Washington Football Team’s faith in Dustin Hopkins pays off

The Washington Football Team stuck with Dustin Hopkins through his struggles, and they were rewarded for it on Monday night.

“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.” – Vince Lomardi

Tell me if any of these names ring a bell: David Akers, Nick Novak, Shaun Suisham, Graham Gano.

Believe it or not, all of them at one point played for the Washington Football Team, and the team gave up on them too soon.

David Akers lasted one game, making two extra points, and missing two field goals, before going on to have an illustrious career with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Nick Novak lasted 11 games before being cut, replaced by Shaun Suisham. Novak would go on to play eight more seasons, including six seasons where he made between 84.6% to 91.9% of his field goal attempts.

Suisham lasted a bit longer, sticking around for 49 games before being cut and replaced by Graham Gano. Suisham made 80.2% of his FGs while with Washington before going on to Pittsburgh and having four seasons where he made over 90% of his kicks.

Do you see a pattern? Because the cycle continues to repeat itself.

Gano stuck around for 36 games, before heading to Carolina, where he played under Washington’s current head coach, Ron Rivera. Gano made over 80% of his field goals his first four seasons with the Panthers before hitting a rough patch in 2016, when he missed eight field goals and three PATs.

Did the Panthers do the same thing the Washington Football Team organization has done continuously? Cut, rinse, repeat?

Nope. They had faith in their kicker’s ability to bounce back and were awared with a Pro Bowl season where Gano made 96.7% of his kicks, with his only miss coming from 50-plus yards.

The following season, Gano would hit a 63-yard game-winner, which at that time, tied the record for the longest field goal ever made.

During practice the week following Gano’s game-winning kick, Coach Rivera preached patience when noticing potential in a player.

"It’s one of these things when you see potential in a player, you don’t want to push a guy out. We were fortunate enough that we were able to be patient. I know last year we drafted (Butker), and Graham responded and had a tremendous year. And it’s carried over into this year."

Fast forward to 2020, and Coach Rivera was put in a similar situation, where he could do what so many previous Washington coaches had done and cut their kicker, or he could maintain that faith in his kicker’s ability to bounce back.

Nobody would have blamed Rivera for going with Option 1. After the Week 7 win against Dallas, Hopkins was kicking just 66% from the field and was an abysmal 3-for-7 from beyond 40 yards.

But Rivera did what he had done in 2016 with Gano, and stuck with his kicker. Since Week 7, Hopkins has made 85% of his attempts, and has gone 7-for-8 from beyond 40 yards, including a 49-yarder, and two 45-yarders in the upset victory against the Steelers on Monday.

After Monday’s Washington Football Team game, Rivera was asked about Hopkins’ performance and he talked about the kicker’s ability to get through his slump.

"Sometimes you get into a little bit of a slump. He’s worked his way out of it and he’s been solid. He really has. I’m just real happy with what he did, working himself through his situation. It was a tough field to kick off of today, too."

Rivera even brought up Gano as an example when discussing his decision to stick with Hopkins in an interview with NBC Sports Washington’s JP Finlay on Tuesday.

"It’s interesting. I was with Graham Gano [in Carolina]. Graham set the record one year, and then the next year he was off, then he came back and had a really good year in 2017. So, you see that with kickers — they’re going to have these moments when things happen."

Not only has Hopkins benefitted from Coach Rivera’s faith in him, but he has leaned upon his own faith to get him through tough times this season.

"I always trust in what the Lord has for me. He directs my steps, and in good and bad, I know that I’ll be where I need to be when I need to be there. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t frustrated and angry and wanting things to be different. But in the end, I knew in my heart, that everything would work out for my good. What’s the verse, ‘The Lord works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose’."

Hopkins admitted that he hasn’t had the year that he wanted to have, but he is trusting the process and doing his best to learn through his failures.

"In these failures, sometimes it’s the best thing for you as an individual, and that’s not always fun. I would love to grow just as much or more through successes — that’s more fun — but it doesn’t always work out that way."

Hopkins talked about ignoring the outside noise and focusing on what he can control, and that is his performance on the field.

So far, the results have shown, as he was a key contributor in the win against the Steelers. Hopkins also is one of the best kickers in the league on kickoffs, with an 83.1% touchback percentage, third among kickers with over 20 kickoffs.

After being cut by Washington, David Akers would go on to be a productive kicker through his late thirties. Hopefully, Rivera’s faith in Hopkins, who just turned 30 this season, will be rewarded with Washington’s kicker position remaining settled for the next 5-7 years.

“If you’re patient with these guys and trust them, they’re going to reward you,” said Rivera.