Just what the heck's wrong with NFL kickers?

Ron Clements

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Just what the heck's wrong with NFL kickers? image

Sunday was another bad day to be an NFL kicker. 

NFL place-kickers combined to miss 12 extra points Sunday, including a pair of misses by both New York Giants kicker Robbie Gould and Cincinnati's Mike Nugent.

The Giants were able to overcome the misses in a 22-16 win over Gould's former team, the Chicago Bears. The Bengals weren't so fortunate as Nugent's misses came into play late in a 16-12 loss to the Buffalo Bills. Instead of needing a potential game-winning field goal from Nugent, the Bengals were forced to attempt a Hail Mary pass from the Bills 27-yard line as time expired. The pass was incomplete and the Bills won. 

Minnesota Vikings kicker Kai Forbath, signed this week following the release of the struggling Blair Walsh, also missed an extra point in Minnesota's 30-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The NFL moved point-after attempts back from the 2-yard line to the 15 last season to make it more of a competitive play. The strategy worked as extra points are no longer automatic and have influenced games.

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Also missing PATs Sunday were Cleveland's Cody Parkey, Chicago's Connor Barth, Detroit's Matt Prater, Jacksonville's Jason Myers, New England's Stephen Gostkowski, Seattle's Stephen Hauschka and Washington's Dustin Hopkins. Prater, Forbath and Hauschka all had their failed extra-point attempts blocked. 

Even the reliable Adam Vinatieri missed a kick Sunday. It wasn't an extra point, but Vinatieri saw his NFL-record of 44 consecutive made field goals snapped with a 42-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter missing wide right. Vinatieri, who was perfect on all 19 of his field goal attempts this season, did make a 49-yarder and was perfect on all three of his point-after-tries in Sunday's 24-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans. 

Injury report

Bengals receiver A.J. Green likely suffered a season-ending torn right hamstring on the second play from scrimmage. He will have an MRI to confirm, but he was carted off the field following the injury and ruled out for the remainder of the game. Cincinnatti also reportedly has lost running back Giovani Bernard for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL.

Also leaving the field at Paul Brown Stadium in the first half was Bills running back LeSean McCoy, who dislocated his left thumb. McCoy will need surgery to put his thumb back into place, but is not expected to miss next Sunday's game against Jacksonville. 

Bears rookie pass rusher Leonard Floyd suffered a scary injury to his neck in the fourth quarter of the loss to the Giants. On a 3-yard run by Giants running back Rashad Jennings, Floyd's head struck teammate Akiem Hicks and he stayed on his knees with his head on the ground and his hands on top of his helmet. He was carted off the field and taken to a New Jersey hospital. The early prognosis was encouraging, the Bears said. 

Bears tight end Zach Miller also suffered broken bone in his right foot and did not return after catching three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Cleveland quarterback Cody Kessler left Sunday's 24-9 loss to the rival Pittsburgh Steelers to be evaluated for a concussion after taking a brutal hit to the head. It could already be the second concussion of the season for the Browns rookie. 

The Philadelphia Eagles were beat up against the Seahawks. The Eagles lost running backs Ryan Mathews (knee) and Darren Sproles (ribs) in the 26-15 loss in Seattle. Left tackle Jason Peters also left in the first quarter with a forearm injury, but did return. 

The Seahawks did not escape unscathed as rookie running back C.J. Prosise suffered a shoulder injury after previously ripping off a 72-yard touchdown run that preceded Hauschka's blocked PAT.

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By the numbers

Baltimore Ravens receiver Steve Smith finished Sunday's 27-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys with eight catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. Smith now has 1,005 receptions for his career. He is the 14th player in NFL history with at least 1,000 catches and also ranks eighth in receiving yards with 14,454. Smith is also the first player in NFL history to have 1,000-plus catches, at least 1,000 punt return yards and over 2,000 kick return yards.

Steelers linebacker James Harrison record a sack in the 24-9 win over the Browns. Harrison came the Steelers all-time sack leader, now with 77 1/2 in a Steelers uniform to pass the 77 sacks recorded by Jason Gildon, who played for the Steelers from 1994-2003. Harrison recorded his first NFL sack in 2004, also against the Browns. 

Highlights

The Colts had a 49-yard gain on a flea flicker from running back Frank Gore to quarterback Andrew Luck and back to Gore on a screen.

The Minnesota Vikings defense picked up the struggling offense during the team's 5-0 start. The Vikings "D" was at it again Sunday with Xavier Rhodes' 100-yard pick-six.

The Cardinals did answer with an incredible touchdown by tight end Jermaine Gresham, who refused to be tackled. 

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady rolled away from pressure to throw his third touchdown pass in Sunday's 30-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers. 

The Seahawks used a little trickery against the Eagles with wide receiver Doug Baldwin throwing to quarterback Russell Wilson for 15-yard touchdown.

Kirk Cousins took a torch to the Packers' depleted secondary, beating defenders for passes of 70, 53, 44, 28 and 26 yards while racking up a total of 375 and three touchdowns. His longest of the night came on a dime of a pass that found Pierre Garcon in stride for the score as part of his 116-yard performance.

Quotables

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was more than disappointed in Sunday's loss to the Cowboys. The loss dropped the Ravens to 5-5, though they're still tied with Pittsburgh atop the AFC South.

"I felt very confident coming into this game that we should beat this team," Flacco said. "We should beat pretty much every team we play. We're obviously not as good as we would like to be. And, no I don't want to take any moral victories. We all came into this game very confident that we were going to do something nice.

"That just didn't happen."

The Miami Dolphins rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 14-10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

"We told ourselves we have a great defense and to just continue to lean on those guys," said Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry, who caught five passes for 28 yards and a 10-yard pass from Ryan Tannehill with 4:02 remaining. "At the end of the day, we knew it was going to come down to us to eventually start making plays. There was never a point in the game where we felt like it was too late."

Thursday's game

Panthers 23, Saints 20

Sunday's games

Bills 16, Bengals 12
Steelers 24, Browns 9
Cowboys 27, Ravens 17
Lions 26, Jaguars 19
Colts 24, Titans 17
Buccaneeers 19, Chiefs 17
Vikings 30, Cardinals 24
Giants 22, Bears 16
Dolphins 14, Rams 10
Seahawks 26, Eagles 15
Patriots 30, 49ers 17
Redskins 42, Packers 24

MORE: NFL scoreboard — stats, info, highlights

Monday's game

Texans vs. Raiders at Mexico City, 8:30 p.m. ET

Bye weeks

Falcons, Broncos, Jets, Chargers

Ron Clements