San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould isn't exactly having his best season as a pro. And some could argue his 2019 struggles carried into the Niners' 9-0 Week 7 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.
If they do, however, they have to account for the ugly and wet field conditions at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
Gould missed his first attempt, which sailed wide left from 45 yards out. After that, however, Gould connected on his final three attempts, posting all of San Francisco's points in what turned out to be a low-scoring affair.
After the game, Gould admitted the field conditions were terrible.
"I had to go back to a game I kicked in Chicago against Baltimore," Gould said, reminiscing about some of the bad conditions he's endured over his career. "We had a tornado, and it rained pretty hard. Kind of sloppy field conditions, like it was today."
Gould wasn't the only specialist undone by the poor conditions. Redskins kicker Dustin Hopkins missed his lone try in the game from 39 yards out. That proved to be the closest Washington got to putting points up on the board, as San Francisco's defense clamped down after the Redskins managed a relatively successful opening drive.
For Gould, he noted how his fundamentals were important after the miss.
"Making sure I'm getting my footing," Gould continued. "I thought Garrison [Sandborn] and Mitch [Wishnowsky] did a great job of operating today, and the offense did a great job in the second half to being very manageable field goals."
Prior to Week 7, Gould had converted nine of his 15 field-goal attempts for a conversion percentage of 60. Going 3-of-4 in Week 7 will improve the number, of course, but the 49ers will hope to see what had been, previously, a nearly always-reliable outing from Gould each game.
"I slid underneath it a little too much," Gould said of his miss. "Tried to save it, as opposed to trying to just push it to the right upright. I didn't hit as good of a ball as I would have liked."
Gould then noted he reverted back to the experience he had in Chicago against the Baltimore Ravens, when the field conditions were also bad, which coerced him into "shortening my step, shortening my approach."
Doing so seemed to work, as Gould hit on his final three kicks. And the 49ers offense did its job by getting into closer field-goal range, too.
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Written by:Peter Panacy has been writing about the 49ers since 2011 for outlets like Bleacher Report, Niner Noise, 49ers Webzone, and is occasionally heard as a guest on San Francisco's 95.7 FM The Game and the Niners' flagship station, KNBR 680. Feel free to follow him, or direct any inquiries to his Twitter account.
