Nick Folk had made a Patriots franchise-record 36 straight field goals when he took the field for a 56-yard potential game-winning attempt against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers with 59 seconds to play at a rainy Gillette Stadium Sunday night.
That streak included 50-plus-yard game-winners last season to beat the Jets (50 yards) and Cardinals (51).
The veteran kicker also had the confidence of having hit kicks from 58 yards in the same direction during pregame warmups.
So there was no reason for Folk not to have faith in himself to make what would have matched his career-long kick with the game on the line.
That faith extended to after the snap when his foot struck what Folk thought was a good ball.
“When I hit it, I thought it was good... wasn't planning it to go left,” Folk said afterwards of his miss that hit the left upright. ”That's the nature of the beast.”
After the game, Bill Belichick made it quite clear that giving Folk the 56-yard try rather than trying to convert a fourth-and-3 from the Tampa Bay 37 was an easy decision. A day later Belichick acknowledged that his team going a dismal two-of-9 on third down chances played into his end-of-game thinking.
Folk would not point to the rainy conditions as any excuse for his miss, which allowed the Buccaneers to leave town with a 19-17 victory that dropped the Patriots to 1-3 on the season.
“We were kicking well pregame, Jake [Bailey, holder] and Joe [Cardona, longsnapper] did a great job, the line did a great job all night. I hit it just about as best I could,” Folk said. “Like I said, I thought I made it and this one is on me for this team. This one’s on me.”