FOXBORO — Stephen Gostkowski is that employee nobody thinks about.
He’s the quiet guy who shows up to work every day for 40 years, does his job with the consistency of a Swiss watch and leaves at nightfall without anyone noticing he was ever there.
When he retires, he has 400 sick days left and only then, in his absence, do people start to notice him.
“Why wasn’t that done?”
“Who’s responsible for this?”
“When’s Gostkowski coming back?”
In general, for a kicker at least, not being noticed is the goal, because for most of them notice comes most often when the ball refuses to go where his instep instructs it to.