Imagine being Stephen Gostkowski. The New England Patriots host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday and the winner goes to the Super Bowl. The past two games between the two teams have been decided by a last-second field goal and five of the last six were one possession games.
Gostkowski knows there's a strong chance he will decide the game.
"I try to approach each game the same, and there are so many games in the NFL that come down to tight scores," Gostkowski told the Boston Herald. "You have to be ready for any situation that gets handed to you. If I could guess when or when I'm not going to kick, my job would be a lot easier, and that's just part of it.
"You just have to go with the flow, roll with the punches, and we put ourselves in those situations all the time. You've just got to hope that the hard work in practice that you've done, and the situations you've put yourself in and been in before, will pay off."
Gostkowski has had his issues in 2012. He missed a game-winner against the Arizona Cardinals. He missed two against the Buffalo Bills in Week 5. He also missed a kick in three consecutive games for the first time since his rookie year.
Gostkowski might have to deal with wind gusts up to 20 miles per hour. That could impact how coach Bill Belichick decides to use his kicker.
Either way, Gostkowski knows 60 minutes of football and a Super Bowl berth could come down to one kick in the wind.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
