Jake Elliott is an enigma. When he was brought in last season to replace an injured Caleb Sturgis, he made a by first-impression by missing his first field-goal attempt (a measly 30-yarder). He bounced back the following game by kicking a franchise-record 61-yard field-goal as time expired to win an important game against the New York Giants. The rest of the season ended up following that kind of trend: missing short kicks but nail long kicks.
Elliott was 9/12 on field goal attempts under 40 yards last season. He also missed three extra point attempts which fall in that same range. But yet he only missed two field goal attempts that were over 40 yards. Fans started joking that when the team had failed to get into the endzone when they were close, that they should just take a delay-of-game penalty to move the ball back so that Elliott would have a better shot at making the kick.
This 2018 season has been a complete 180 turn from last season.
Looking at the stats through the first six games this year, Jake Elliott is a new player. He is now perfect at making field-goals that are less than 40 yards long this season, while also not missing an extra-point attempt. In three attempts so far, he has yet to make a field-goal this season over 40 yards.
So what can we expect from Elliott moving forward? Will he start settling into this role he has established this season and be a "normal" kicker that can be reliable on short attempts but erratic on long attempts? Or will he revery back to last season where once you cross midfield you are in his field-goal range, but when the team gets in the redzone they need to go for it on 4th down because he can't make short attempts?
The jury is still out on Elliott, but one thing we know for sure is that no spot is too big for him, and can handle the pressure of any situation.
