Nick Folk's current field goal run is absurd

BOSTON -- The process of successfully kicking a field goal often gets taken for granted. Yet it's a complex process of rapid events, and if one of those steps goes awry, the whole operation goes kaput.

That's why, even though field goal kicking isn't the primary reason that fans tune in to watch the sport of football, there ought to be some marveling at the current run for Nick Folk and the Patriots' field goal unit.

After going a perfect 5-for-5 on field goals in Sunday's 29-0 win over the Lions, Folk has now successfully kicked 63 consecutive field goals of less than 50 yards. His last miss on a sub-50-yarder came in Week 1 of the 2020 season, setting an NFL record in the process. (Ryan Succop previously held the record, with 56 straight makes from 50 yards or less.)

That miss was a 45-yarder before halftime in the Patriots' win over the Dolphins, but since then, he's been automatic from inside 50. (He hasn't been bad from 50 and beyond, either, successfully kicking eight of his 13 attempts from 50-plus.)

Yet while Folk is obviously executing the most difficult leg of the operation, a successful field goal requires an accurate snap, blocking, and of course, a proper hold. One slip anywhere from any of the 11 players on the field, one improper flinch, one mental error -- that's all it would take for the process to go awry.

Special teams coordinator Cam Achord spoke to the difficulty level for long snapper Joe Cardona on the snap and punter Jake Bailey on the hold.

"It's very difficult," Achord said Tuesday. "It goes without saying, because especially when the elements change, people don't realize that the ball, when you're snapping, it can move with the wind. The stronger the wind is, it does affect the snapping, whether it be punt snapping or field goal snapping. And then Nick, like we've talked about before, has different leans, depending on the weather. So that puts a lot on Jake, and he does a great job of adjusting. And at times, it may change throughout the game, the lean that he wants. It may be large, it may go to a regular or may go to an extra-large. And it can change as they're getting set, because the wind can start gusting up. So, there's a lot of communication on the field with those two guys, as well as to Joe about, 'Hey, this is where it's going to be, the ball is moving a little bit.'"

Achord, who's never shy when it comes to detailing the intricacies of special teams, went even deeper on what goes in to a successful operation.

"And then throughout the week, we practice like, 'Hey, you know, I'm catching laces,' [or], 'I'm not catching laces.' So Joe's adjusting how the ball is in his hands, just to make sure we're catching laces," Achord shared. "So whenever we put the ball down, it's a quicker transition when you're putting the football down. As you're catching it, you're really spinning it. You know, people don't realize as Jake's catching the ball, if he's not catching perfect laces -- which is really hard to do -- he's going to try to spin the ball so when it's set, Nick's getting a good clean hit to the sweet spot of football. So those guys work throughout practice. Jake does holder drills off on the side, just to make sure we're maximizing those chances right there."

Head coach Bill Belichick may not have gone as in-depth as Achord when speaking about Folk this week, but he did note that Folk's five-field goal (and two-PAT) game on Sunday involved some challenging wind.

"Nick is so consistent," Belichick said after Sunday's win. "You kind of start to take it for granted, and then you realize how difficult it was. Today it was not an easy day to kick. The wind gusted, and it was blowing straight across the field really from our bench to their bench. When you kick straight into it, you can't kick it as far, but it goes straight. If you kick with it, it goes further, and it pushes the ball. The crosswind, especially when it gusts, is tough. Nick makes it look so easy. Honestly, it's kind of what it's like in practice. We've got some wind out there, some crazy wind, and the ball goes in between the uprights all the time. Yeah, I mean, I can't say enough about Nick Folk. He is so professional, so consistent, so dependable. When you stop and think about how hard that job is over the amount of time we're talking about, it's really, really impressive."

The Belichick tenure has included two of the most successful kicking careers in Patriots history, starting with Adam Vinatieri through the 2005 season, followed by the seamless transition to Stephen Gostkowski. Each kicker won three Super Bowls, and the two own the top spots in points scored and successful field goals in Patriots franchise history. Outside of a Shayne Graham injury replacement in 2010 and a Doug Flutie dropkick in 2005, every kick during Belichick's tenure was made either by a Hall of Fame-caliber kicker in Vinatieri or one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history in Gostkowski, up until 2019.

The end of the Gostkowski era was bumpy, with Mike Nugent, Kai Forbath, Younghoe Koo, Josh Gable competing for the job left vacant by the injured Gostkowski. Folk eventually signed with the team after spending the previous season in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football. At that point, Folk had only played in 28 NFL games in the previous four seasons. He was certainly not considered a sure thing, yet he performed well enough to seize control of the job (save for one week, when he had his appendix removed). The Patriots drafted kicker Justin Rohrwasser in the 2020 draft, but Folk fended him off to keep his spot. A year later, the Patriots kept undrafted rookie Quinn Nordin on the roster after training camp, but he'd never play in a game, as Folk proved he had recovered from an injury that hampered him all summer.

Though Folk maintained his roster spot in a unique way that year -- getting elevated from the practice squad for the first two games before officially being signed to the active roster -- he's been as steady as it gets. He set a franchise record with 36 straight made field goals from 2020 into 2021, and he's gone 45-for-49 on field goals since the start of 2021. (The four misses over the past two years have come in the 52-56-yard range.)

Eventually, the current streak of consecutive kicks under 50 yards will have to come to an end. Nature demands it. Still, it's already rather remarkable that it's already lived as long as it has.