After a strong start to the season for Anders Carlson, the Green Bay Packers have been experiencing the highs and lows that come with relying on a rookie kicker over the last month.
Through the Packers’ first five games of the season, Carlson was perfect, making all seven of his field goal kicks and all of 10 of his extra point attempts.
“Early, he made a bunch in a row, and he thought he was going to be the next perfect kicker,” said Rich Bisaccia jokingly before the Week 12 game vs. the Detroit Lions. “He’s worked really hard, and it’s disappointing because he had a tremendous week of practice last week. I think we are moving ourselves in the right direction and see if it turns out this week.”
Since coming out of the bye week, however, Carlson has rode the wave of inconsistency. He has three straight games with a missed extra point – with the one against Pittsburgh being blocked – and he’s missed a field goal in four of his last six games. All of his missed field goal attempts came from 40-plus yards.
Any sort of scoring opportunity is always crucial, but for a young Packers team where the margin for error has been so small this season, and points have been hard to come by for a large portion on the year, a missed field goal or even an extra point can be devastating.
The Pittsburgh game is a prime example of that, with the blocked extra point being the difference between Green Bay needing a field goal to tie at the end of the game, which they were in range for twice, and needing a touchdown that they were unable to convert in the final five minutes.
“It’s a combination of some things,” said Bisaccia of Carlson’s recent inconsistencies. “I think we felt like way back in the beginning we were going to go through this over the course of the year. He has to be able to have good ball contact on it. I’d like to have the snaps a little bit better. Get those a little bit cleaner at times. We miss tackles, we miss blocks, we are going to miss kicks.”
Since Carlson was drafted, Bisaccia has spoke glowingly about his mental makeup, and that element of his game was one of the key reasons the Packers selected him. When Bisaccia uses that term, he’s describing Carlson’s ability to bounce back after a bad play. Carlson has shown that ability since he arrived in Green Bay, as well as throughout his current inconsistent stretch. Within a game, one missed kick has not been magnified by becoming two.
At the end of the day, it is Carlson who is either making or missing the field goal or extra point opportunities, but he is also just one player within that operation. Well-executed blocking, the snap, and hold are all aspects that can help set the rookie kicker up for success.
What the Packers are currently experiencing with Carlson is not coming as a surprise to the team. In fact, it was expected. Carlson had an up-and-down training camp and preseason, but beyond that, from Bisaccia to Matt LaFleur to Brian Gutekunst, all three preached the importance of being patient with a young kicker.
“For me,” said Gutekunst prior to the regular season, “in my time here, and not only here in Green Bay but around the league, there isn’t always patience when there needs to be. Certainly, Mason had some times, multiple times, when he was here where he had some bad spots, struggles, and I always thought Ted gave him a long leash, and he came out of it. I think it’s important for young players to give them that leash to get there, but at some point, when that stuff becomes real, it becomes different.”