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Greg Zuerlein reveals slump after costing Jets another potential victory
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Greg Zuerlein reveals slump after costing Jets another potential victory

Greg Zuerlein was as responsible and brutally honest as he could be after missing two crucial short field goals in the Jets’ 23-20 loss to the Bills at MetLife Stadium on Monday night.

Unfortunately for the 2-4 Jets, responsibility and honesty don’t win games.

And Zuerlein, the Jets kicker for the past two seasons, has now cost the team two potential wins in six games this season.

Greg Zuerlein misses a kick during the Jets’ loss to the Bills on Oct. 14, 2024. Bill Kostroun/New York Post

In Week 2, he missed a 50-yard field goal in the waning seconds of a 10–9 loss to the Broncos.

On Monday night, in a game that would have moved the Jets into first place in the AFC East with a win, Zuerlein hit the left upright on a 32-yard attempt with 55 seconds left in the third quarter, tying the game at 20-20 and a 43-yarder midway through the fourth with the score still tied at 20-20.

Afterwards he made the stunning admission that he was stuck in a slump that includes training, not just matches.

“I just don’t kick the ball,” Zuerlein said. “I wouldn’t say the (windy) conditions played a role. It’s just that I didn’t kick the ball the right way, and the results showed. Not just this game, but previous games (Denver). These guys (teammates) deserve better, and I can do better. I just have to do it.”

Zuerlein went 30-for-37 on field goals in his first season with the Jets, in 2022, good for 81.1 percent. Last season he hit 35-for-38, 92.1 percent.

This season, he’s an alarming 6-of-10 on 60 percent, and 60 percent kickers aren’t around very long, even though Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich preached after the loss that he still believes in Zuerlein.

“I’m not worried about Greg,” Ulbrich said. “I know this guy’s track record, and he’s going to find his rhythm here and … in this season he’s going to win games for us. I know that 100 percent.”

Perhaps the most troubling element of listening to Zuerlein’s post-game speech is that he indicated he is also slumping in practice.

“It’s easy to say I’m not hitting the ball the way I know how,” he said. “I am preparing as best I can, but the results are not there yet. Hopefully that will change and go from there.”

Like a golfer who has the hooks and hits whatever is left, Zuerlein’s misses have been consistently left behind.

“That’s kind of a ball I hit,” he said. “Generally, I just don’t hit the ball the right way the way I know how. Today it came to bite us. I’m trying different things to solve that. Every day in practice I go out (try to) eliminate those…those bad kicks, because they cost us a lot of money.

Greg Zuerlein reacts during the Jets’ loss to the Bills on Oct. 14, 2024. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Zuerlein, in his 13th NFL season and with his fourth team, said this isn’t the first time he’s gotten into a funk like this.

“I’ve been through ups and downs and hell and back many, many times, and right now it’s not good,” he said. “It’s not good enough because these guys in this locker room deserve to win. That bothers you as a player, because you see all the hard work they put in, and I’m not keeping my end of the bargain. That’s up to me.”