FOXBOROUGH – Joey Slye had quite the day. While he kicked three field goals, his misses got the most attention.
His near-miss of a potential 68-yard game-winner was the lasting image on the final play of the game. His miss of a chip shot in the second quarter, however, proved the difference in Sunday’s 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Slye, who looked back at holder Bryce Baringer immediately after the miss, chalked it up to an operational problem, but wouldn’t comment further.
“I need to be better with my communication on the whole,” Slye said. “To be honest, just kind of a (expletive) situation.”
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Baringer filled in the blanks on the errant kick, which was pulled left. It was right before the half. The Patriots trailed by two (16-14) so they would have taken the lead into the locker room.
While it looked like a good hold on the surface with the laces on the proper side, certain situations – depending on the wind – call for him to slant the ball a particular way. It appears Baringer missed the cue from Slye on which hold to use.
“There’s things I feel like I should take responsibility for,” Baringer said. “I feel like I could have put down a better ball … just communicating better.”
Baringer explained there are different types of holds.
“He has different types of leans,” Baringer said. “And so, even though we’re going the same way as the kick we hit prior, he might want something different … at the end of the day, I feel like I had to put a better ball down for him. Obviously, we’ll check it out and see what happened.
“I understand where he’s coming from saying he’s taking responsibility. Joe (Cardona) ripped a dart back there. At the end of the day, I have to do my third of the operation well. It’s something that sucks.”
