Where the Patriots ‘wide-open’ kicker battle stands after first preseason game

The New England Patriots kicker position was an issue for the team last year. Rookie Chad Ryland hit 16 of his 25 field goal attempts, missing multiple game winners.

In the offseason the Patriots signed veteran kicker Joey Slye to either simply push Ryland or outright compete with him for the job. Either way, the result has been a positional battle at kicker this camp.

So far, things have been tight between the two. Here's a breakdown of what each Patriots kicker has done through 11 practices and the preseason game...

In the game Thursday night, Ryland attempted and made both of the Patriots' extra points (counted as 33-yard field goals here). Slye made the lone field goal attempt, from 42 yards.

Ryland has a slight advantage in the 30-49-yard range where most field goals are kicked. At the same time, if the Patriots want a distance option to expand field goal range for an offense that could struggle to move the ball at times, Slye has been better in that regard. Overall the Patriots kicker competition is still a close one, as head coach Jerod Mayo highlighted Friday morning.

"Slye and Chad, those guys are competing. Once again, the game is a small part, and there's nothing more important than practice. So, we try to put a lot of stress on those kickers," Mayo said. "It's still a wide-open competition, and I look forward to seeing who wins that competition."

Last year, Ryland missed at least one kick in eight of the Patriots' games. For a team that's going to need to win close to win games this year, that kind of performance is outside of the margin of error. They'll need a more reliable kicker this season - they just need to figure out who that will be.