Kicker Rankings Week Sixteen

Kicker Rankings: Week Sixteen

Updated: Thursday, 22 Dec 2011, 1:40 PM CST
Published : Thursday, 22 Dec 2011, 1:40 PM CST

Harley Schultz

David Akers @ SEA With 143 total points and 38 field goals, David Akers has led all kickers this season. His production has been even better over the last eight weeks as he has averaged more than three field goals per game. Seattle has been in the middle of the pack in points allowed to kickers this season, as they yield 1.5 field goals per game and two extra points per game. With San Francisco’s red zone offense on the downswing and Seattle’s defense going bombastic over the last couple weeks, we could see a lot of the kicking game this week. The only thing that could stop Akers from a big game this week is Pacific Gas and Electric.

Jon Kasay vs. ATL Only David Akers and Dan Bailey have more kicker points this season than Jon Kasay. Kasay’s career resurgence was single-footedly handed to him on a silver tee by Garrett Hartley, who decided to take a year off to get healthy. Of course it also helped that Kasay signed on to play for the second-highest scoring offense in the NFL inside a dome. Only five teams have attempted more field goals than the Saints, and since this game will likely be a shootout expect a few more attempts this week.

Steven Hauschka vs. SF Enough has been said already about San Francisco kicking the lights out of the ball already in this article. What we haven’t discussed is that their defense is bordering on historic. For the year they have allowed the fewest touchdowns in the league, including zero on the ground. Seattle has averaged a very good 33 points per game over their last three contests but they have the third-fewest passing touchdowns this season, and with Marshawn struggling to run against the Niners impenetrable defense we may see a ton of Steven Hauschka this week.

Steven Gostkowski vs. MIA Stephen Gostkowski has averaged a ridiculous 4.5 extra points per game over his last six games, thanks mainly to Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski decimating opposing teams’ pass defenses. He also has multiple field goals in five of his last seven, and he has scored fewer than eight points only four times this season. If you want an automatic guarantee of 8-10 kicker points this week feel safe to play the Ghost Monster against a Miami defense that allows 2.1 field goal attempts per game.

Shaun Suisham vs. STL Over the last three weeks St. Louis has allowed the league’s highest ten field goal attempts and not surprisingly they have also allowed the most successful field goals over that span as well. Pittsburgh’s offense could continue to be hindered by the presence of an injured Ben Roethlisberger or an elderly Charlie Batch under center, but their defense will destroy Kellen Clemens leaving lots of opportunities for Rashard Mendenhall to drive the length of the field. When Mendenfail does finally stall out – which knowing him could be every single drive - we should see some chip shots for Shaun Suisham.

Matt Bryant @ NOS As Matt Ryan has resurrected the Falcons offense, Matt Bryant has seen his field goal attempts slowly go down. After averaging 2.5 field goals per game over weeks 7-11, Bryant has managed only five total field goals over his last four games. He is still getting his points one at a time though as they have 13 touchdowns over those four games. This game has all kinds of playoff implications on the line and in primetime on Monday Night Football both Drew Brees and Ryan will be throwing the ball with reckless abandon here. Play the over with your bookie and watch the points rain down in this game.

Dan Bailey vs. PHI No one has given up fewer field goals this season than Philly, of course this is mainly because they cannot stop anyone from scoring touchdowns. Bailey has amassed the second most points amongst kickers this season and he has averaged three field goals per game at home this season, so you cannot bench him. In addition, Dallas will be playing for their playoff life, so I expect Tony Romo to not ease off the accelerator this week. Expect lots of points from big D, and this will include lots of points for Bailey, let’s just hope no one tries to ice him this week.

Neil Rackers @ IND Only Tampa Bay has given up more touchdowns than the Colts this season, but they are still bad enough to allow middle of the pack field goal numbers as well. With no hope of stopping Arian Foster and Ben Tate this game could get ugly fast. It could get so bad we see Derrick Ward running the ball in the fourth quarter. TJ Yates has been better than serviceable at keeping opposing teams from stacking the box, and he will even lead a couple scores through the air. All these touchdowns should allow Neil Rackers to rack up several one-pointers, and maybe a couple of garbage time field goals as well.

