The woes of Patriots placekickers this past season brings into sharp relief how fortunate New England has been over the last 25 years with Gostkowski and Vinatieri working the tee. It hasn’t always been thus. Remember 1993? In year one of the Parcells/Bledsoe era, the team went 5-11 (believe it or not, a big improvement). And in 13 of those games, their placekicker was the immortal Scott Sisson.
Sisson managed to miss 12 of 26 field goal attempts, a make rate of barely over 50%. In his defense, he did hit all of his extra points (they were much shorter then). His inaccuracy resulted in one of the great nicknames in NFL history: Missin’ Sisson.
It would be Sisson’s only season with the Pats. He resurfaced in 1996 with the Vikings, and improved to 76% FGM. That would be it for his NFL career. He was a heck of a college kicker, though - in 1990 with Georgia Tech, he hit a clutch field goal against #1 Virginia at Virginia. The Yellowjackets finished undefeated and ranked #1 by UPI, and Sisson was briefly a big man on campus.
After that, it was hit-or-miss.
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