Jets hope kicker Folk has rediscovered his form

CORTLAND, N.Y. - Ask Nick Folk if he thinks he can return to his 2007 Pro Bowl form and he nearly cringes.

"Aw, man, that was three years ago now," the kicker said Friday. "That was a long time ago, so that's way behind me. I've just got to keep moving forward, and I think as you get older, you've just got to keep improving.

"I feel really good and it's hard to compare. That was a long time ago."

The Cowboys unceremoniously dumped Folk on Dec. 21 after he faltered down the stretch of Dallas' playoff push. Folk was shaky, to say the least, missing at least one field goal in six consecutive games. The clincher came when he bounced a 24-yard attempt off the upright late in the fourth quarter of Dallas' 24-17 win over the Saints on Dec. 19, which knocked New Orleans from the undefeated ranks.

Dallas had enough of Folk's inconsistencies and signed Shaun Suisham for the rest of the season. Folk was left twisting in the wind until the Jets inked him, electing to go with the 25-year-old over incumbent Jay Feely, whose price tag was roughly $1 million more than what the Jets were willing to pay.

Folk knows he's stepping into some crosshairs now that he has replaced Feely.

"He's done well in his career wherever he's been, really," Folk said. "He did great up here; he kicked well in the old stadium. So it will be a new challenge kicking in the new place. Obviously, that, coupled with my year last year, I mean . . . But I've been kicking well and [I'm just trying to] keep it going and keep a good rhythm.

"That's the thing for me, is once I get into a good rhythm and I can sustain it, that's when I feel most comfortable out there."

Folk, who missed 10 of 28 attempts last season, partially blamed his slow 2009 start on the right hip surgery he had to repair a labral tear barely two months before Cowboys training camp began. He needed eight weeks of recovery time and thinks he rushed back too early for a camp battle that never materialized.

That's all behind him now, though. He's kicking the ball as solidly as he has in a while and blasting kickoffs out of the end zone. That's a relief to everyone in the Jets' organization after Folk kept misfiring early in Organized Team Activities and then in minicamp, leading coach Rex Ryan to question whether he could get it done.

"In minicamp, people maybe were right," special-teams coordinator Mike Westhoff said. "He was a little shaky a couple of times and then he went 39 out of 42 with a long of 55. He's had a good start in camp. We are working on his alignment, not his technique. His alignment sometimes gets a little askew, for some reason. So we are just going to keep pushing and hope that he plays up to his performance."

Westhoff had a huge triangular contraption made to help Folk line up his kicks better, changing the way he's approached kicks since high school. It's worked so far, and he'd love nothing better than to put that newfound form on display at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6 in Super Bowl XLV.

"Oh, that'd be awesome," Folk said. "I'll go back there anytime to play. That would be a great accomplishment for this team, and that's the goal for the year. So hopefully, we'll get there."