Week 5 Rankings (2016): Top 15 Kickers

by Ray Kuhn

Well that was quick. We are already a quarter of a way through the season, but there is also still a lot of football left to be played. Let’s take a look at how the kickers rank for Week 5:

1. Blair Walsh – Minnesota Vikings – vs. Houston
2. Justin Tucker – Baltimore Ravens – vs. Washington
3. Mason Crosby – Green Bay Packers – vs. New York Giants
4. Chandler Catanzaro – Arizona Cardinals – at San Francisco
5. Chris Boswell – Pittsburgh Steelers – vs. New York Jets
6. Stephen Gostkowski – New England Patriots – at Cleveland
7. Brandon McManus – Denver Broncos – vs. Atlanta
8. Josh Lambo – San Diego Chargers – at Oakland
9. Dan Bailey – Dallas Cowboys – vs. Cincinnati
10. Graham Gano – Carolina Panthers – vs. Tampa Bay
11. Dan Carpenter – Buffalo Bills – at Los Angeles Rams
12. Nick Folk – New York Jets – at Pittsburgh
13. Sebastian Janikowski – Oakland Raiders – vs. San Diego
14. Adam Vinatieri – Indianapolis Colts – vs. Chicago
15. Josh Brown – New York Giants – at Green Bay

Notes:

• Through four games, things are not going as planned for the Arizona Cardinals. After another disappointing loss, at home to the Rams, it is a quick turnaround for Arizona as they travel to San Francisco. Drew Stanton will get the start and he isn’t known for moving the ball down the field with ease. We shouldn’t expect many touchdowns from the Cardinals, but San Francisco will give up yards and points; especially now that Navarro Bowman is out for the season. That means Chandler Catanzaro will likely get a lot of work after converting just five field goals thus far.
• Last Thursday things turned into the A.J. Green and Mike Nugent show for the Bengals. Nugent made five five goals, which included three from 40-49 yards, to be the highest scoring kicker of the week. For the season, Nugent is 12 of 13 on field goals while converting all 10 of his extra point attempts, with his lone miss coming from beyond 50 yards. This week he travels to Dallas as he looks to continue his early season success.
• Brandon McManus is back at home in the favorable altitude of Denver. So far it has been a slow start to the season for McManus as he only has attempted six field goals in four weeks; making five of them. Extra points have once again proven to successful as he has made seven of eight, but his chances have been lacking. Both Trevor Semien and Paxton Lynch have had success, and whoever plays quarterback should be able to move the ball on Atlanta’s defense.
• As of Monday night, the highest over/under of the week belongs to the match-up between Oakland and San Diego. That leads us to Josh Lambo once again, who doesn’t get the credit or attention he may deserve. The Chargers figure to put up points once again, which will lead to multiple opportunities for Lambo. Hr has converted six of his seven field goal attempts this season, while making nine of 10 extra point attempts.