While he has the leg and made the kicks, he clearly has issues when the pressure takes a grip
If there’s one thing about Jake Moody to take note of, it’s the mental game.
When the San Francisco 49ers selected Jake Moody with the 3rd overall pick it was polarizing across the fanbase. While a 3rd round pick was steep, Moody’s play at Michigan showed possibilities of the 49ers being able to have someone more consistent past 50 yards for field goals. Of course, it was a kicker with a 3rd round pick. And this is the 49ers fanbase. You know how vocal that can get.
Moody has never been a bust. While he missed a few kicks in the preseason, his regular season campaign started with little issue.
Then the Cleveland Browns happened. Moody missed a chipshot field goal after Brock Purdy put the team into position.
It sucks, but rookie mistake, right?
Then the Minnesota Vikings happened in Week 7 with an even worse shank. Moody made an additional kick later in the night in the loss. The kicker did not miss a field goal until Week 17 in a pointless game against the Los Angeles Raiders.
The playoffs were a different story. Moodey went 1-2 against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Divisional. 2-3 against the Detroit Lions in the NFC Championship, and 3-3 in the Super Bowl, but missed a crucial XP late in the game.
In Week 3 of the 2024 season, Moody missed another field goal that could have won the 49ers the game.
Is the takeaway: he can’t handle the pressure?
We’ve already talked about Ronnie Bell and how good he’s been in practice and whatnot, but when stress mounts in a games, things change.The same could be said for Moody, with some better statistics behind it.
He was called in Cleveland. Whiff.
A ield goal is needed against the Vikings to keep things from getting out of hand. Shank
XP in the Super Bowl to put the 49ers up by a point? Chili Dip. Had Moody made that extra point, the game may very well have never gone into overtime in the first place as the 49ers would be up by four points.
Is this becoming a mental thing? Can Moody handle the pressure?
And let’s be honest. Things could be way worse. They could have a guy who didn’t go 6-6 in Week 1. In Week 3’s loss to the Rams, the 49ers really shouldn’t have gotten to that point in the first place.
That said: he’s a third round pick depended on to make those kicks at that point in the game. Is this becoming a problem when the game is on the line? Is this a mental issue?
I think a better way to ask is, when Robbie Gould was trotted out, to finish the game, you trotted to social media to express happiness the 49ers won. That’s how automatic he was. Besides a few miscues (The Raiders game in Brock Purdy’s first season comes to mind), Gould was as you said, “Gold”.
With Moody, are you bitting nailes and shivering when he gets up there and you need a point to win the ballgame? Or does he just need more development? Or is this a blame of 49ers special teams as a whole?
