Wil Lutz had a 'November to Remember' for the Saints
Wil Lutz has been a key element for the Saints, solving the long documented kicking woes in New Orleans under Sean Payton. Prior to Lutz's arrival in 2016 thanks to Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh, the Saints were a collective 79.1 percent (214-of-270) in field goal attempts from 2006-2015. They had a total of 10 different kickers in that span, and that's not including others brought in during training camp battles.
In the month of November, Lutz finished 11-of-11 on field goal attempts, including the game-winning field goal against the Panthers in Week 12. Lutz accounted for 43 points for the Saints (highest of any kicker for the month), going a perfect 10-of-10 on extra points during the team's 3-1 performance against the NFC South. Furthermore, Lutz improved year over year in November after going 8-of-8 in 2018. In 2017, he was 9-of-10, and 5-of-7 in 2016.
On the year, Lutz is 27-of-31 (87.1 percent) and is second in the NFL in scoring at 110 points behind Kansas City's Harrison Butker, who just took down AFC Special Teams Player of the Month. Butker went 10-of-11 (90.9 percent) in November, finishing with 42 total points. Butker also missed an extra point.
Rather than seeing Lutz take down another NFC Player of the Month Award like he did in September, it went to Chicago's Cordarrelle Patterson. His 10 kick returns produced an average of 29.4 yards per return, and was also praised by NFL.com for his three special tackles and two downed punts inside the 10-yard line in Week 12's win against the Giants. The Bears also had one more game last month, and the bulk of Patterson's returns came against the Lions in two games (6 total kickoff returns for 191 yards).
Quietly, Wil Lutz is evolving into one of the league's best kickers, and has been living up to his 5-year, $20.25 million contract extension that he signed back in March. He certainly was the team's Special Teams Player of November.
