”
His detested punting isn’t Miller’s only contribution to the Patriots.
There’s also a job he greatly prefers.
“I like holding,” Miller said.
Because then the Patriots are in the process of putting up points.
Most of the time. Make that some of the time.
In the second quarter, Stephen Gostkowski set up at the Denver 27 for an apparent field goal to tie the game, 3-3. Only the ball didn’t make it to the line of scrimmage. The Broncos’ Dominique Foxworth flew in from the left side and spanked the low kick to the ground, and Denver proceeded to turn the good fortune into a touchdown and a 10-0 halftime edge.
So Gostkowski’s was in essence a 10-point kick. The wrong way.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Miller said. “I don’t know how the skimmer (Foxworth) got in there from the far left on the sod at that part of the field.”
Miller did know he had to assume a third role, that of counselor. Counting his 29-yard attempt at the end of last week’s 24-17 win over the Jets, this was Gostkowski’s second straight blocked field goal. That’s not the sort of inspiration a rookie relishes.
So, not knowing whether Gostkowski’s foot was at fault, Miller went to work on his psyche.
“I told him, ‘Truthfully, you haven’t missed yet; that’s not on us,”‘ Miller said. “He hasn’t kicked one wide, he’s just had a couple blocked.
“That’s the way you’ve got to think.”
That would make the job a lot more enjoyable.
