Matt Gay didn’t look for a scapegoat following one of the worst performances of his career. The Colts kicker simply looked in the mirror.
After missing a 38-yard field goal attempt and an extra point attempt in the first half of an eventual 34-14 loss to the Bengals on Sunday, Gay was critical of his rare off day. Amid windy conditions at Paycor Stadium, his first kick glanced off the left upright. The second one sailed wide of the left upright entirely.
“No excuses on it,” Gay said Monday. “(That) was not good from me. I can’t miss those kicks. It’s momentum in the game, and when you get an opportunity to pull the game closer and you don’t, that’s just kind of a negative effect on the team. I gotta be able to put those through the uprights.”
The Colts signed Gay to a four-year, $22.5 million deal in March – marking the largest free agency contract for a kicker in NFL history – and they had good reason to. The former Pro Bowler, who kicked the game-winning field goal to send the Rams to the NFC Championship en route to an eventual Super Bowl title in 2021-22, is the seventh-most accurate kicker in league history (86.7 percent). Prior to Sunday, Gay hadn’t missed a field gold closer than 40 yards in over three years.
Gay has made 23 of 28 field goal attempts this year (82.1 percent), with three of his five misses being on attempts of 50 yards or more. Including Sunday, Gay has only missed three extra-point attempts in four years.
Following a mistake-filled outing from all three phases of the team in the Colts’ 20-point loss to the Bengals, Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen and special teams coordinator Brian Mason made it clear that Gay wasn’t high on their list of concerns given his resume.
“Certainly, it was an uncharacteristic day,” Mason said. “We just have to move forward with it. There were times like on the first field goal, certainly the wind was really blowing at that point in time. I think the ball ended up moving a lot late. We’ve gotta be able to play that condition better and make that kick. There’s really no excuse to it. (Gay) knows that. He’s a pro. … And then at all times, you can’t allow one miss to (become) a second miss.”
Gay said he was “obviously frustrated” with his performance, but his belief in himself hasn’t wavered. In a Week 3 overtime win at Baltimore, the 29-year-old became the first kicker in NFL history to make four field goals of 50-plus yards in a single game, including a 53-yard game-winner in wet conditions.
“It’s just not something that affects me going forward,” Gay said of Sunday’s game. “I know that I can go out there and make kicks and I’ve proven that I can do that. It’s just one of those days, and it didn’t go my way. I’m confident that when I go out there on the next one, I can be who I am.”
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