{"id":7561,"date":"2024-12-23T01:25:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T01:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=7561"},"modified":"2024-12-23T01:25:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T01:25:57","slug":"what-browns-kicker-dustin-hopkins-said-after-missing-his-lone-kick-in-loss-to-bengals-following-week-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=7561","title":{"rendered":"What Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins said after missing his lone kick in loss to Bengals following week off"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Browns<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns place kicker Dustin Hopkins walks off the field after missing an extra point in the second half.\u00a0John Kuntz, cleveland.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

CINCINNATI, Ohio \u2014 A week off for Dustin Hopkins did not, in fact, remedy the Browns’ kicking woes.<\/p>\n

Against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cleveland\u2019s 24-6 loss, Hopkins missed his only kick of the afternoon \u2014 an extra-point attempt at the 5:50 mark in the third quarter \u2014 hanging the ball wide right. It\u2019s a miss that comes after getting an unconventional game off last week to try and remedy his consistency issues.<\/p>\n

Hopkins is now just 16 of 19 on PATs this year. His other misses came in Week 4 against the Raiders and in Week 7 in the Browns’ first loss to the Bengals.<\/p>\n

But field goals are the biggest concern. This season, he has made just 16-of-25 attempts, including 9-of-17 in his eight games prior to this one. After two missed kicks against Pittsburgh two weeks ago, he had made just two of his previous seven kicks.<\/p>\n

As Hopkins has continued to try and fight through his struggles amidst a 3-12 record for the Browns, he called the fact that there\u2019s still two games left to try and work through his issues a \u201cCatch-22.\u2033<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, honestly it\u2019s good because obviously I need the game reps,\u201d he said. \u201cI need to get better, so I need to make the most of those game reps. But at the same time, I\u2019m like, there definitely will be a part of me that won\u2019t be upset that the season\u2019s over, for us as a team and as an individual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Browns made the unconventional decision in Week 15 to sit Hopkins down for a week as the Browns hosted the Kansas City Chiefs, and while no player ever wants to be told sit down, Hopkins didn\u2019t put up much of a fight.<\/p>\n

Cleveland let Riley Patterson handle the kicking duties in that 21-7 loss to Kansas City. He made his lone extra-point and the Falcons signed him off the Browns practice squad this week.<\/p>\n

This week, Hopkins talked at length about being OK with that decision because of his trust in Kevin Stefanski and the other Browns’ decisionmakers.<\/p>\n

He talked about using his week off to work more on his swing thought and mechanics, and special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone said that the kicker had a good week of practice, made all his kicks, and that what he was dealing with wasn\u2019t a mental hurdle.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always said that he hasn\u2019t had any like mental lapses or anything like that,\u201d Ventrone said on Thursday. \u201cHe feels confident and I think that you saw it last week in the practice reps that he does feel confident when he\u2019s out there, and I think that there\u2019s just a few things.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, things happen throughout the season, throughout your career that you may not be in as good of a rhythm as you have been at other times, and you just try to figure it out and get it fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"What<\/p>\n

\"What<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals, December 22, 2024<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

So after the week off and high expectations, was Hopkins frustrated on Sunday to go out and miss his only attempt in Cincy?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a battle this year, so it\u2019s absolutely frustrating,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cIt feels like a lot of work down the drain for the opportunity you get is what it feels like. So I got to dig deep into the tool bag again and get myself to a place where I believe in it again, believe in the swing, and then go out there and try again next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened on the kick itself?<\/p>\n

\u201cWarming up the swing, that I felt Thursday was harder to find. Friday, harder to find pregame, and then thought I fixed it, thought I found a better aiming point on the ball,\u201d Hopkins said. \u201cI took that swing thought into the rep in the game and toed it. Was a little deep on the plant and obviously wasn\u2019t good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a surprising season for Hopkins, considering last year he was one of the best kickers in the league making all eight of his attempts from 50-plus yards.<\/p>\n

The 34 year old kicked well enough in his first year with the Browns in 2023 to earn a 3-year contract extension in the offseason that, at the time, made him the fifth-highest paid kicker in the league \u2014 he\u2019s now eighth. Hopkins had a year left on his deal at the time.<\/p>\n

Stefanski was asked after the game what happened on the missed kick and whether the team would consider another change at the position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to continue to work through it, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse on Sunday, Hopkins was shown up by the guy he replaced.<\/p>\n

Cade York, the Browns’ former fourth-round draft pick in 2022, is now with the Bengals, kicking while Evan McPherson remains out with an injury. While York hung one 47-yard FG attempt wide left in the first quarter, at the end of the first half he nailed a 59-yard field goal, tying a franchise record for longest make, giving the Bengals a 17-0 lead at the break.<\/p>\n

Amidst it all, Cleveland and Hopkins will go back to the drawing board.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dustin Hopkins got an unconventional week off last week amidst his 2024 struggles. But those issues continued on Sunday in Cleveland’s loss to the Bengals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cleveland-browns"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins said after missing his lone kick in loss to Bengals following week off - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=7561\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins said after missing his lone kick in loss to Bengals following week off - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dustin Hopkins got an unconventional week off last week amidst his 2024 struggles. 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