Green Bay Packers maintain with kicker

Green Bay Packers kicker Anders Carlson missed his third extra-point try in four games on Sunday.

Carlson missed his third of seven PAT attempts in the playoff game, but it did not affect the Packers’ 48-32 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

Carlson has missed a kick in four straight games, including a 41-yard field-goal attempt to the left in the regular-season finale, a 17-9 win over the Chicago Bears on Jan. 7, when he went 2-for-2 on extra points.

With Green Bay two wins away from reaching Super Bowl LVIII, Packers coach Matt LaFleur was asked if the team had contemplated replacing their rookie kicker. That might be accomplished without releasing Carlson by signing a veteran free-agent kicker to the practice squad and then promoting the new player to active status for game day if he shown he still had it during practice.

“We have high confidence in him,” LaFleur stated. “Yeah, you want him to make every kick, no question, but I believe it is part of the growth process. Unfortunately, many young people, particularly kickers, face difficulties and setbacks. The one thing you can’t train is his resiliency; every time he misses one, he comes back and makes it. We’d prefer to get through it without any glitches, but I believe that’s part of the process. I believe he is still learning how to develop his game, and there is clearly a lot more out there for him. …

“We’re committed to him, and we’re going to see this thing through with him.”

The Packers selected Carlson from Auburn in the sixth round of the NFL Draft on April 29. Throughout the regular season, he converted 27 of 33 field-goal attempts and 34 of 39 extra-point kicks. Despite five misses on 33-yard extra points, Carlson is 14-of-14 on field-goal attempts within 41 yards.

Carlson has not missed consecutive kicks this season.

When asked about Carlson’s most recent extra-point failure at his Thursday press conference, Green Bay special-teams coach Rick Bisaccia was brusque with reporters.

“We’re moving on to the next game – San Francisco,” Bisaccia said. “Whatever happened in the last game happened, and we’ve looked at it, hopefully corrected it, and we’re moving forward.”

“I got a tremendous amount of confidence in Anders.”

The Packers’ fourth consecutive victory moved them to the NFL playoffs’ Divisional Weekend. Green Bay will face the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday at 7 p.m. CST at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. FOX will broadcast the game.

While the Packers were dominating the Cowboys, the 49ers received a first-round bye as the top seed in the NFC playoffs last week. San Francisco finished 12-5 throughout the regular season.