Kicker Chad Ryland’s disappointing rookie campaign with the Patriots continued in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs when he wasn’t even close on a 41-yard field goal attempt that missed wide left in the first quarter.
Ryland went on to make a 25-yard field goal and two extra points in the game, but he’s now just 13-of-20 on field goals and a perfect 19-of-19 on extra points this season.
The Patriots traded up for Ryland in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and they’re out of playoff contention, so the team might well let the Maryland product work through his issues on the game field to see if he can live up to their once lofty expectations.
Special teams coordinator Cam Achord expressed confidence in Ryland during a video conference call on Tuesday morning. But with all of his misses, it’s worth asking where that’s coming from.
“You’d look at practices and everything and you go out there and you have all the confidence,” Achord said. “I think anytime you put anybody on the field, not just Chad, whether it’s just another position player, if you don’t have confidence in them, you wouldn’t really put them out there.
“So, obviously, he’s done well enough in practice that gives us the confidence that he’s gonna go out there and make the kicks. And just knowing where he can kick them from and the distance and the leg. You’ve just got to take it from the practice field now to the game. That’s where we’ve got to continue to make those improvements. Doing that stuff in the practice and Coach (Bill Belichick) talks about it all the time, we talk about it all the time, stuff you do in practice does usually translate into the game. We’ve got to make sure it is translating to the game and make as many game situations at practice that we can. That way it’s not different in practice than it is the game.”
Achord acknowledged that any kicker is only usually going to be able to make 70% of longer kicks, but “there’s some kicks there we’ve got to be able to make.”
“So it’s the shorter kicks that we’ve got to be able to execute and come through for the team because every point matters in this game,” Achord said.
Ryland is 4-of-4 from 20-29 yards, 3-of-5 from 30-39 yards, 5-of-8 from 40-49 yards and just 1-of-3 over 50 yards.
He’s currently the only kicker on the team. The Patriots had previously signed kicker Matthew Wright to the practice squad but cut him two weeks ago.