Mason Crosby vs. CHI The Packers are going to have a huge chip on their shoulder this week after watching their dreams of 19-0 go flushing down the drain versus the Chiefs. After losing to Kyle Orton last week they will look to take their aggression out on his former team, a team that is eerily

similar to the Chiefs team that beat them last week. Both teams are without their primary running back, both teams are without their starting quarterback, and both teams play a solid but not spectacular defense. With 57 extra points Mason Crosby gets his scores one at a time, but he gets enough to keep himself amongst the league leaders so you have to start him. An interesting note on Crosby, despite playing half his games on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, he is only a so-so 23 of 33 on field goal attempts when the temp drops below 40.

Nick Novak @ DET This game smells like it could be a big point fest as one of the premiere offenses of the AFC locks horns with one of the premiere offenses of the NFC. Making it even sweeter is that it is indoors so December weather will not be a factor for Philip Rivers or Matt Stafford. This will also help out both kickers. Novak has scored an average of eight points-per-game over his last five despite missing four field goals over that span. If you don’t get negative points for all those shanks keep Novakaine in your lineup this week because only five teams allow more field goal attempts against themselves than the Lions.
Sleepers

Billy Cundiff vs. CLE Only San Francisco has had as many field goal attempts this season as the Ravens have had. Unfortunately, Billy Cundiff has managed to miss 25% of those attempts. Cleveland meanwhile allows 2.1 field goal attempts each week, so Billy the Goat will get at least two more tries this week. Even with his inaccuracy Cundiff should nail at least one field goal here, and he will be able to knock through a few extra points after every Ray Rice touchdown this week. Of course Cundiff has been dinged up the last two weeks so check our weekend watch with Don Hansen as we approach Saturday to make sure he is good to go.

Sebastian Janikowski @ KCC Four weeks ago Sebastian Janikowski went bat guano crazy and kicked six field goals in one game, since then he has exactly two successful three-pointers to his name. He did have a chance last week to rewrite the record books with a 65-yard attempt at the end of the game but Donkey Kong Suh nailed the kick with a barrel putting an end to the Raiders comeback attempt. Janikowski has never scored less than four points against the Chiefs and for his career he has averaged 7.4 points-per-game against them. Be wary of the snowstorm due for the Midwest as weather could be a factor in this game, and Janikowski is only 15-20 for his career when the temp falls below 40.

Jason Hanson vs. SDC Jason Hanson has been downright unreliable of late scoring five or fewer points in three of his last four games. He also hasn’t made a field goal from beyond the fifty yard mark since way back in week eight. Of course this week he gets just as tough of a challenge this week as San Diego has only allowed one successful field goal over their last three games. Of course over those last three weeks he faced the offensively-challenged Jaguars, the injury-riddled Bills, and the Ravens who were ignoring kicking as much as possible in fear that Billy Cundiff’s leg might seize up. This game should produce scoring opportunities as neither defense is very good. So even if Hanson only gets one field goal attempt, it’s still safe to chalk him up around six or seven points with all the potential extra points.

Nick Folk vs. NYG Nick Folk fits the perfect description of sleeper for this week. He has been deservingly un-owned in many leagues this season. Since week eight of this season he has been like clockwork and alternated two field goals and zero field goals, every other week. Of course this trend suggests he is due for zero field goals this week – so then why am I suggesting him as a sleeper this week? Simply because the Giants defense has become increasingly more awful of late allowing 32 points per game over their last four contests. This includes nine points per game over that span to opposing kickers.

Dan Carpenter @ NEP Dan Carpenter is one of those solid kickers who always goes undrafted and you can often find sitting out on the waiver wire even at this late of date. This makes him a perfect sleeper candidate for this week as he has only scored five points or less twice this year, and he has averaged 8.6 points per game over his last three games. The Patriots defense is allowing the second-most opponent red zone visits this season at 3.9 per game, and the Dolphins are scoring touchdowns only 42.86% of the time when they reach the red zone (only four teams are worse). This smells like a sizable construction project for the Carpenter this week.