Blake Grupe had been struggling this season. The New Orleans Saints kicker entered the game having made just 10 of 15 field goals, including two misses last week in a victory over the New York Giants.
Grupe was perfect Sunday against the New England Patriots, making all four of his field goal attempts from 34, 48, 38 and 54 yards.
“That’s how you hang around in this league,” Grupe said. “High stakes, everything is very important. Every point on the board, we need to get. Everybody’s put in a lot of work. That’s the least I can do is go out there and do my job.”
The 54-yarder equaled Grupe's season long that he made at Buffalo on Sept. 28. He also made a 53-yarder against the Giants but had misses from 52 and 46 yards. His other misses this season were a 37-yard try against the Arizona Cardinals, from 40 yards against the San Francisco 49ers and from 52 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Grupe credited the work that he put in alongside holder Kai Kroeger and long snapper Zach Wood this week.
“We were working on some little stuff, and it’s nice to be able to see us go out there and take care of business and see results," Grupe said.