Kicker Chad Ryland’s disappointing rookie marketing campaign with the Patriots continued in Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs when he wasn’t even shut on a 41-yard area purpose try that missed broad left within the first quarter.
Ryland went on to make a 25-yard area purpose and two further factors within the sport, however he’s now simply 13-of-20 on area objectives and an ideal 19-of-19 on further factors this season.
The Patriots traded up for Ryland within the fourth spherical of the 2023 NFL Draft, they usually’re out of playoff rivalry, so the workforce would possibly effectively let the Maryland product work by his points on the sport area to see if he can stay as much as their as soon as lofty expectations.
Special groups coordinator Cam Achord expressed confidence in Ryland throughout a video convention name on Tuesday morning. But with all of his misses, it’s value asking the place that’s coming from.
“You’d look at practices and everything and you go out there and you have all the confidence,” Achord mentioned. “I feel anytime you place anyone on the sector, not simply Chad, whether or not it’s simply one other place participant, in the event you don’t have faith in them, you wouldn’t actually put them on the market.
“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 just often going to have the ability to make 70% of longer kicks, however “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 mentioned.
Ryland is 4-of-4 from 20-29 yards, 3-of-5 from 30-39 yards, 5-of-8 from 40-49 yards and simply 1-of-3 over 50 yards.
He’s at present the one kicker on the workforce. The Patriots had beforehand signed kicker Matthew Wright to the apply squad however minimize him two weeks in the past.
Source: www.bostonherald.com