Not only will two of the best teams in the NFL face of in Super Bowl LIII when the New England Patriots try to cap their dynasty against the Los Angeles Rams, but arguably the two best kickers in the league will tee off against each other too.
Greg Zuerlein of the Rams and Stephen Gostkowski of the Patriots have made no shortage of clutch kicks in their times with their respective teams, but neither guy is perfect. Both have missed one extra point this season. Will it happen again in Super Bowl LIII? BetDSI has a prop bet just for you folks out there looking at such a possibility.
Will there be a missed extra point (Blocked does not count) in Super Bowl LIII?
Yes: +350
No: -600
Related: Super Bowl Betting
With the way these two offenses ring up points, Gostkowski and Zuerlein are usually putting in a full day’s work on any given Sunday. In last week’s AFC Championship, Gostkowski sent off five kicks, four extra points and one field goal. Zuerlein had six boots, two extra points and four field goals, one that sent the game into overtime and a 57-yarder that put Los Angles into the Super Bowl.
Zuerlein’s missed extra point came back on Nov. 19 in the Rams’ epic 54-51 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. He still hit 6-of-7 in that game and added a couple of field goals as well. Gostkowski’s miss came on Dec. 9 in a 34-33 loss to the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins, of course, won that game on a crazy final play. While the final score may look like Gostkowski’s missed kick cost the Patriots a chance to send the game to overtime, Miami didn’t kick an extra point on their game-winning score. If Gostkowski had hit that PAT, all it would have done is make the final score 35-34 if the Dolphins had to line up to kick their own after their final touchdown.
There are a couple of factors to consider if you are thinking about taking advantage of this prop. Gostkowski has a 98.9 extra point percentage in the regular season. That drops to 95.1 in the playoffs. It’s not a huge dip, but he definitely misses more in the postseason pressure.
This is Zuerlein’s first playoff run. He was injured last year when the Rams made the playoffs and had to watch from the sidelines. This year he’s 5-of-5 in extra points in two wins over the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.
He’s also dealing with a little bit of an injury. In the NFC Championship, Zuerlein accidentally found a bad spot in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome’s turf and injured his plant foot on a steel plate. He never informed any of his coaches and worked through it, hitting all his extra points and two of the most clutch kicks in NFL Playoff history.
“Yeah, hit something hard in the ground,” Zuerlein told reporters. “Just warming up at halftime, landed on something that didn’t give as much as turf and then that’s when it started hurting. But, hopefully, a few more days of treatment and it’ll be good to go.”
With two weeks rest, it shouldn’t be a factor. The safest bet here is no.
