Robbie Gould’s rocky 2019 campaign came to a strong end with an NFC Special Teams Player of the Month award for December.
Gould wrapped up his season by drilling all nine of his field goal attempts and 13 of his 14 extra points. That’s pretty pedestrian for the standard Gould set in his first two years in San Francisco, but it was his best month of the year in a season where he missed a career-worst eight kicks and missed three games with a quad injury.
The 37-year-old found his footing just in time to come through in the biggest moments of the season. He drilled a game-winning field goal in the closing seconds to beat the Saints, then did it again two weeks later to knock off the Rams at Levi’s Stadium. Both of those wins played massive roles in the 49ers getting the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
San Francisco signed Gould this offseason to a four-year, $19 million contract with $10.5 million guaranteed for moments like the ones he had in December. While he struggled through most of the year, he’s starting to make kicks again when the stakes are the highest.
The 49ers planned on being a playoff team this year, and kicking is essential in the postseason. Gould has been one of the most reliable kickers in the league the last two years. Now he’s finding that form again just in time for San Francisco’s postseason run.