Philadelphia Eagles: Jake Elliott keeps racking up the awards

Kicking in the NFL must be weird.

Sure, you’ll find a few stalwarts who play well into their 40s, and some, like Justin Tucker, who have called the same city home for the last decade, but you’ll far more often find a kicker with a half dozen teams on their resume before they hit the ripe age of 30, with many more still who don’t even make it to that ripe old – read: very young – age.

Through the first 12 weeks of the 2021 NFL season, 43 different players have kicked at least one extra point attempt, including Mitch Wishnowsky, who is a punter by trade for the San Francisco 49ers.

Why, you may ask, is this relevant? Well, because of all of those 43 players, plus every punter, return man, gunner, jammer, and blocker, Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jack Elliott has been named the Special Teams Player of the Month for November, one week after winning the Player of the Week honor in Week 11.

Friends, the comeback tour is in full force.

Jake Elliott has been the model of consistency for the Philadelphia Eagles.

What do the Phoenix Suns and Jake Elliott have in common?

Well, because having never won an NBA championship, the two parties were perfect in the month of November, with Elliott connecting on all 19 of his kicking attempts, and the Suns winning every game they played from November 2nd through the 29th.

Now granted, the latter is probably more impressive, as that’s a lot of games, but that doesn’t diminish the efforts of Elliott, as he played darn well for the Philadelphia Eagles when they were good, when they were on fire, and when they ultimately fell back to earth in Week 12.

Over the past four games, Elliott has connected on eight field goals, including two kicks from 50-plus and another from 47. He’s also connected on all 11 of the team’s extra point attempts, extending his streak to 30 on the season, and even secured his 150th career make back in Week 9.

But wait, it gets better.

While Elliott isn’t quite recording touchbacks at a career-high clip, he’s on pace to record his most touchbacks in a single season, assuming he can keep up his current 3.41 touchbacks-per-game clip.

Throw that all together and what do you have? A darn good two-thirds of a season for a player many a fan was willing to completely write off after an ugly 2020 season.

Who is to say Jake Elliott wouldn’t be similarly effective in 2021 if he was kicking for, say, the Cincinnati Bengals, the team who drafted him, instead of the Philadelphia Eagles? Maybe Elliott needed a down year to put his career into perspective, maybe adjusted his technique, maybe he’s just gotten lucky, but for whatever reason, the pride of Memphis is playing like one of the best kickers in the NFL one year after looking like the worst kicker in the NFL. Does it make sense? No, but I, for one, am not going to argue with his day-and-night turnaround, especially considering his big-for-a-kicker contract.