JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Kicker Josh Lambo was so good in his first four seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars that he was given the nickname "Lambomatic."
After the first two games of the 2021 season, he has unfortunately become "Lamb-0-for."
One of the things a struggling offense led by a rookie quarterback desperately needs is a consistent kicker, but Lambo, the one person the Jaguars could seemingly always count on, is 0-for-3 on his field goal attempts this season.
Yet Lambo still has plenty of support from his head coach and teammates -- as of now, anyway.
“Concerned, but I made the comment that the one thing that I admire about him; he’s had a decent career, a very good career, and he works his tail off,” Meyer said after Lambo missed kicks of 52 and 48 yards in the Jaguars’ 23-13 loss to the Denver Broncos at TIAA Bank Field. “I’m not giving up on Josh Lambo. If he didn’t work hard, wasn’t a professional about everything he does, yeah, I’d have a problem with him. But he’s missed some kicks and he’s a professional.
“He’s got to make those kicks and I’ve got confidence he will.”
Lambo had no trouble with kickoffs or the lone PAT he tried against Denver, so the misses aren’t due to any injury. Lambo made four of his six attempts in the preseason and said after the third preseason game that one of the misses was a mechanical issue. He didn’t want to mention why he missed the other, so it's at least possible the two misses against the Broncos could be mechanical issues as well.
Lambo also said before the season that his confidence entering the season was high.
“I’m as confident as ever,” Lambo said. “I’m as good of a kicker, if not better, than I’ve ever been, so I’m right on track. Being a vet -- I’m going into Year 7, Year 11 overall as a pro athlete -- everything has a purpose, right? Preseason has its purpose. Yes, you want to come in firing at all cylinders, but a lot of times, that’s not realistic.
“My goal is to be at my peak Week 1 and, unfortunately, that may have led to a couple of missed kicks in preseason.”
Lambo missed a 55-yard attempt wide left in the season-opening loss at Houston, and he missed a 52-yard attempt wide right and a 48-yard attempt wide left against the Broncos. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence took a moment after the second miss to encourage Lambo.
“[I told him to] just keep going, man,” Lawrence said. “It's going to happen. All of us have made some mistakes. I've had quite a few the first two weeks, so just to let him know I had his back. It's all good; go make the next one. I know as a kicker that's tough. Everything is kind of on you making that kick. I know how he feels.
“So just letting him know we've got your back no matter what happens good or bad. We're all in it together.”
Lambo earned the Lambomatic nickname because he had made 95 percent of his field goal attempts with the Jaguars (76 of 80) from the time he joined the team in October 2017 through the 2020 season. That’s the best field coach percentage in the NFL of any kicker with more than four attempts – better than Baltimore’s Justin Tucker (91.8 percent), who was a two-time Pro Bowler and twice a first-team All-Pro over the same span.
Lambo had actually missed more PATs (six) than field goal attempts. He was especially good from long range, hitting on 12 of his 13 attempts of 50 or more yards.
Lambo had made all five of his field goal attempts last season, but a hip injury landed him on IR twice and the Jaguars ended up having six players attempt a PAT or field goal, which per Elias Sports Bureau is the most by an NFL team since the 1970 merger.
Even though Lambo was healthy, the Jaguars began training camp with Aldrick Rosas – one of the six kickers they used last year -- also on the roster, but they released him two days later. Lambo had an up-and-down camp and preseason, but the team stuck with him.
How much longer, however, is unclear. Meyer said after the game it was too soon to know if the Jaguars will bring in any kickers for tryouts this week.
Cornerback Shaquill Griffin said he’s confident that Lambo will turn things around.
“I went up to him today. He knows I've got his back,” Griffin said. “I feel like there's nothing more that I can say, because he knows his job.
“Prove us right, the reason why we have you here. There's nothing else to be said. He knows what he needs to do to get better, and he knows what he needs to do to make sure he makes these kicks, so there's nothing more to be said.”