Eagles’ Jake Elliott ‘still in a good spot’ despite another missed extra point

PHILADELPHIA — During the early part of the season, Jake Elliott struggled with the longer kicks that made an impression during his rookie season with the Eagles in 2017. But over the past few weeks, those issues moved in, and in Sunday’s loss at the Packers, Elliott missed his second extra point attempt in two weeks.

Elliott has been inconsistent in 2020. On the Eagles’ opening possession, he booted a 52-yarder to give the Birds an early lead. But in the fourth quarter with the chance to cut the Packers lead to six points, Elliott missed an extra point.

On the season, Elliott has made 12 of 16 field goal attempts (career-low 75%) and 15 of 17 extra point attempts (career-low 88.2%, though he has never missed more than three in a season).

But special teams coordinator Dave Fipp reiterated the team’s confidence in Elliott moving forward.

“We expect to make every single kick that we go out there and have the opportunity to make,” Fipp said Tuesday morning. “I know I feel that way, I know Jake feels the same way. Obviously, we don’t expect the missed PATs. It is two in the last two weeks. That being said, I think he’s still playing really well for us, overall. That 52-yard field goal in the beginning of the game was really good. Hit a great ball on that. I thought that was a tough kick going that direction in that stadium on that day. So I was proud of that.”

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The 52-yard field goal was a positive sign from Elliott, who had struggled on long-range kicks over the past few seasons. As a rookie in 2017, Elliott was 5 of 6 (83.3%) on kicks from 50-plus yards, including his franchise-record 61-yarder. But including Sunday, Elliott is only 6 of 14 (42.9%) from 50-plus yards in the past three seasons.

Elliott has improved his consistency from short distances. After missing four kicks from inside 50 yards in 2017, Elliott has missed only five kicks from inside 50 yards in the three years since.

Still, the missed extra points — a 33-yard kick — have raised some eyebrows, especially for an Eagles team that is playing with a small margin for error.

“When we evaluate him, I look at it in a much bigger sense than just any one kick or any one game or any two weeks put together,” Fipp said. “Throughout the course of this season, he had the 52-yarder there, he’s made every [field goal] but one underneath 52 yards, and he does have the two missed PATs there, but I think overall, he’s still in a good spot.”

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The one field goal Elliott has missed was a 29-yarder in the win over the Giants in Week 7 that Fipp later called “unacceptable.”

Elliott’s usage this season has also been interesting. His 16 field goal attempts are tied for 26th in the NFL and his 17 field goal attempts rank 30th. The Eagles have not score often nor given him many chances, but the team has also attempted the fourth-most fourth-down conversions in the NFL (they’ve converted 34.8%, which ranks 27th in the NFL). The Eagles have also attempted 14 two-point conversions, which leads the NFL.

The same number of opportunities as in the past have not been there, but the Eagles also need Elliott to perform when he gets those chances. The Eagles signed him to a contract extension last season with more than $10.1 million guaranteed, which is the third-most of any kicker contract in the NFL.

Elliott hasn’t consistently kicked at that level this season, but the Eagles are remaining confident in their kicker.

“Obviously, we’re always working to improve, so I think, obviously, this week, we’ll continue to do what we do, just work on our rhythm and striking the ball, making good contact with that thing, making sure we get that PAT cleaned up,” Fipp said. “but I got a lot of confidence in him still, and I feel good about where he’s at.”

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Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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