Shoeless kicker stuck in a quandary

ST. LOUIS -- The Rams want their barefoot kicker to put his shoe back on, at least part of the time.

Jeff Wilkins has struggled with both his accuracy and distance this season, and in last week's victory over the Seattle Seahawks he bounced two field goals over the goal post. The kicks, 45 and 47 yards, were from distances he's had no problem reaching in the past.

Wilkins, who holds the team record with a 57-yarder in 1998, knows he got lucky -- very, very lucky. The balls seemed to die in mid-flight.

"The first one, I didn't think it was going to be that close," Wilkins said. "The second one, because it was 2 yards longer, I said 'I'd better hit this one.'

"You need some luck. All the great ones are lucky, so hopefully it'll stick with me."

Wilkins started going barefoot in the preseason, taping his foot heavily on game days, because he was having problems scuffing the sole of his shoe on the turf. But Rams special teams coach Bobby April believes Wilkins is getting too far underneath the ball.

On the other hand, Wilkins has had no problems getting kickoffs deep with good hang time. He's among the league leaders with eight touchbacks.

So coach Mike Martz believes the kicker would benefit by wearing a shoe on field goals and going barefoot on kickoffs.

"Who knows?" Martz said. "I've suggested it to him. He's accurate, he just doesn't have the punch he usually has."

Wilkins was in a quandary after Sunday's game, thanking his good fortune but wondering what to do next. He's got several extra days to figure out his next move, with the Rams on their bye week.

"I'm just frustrated because that hasn't been me," Wilkins said. "If I can still kick my kickoffs like I'm kicking, why can't I hit my field goals?"

A couple of weeks ago, Wilkins decided to focus on accuracy instead of distance.

"I could try to go after it more, but then I start losing my form and I don't know where it's going," Wilkins said. "I'll focus on the accuracy and watch film, trying to figure out what I'm doing, and hopefully something will click.

"Because it's there -- it's not because I've lost my leg."

Wilkins is one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history, entering the year with 86 percent field goal accuracy. He's 9-for-12 this season, and has kicked a team-record 176 consecutive extra points.

But he's had his share of problems in recent seasons. In 1999, the year the Rams won the Super Bowl, he struggled with tendinitis in his plant leg and underwent surgery in the offseason.

He compensated for the knee all that year, but tendinitis long ago ceased to be a problem. Now, it's in his head. Two of his three misses this year are from inside the 40.

"The knee feels great, but something got ingrained," Wilkins said. "I just can't put my finger on it, but it has to be something mechanically."

On a positive note, both of Wilkins' bounce-'em-over kicks were dead center. A few weeks ago, he was hooking balls.

"I don't want to make drastic changes to the point where I'm lining up for a 35-yarder and not feeling comfortable," he said. "My whole thing is focused on not losing my form."

Martz often says he knows next to nothing about kicking. The bottom line: he just wants the points.

"It's like I told Jeff, they could carom off the ceiling," Martz said. "I don't care, as long as they go in."