Tag: special teams player of the month

Steelers’ K Chris Boswell named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month

Steelers’ K Chris Boswell has been named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for his elite play in October.

The ‘Wizard of Boz’ strikes again!  Pittsburgh Steelers’ kicker Chris Boswell has been named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month in back-to-back months for his excellent performance and contribution to his team’s 6-2 record. The NFL announced Boswell’s accomplishment on Thursday morning, and this award is well-deserved.

This is now the third time Boswell has earned the illustrious AFC Special Teams Play of the Month award, with his first selection dating all the way back in December/January of the 2015 season, and his second selection being last month in September of the 2024 season. Boswell has kicked with an impressive 89.0% accuracy on his field goal attempts, hitting on 254 out of 289.

Steelers fans, including myself, are truly lucky to be able to witness arguably one of the greatest kickers of all-time tearing it up for the Pittsburgh Steelers on any given Sunday.  Can Boswell do the unthinkable and earn three consecutive AFC Special Teams Player of the Month awards?

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Cowboys’ Brandon Aubrey has won this award 60% of time since joining NFL

From @ToddBrock24f7: The kicking phenom booted 12 of 13 tries in September, including 2 from 60 or longer. He won the monthly award twice last season.

Brandon Aubrey is awfully good when it comes to percentages.

He’s made 94% of his regular-season field goal tries since becoming the Cowboys’ kicker in 2023. He’s a ridiculous 16-of-17 on attempts of over 50 yards in that time and has never missed from 60 or beyond. He’s nailed 95% of his PATs. The second-year man is batting 1.000 on Pro Bowls and All-Pro nods.

Now with a Thursday announcement by the league, of his five months so far in the NFL, he’s been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month an absurd three times.

That’s 60% of the the time he’s been in the league.

Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold won the award for offense, while Detroit’s Aidan Hutchinson earned defensive honors.

Aubrey was awarded the prize for September after a month that saw him boot 12 field goals in 13 tries and included both a 60- and a 65-yarder, making him one of just four men to ever kick three or more field goals from 60 yards or longer in a career.

And Aubrey’s attempted just 51 field goal attempts total in an NFL career that’s only 21 games old so far.

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He won the conference’s Special Teams Player of the Month award last October and December, making him the first Cowboys special-teamer to ever win that award twice.

Now he’s got a third… out of a possible five.

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Cowboys’ Aubrey named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month

From @ToddBrock24f7: The 1st-year kicker also won the award in October. He led the NFL in several categories for 2023, including field goals and total points.

Those two misses against the Commanders in the season finale didn’t do anything to diminish the record-setting debut campaign enjoyed by Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey. They didn’t even keep him from winning a special league honor for the second time this season.

Aubrey was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Month for December/January. He also won the award in October, making him the first Cowboys special-teamer to ever win the accolade twice.

The former collegiate soccer star went 10-of-12 field goals over the final five games of the regular schedule, kicking off that final month with two field goals of over 59 yards against Philadelphia, marking the first time that’s ever been done in a single NFL game.

He went on to nearly complete a perfect season. His first three-point try in Week 18 was blocked; his second attempt ricocheted off the goalpost upright. But he ended the 38-10 Dallas win with a successful 50-yard boot, his league-leading 36th field goal of the season.

Aubrey led the NFL in scoring, with 156 total points, and set a new league record for touchbacks, with 99.

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The 28-year-old was named to his first Pro Bowl last week.

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Chargers’ Cameron Dicker named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month

The accolades keep coming for Cameron Dicker.

The accolades keep coming for Cameron Dicker.

After being named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for hitting a game-winning kick for the Eagles, then being named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for nailing a game-winner for the Chargers, the rookie was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month on Thursday.

Over six weeks in December and January, Dicker scored the second-most points among AFC kickers with 47. He missed just one kick, a 52-yarder against the Raiders in Week 13. That 96.2 kick percentage between field goals and extra points was the second-best mark by a rookie AFC kicker with at least 20 attempts, behind only Tyler Bass in 2020. He also hit a game-winner against Tennessee in Week 15.

On the season, Dicker is 21 for 22 on field goals, counting his time in Philadelphia, and 24 for 24 on extra points. His field goal percentage of 95.5 is the best by a rookie kicker with at least 15 attempts, regardless of conference, since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Dicker becomes the first Charger since Darren Sproles in 2008 to win an AFC Special Teams Player of the Month award, a testament to the job both he and special teams coordinator Ryan Ficken have done turning the special teams unit around this season. Two questions are remaining for Dicker, however.

The first is regarding the playoffs. Chargers fans know better than most that there’s nothing more nerve-wracking than a rookie kicker in the playoffs. (Nate Kaeding’s missed field goal in 2004 against the Jets still haunts me deeply.) Dicker played in some big games at Texas as a collegian, including a 2018 upset of #7 Oklahoma in which he hit the game-winner. Dicker has shown the clutch gene in spades this season, but only time will tell if it shows in the playoffs, as well.

The second is regarding next season and beyond. Los Angeles only signed Dicker as a stopgap after Dustin Hopkins and replacement Taylor Bertolet both were injured. Hopkins still has two more years on the three-year, $9 million extension he signed with the Chargers after impressing in his prolonged audition to end the 2021 season. Before the injury, Hopkins was off to a great start to 2022, going 9 for 10 on field goals and 12 for 12 on extra points, including the game-winner against Denver in overtime. This sets up, for what feels like the umpteenth time in LA, a kicking controversy. The difference this time is that both Hopkins and Dicker are high-end NFL kickers. Despite neither having a 50+ yard make on their resume in 2022, both have a touchback percentage of over 80% this season. Hopkins is 32 years old, due a hefty paycheck as far as kickers go, and coming off a hamstring injury. Dicker is 22, cheaper, and could give the Chargers stability at the position they’ve not had since Nick Novak from 2011-14.

For now, at least, Dicker is a Charger. A decorated one, at that.