Ryan Fitzgerald is costing the Carolina Panthers points on Sunday Night Football against the Detroit Lions in Week 4.
He's the Carolina kicker, but on consecutive touchdowns, he missed extra points.
The first doinked off the upright, and the second simply missed wide.
It's clear that Fitzgerald was at least a little off kilter on Sunday night, but it's hard to know what the cause may have been.
A lot has to go right on each kick, including the snap and the hold — although those things do usually go right in the NFL .
On the simple point after kicks, which are the equivalent of a 33-yard field goal, NFL teams can't afford misses.
Fitzgerald missing two in a row was a big concern on Sunday night for Carolina.
Fitzgerald is the kicker in Carolina because he won a competition for the job in the 2025 preseason.
He was an undrafted free agent out of Florida State, and the Panthers signed him in May of 2025.
He competed with Matthew Wright in the preseason and won the job as Carolina released the veteran Wright.
It has been Fitzgerald's job since.
He generally hasn't had issues that would make a team wonder about a replacement, at least until these back-to-back missed PATs.
Fitzgerald entered Sunday Night Football having already made 7-of-7 field goals through three weeks. That includes a long of 53 yards.
He was also 8-for-9 on extra points this season.
Fitzgerald was 24-for-29 on field goals as a rookie, with three of those misses coming from beyond 50 yards. His longest make was a 57-yarder.
The righty kicker was also 27-for-30 on his extra points as a rookie.
To enter the night at just 35-for-39 on extra points is definitely a little low relative to some. That's just 89.7%. A few of the top kickers in league history have a field goal percentage higher than that.
Clearly, Fitzgerald has a talented leg, and not every one of the NFL's 32 kickers will be as good as the others.
But the Panthers are playing for a repeat NFC South Division title. They can't really afford too many struggles for Fitzgerald.
For what it's worth, he was up to the task in his lone playoff game as a rookie. He made a 46-yarder, his only attempt, while also making all four of his extra point attempts.
His job may come into just a little bit of question after his two extra point misses on Sunday night, although it could depend what Fitzgerald does to respond to those missed kicks that really determines his status going forward.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Why Ryan Fitzgerald is Panthers' Kicker Amid Missed Extra Points appeared first on HEAVY .
