NEW ORLEANS — A day after winning their second straight game head coach Dennis Allen was asked if the Saints would bring in competition at kicker.
"That's not our plan as of right now," Allen said about a potential kicker completion.
Rookie Blake Grupe has been below the league average this season, making just 78.3% (18-23) of his field goals. That's 27th out of 34 players that have kicked a field goal this year. It is also seven percent less than the NFL average.
"Blake's got a job to do. He's got to kick it through the post. And he understands that, and look, it's the whole operation," Allen said. "There's a lot of things that go into that. A lot of times everybody just looks at the field goal kicker and did he make it or not. There's a lot of things that go into that, you know, you got to snap, you got a hold, you got protection. So a lot of different things go into that."
Grupe missed just one field goal in the first four games of the season but has struggled since missing four in the last five games. He is a perfect 19-19 on extra points.
Late in the fourth quarter of the team's win Sunday against the Bears Grupe missed a 47-yard field goal that would've given them a 10-point lead and essentially put the game away.
"I've seen some really good kickers in our league that you know have had some inconsistencies as a rookie, and teams move on from them, and they go to different spots and have great careers," Allen said. "We got we have confidence and Blake. But I think you have to evaluate those things."
The kicker he replaced, Wil Lutz, has made 86.7%(13-15) of his field goals this year and missed just one extra point.
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