Tough day at the office for Folk
Jets kicker Nick Folk is comforted by punter Steve Weatherford after missing a field goal against the Cleveland Browns. (Nov. 14, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
CLEVELAND - Entering yesterday's game against the Browns, Nick Folk had missed only three of his 19 field-goal attempts this season. Unfortunately for the Jets' first-year kicker, he equaled that total in a single afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Folk, who was released by Dallas last year after missing 10 of 28 field-goal attempts, missed three of his five opportunities in the Jets' 26-20 overtime win over the Browns. "You wish you could take some back,'' he said, "but you can't."
Folk kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 3-3 in the first quarter but missed a 48-yarder after the Jets recovered Peyton Hillis' fumble at the Browns' 31. His kick was wide right.
After the Jets drove 60 yards to the Browns' 6 on their first drive of the third quarter, Folk missed what should have been an easy field goal. His 24-yard attempt clanged off the right upright.
After that miss, Folk decided to change his cleats because he thought the playing surface was too soft. He switched to cleats with longer studs so he could get better footing.
Folk did make a 25-yarder to give the Jets a 20-13 lead with 2:42 to play in the fourth quarter. But he missed again in overtime, this one a 47-yard try that sailed wide right.
"It was a pretty sloppy day for me," said Folk, who was signed by the Jets this year after they decided not to keep free agent Jay Feely. He is 18-for-24 on field-goal attempts and 20-for-20 on PATs.
There didn't seem to be too much panic about Folk's misses, and coach Rex Ryan chalked it up to difficult field and wind conditions at the stadium, which is on the shores of Lake Erie.
"Nick Folk has done an unbelievable job for us this season," Ryan said. "This place is a notoriously tough place to kick. We don't make excuses. He hit the ball good. He had some misses, but today, we were able to pick him up."
The Jets won on Santonio Holmes' 37-yard touchdown catch with 16 seconds left in overtime, but quarterback Mark Sanchez believes Folk would have won the game had Holmes not reached the end zone.
"I don't care if we miss 10 [field goals] on the day," Sanchez said. "He's bound to make the next one."
