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Robbie Gould has accomplished a lot in his professional life.
He has played in 261 NFL games, including playoffs, and made 440 of his 505 field-goal attempts. He’s led the league in both number of field goals made and field-goal percentage. He’s been to two Super Bowls and is trying to get to a third when he and the 49ers play the Rams in Sunday’s NFC Championship game at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.
It’s been an amazing 17-year ride for a kid out of a tiny blue-collar town in the middle of Pennsylvania called Jersey Shore.
Gould is proud to speak about his unlikely journey and all the accomplishments that have been born from the work ethic he drew from his father, who’s in his 28th year as a postal employee driving a rural mail delivery route.
But when you want to talk to the 39-year-old Gould about perhaps his greatest and arguably most significant accomplishment as a kicker, he develops a sudden case of amnesia.
When The Post asked Gould over the phone this week about the fact that he’s made all 20 of his field-goal attempts in the postseason, a remarkable feat that happens to be an NFL record, he said: “I have no idea what you’re talking about.’’
Fair enough.
So, we’ll talk about it.
Gould’s 20th consecutive playoff field goal is the reason he and the 49ers are playing the Rams on Sunday for a berth into Super Bowl 56.
It was Gould’s 45-yard field goal as time expired to give the 49ers a 13-10 victory over the Packers on frozen Lambeau Field with snow showers swirling in the frigid Saturday night air that allowed San Francisco to survive and advance over No. 1 seed Green Bay.
“For whatever reason, when the pressure’s on he gets more focused in — and that’s what makes him such a great kicker,’’ Robbie’s younger brother Chris, an assistant special teams coach for the Broncos since 2015, told The Post.
“You’re a f—ing legend, man,’’ 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo yelled to Gould as they celebrated at Lambeau Field.
Gould, humble and appreciative for everything he has, doesn’t see himself in that sort of bombastic way.
But he does understand the power of clutch postseason kicks because Adam Vinatieri, the former Patriots and Colts great, was one of his favorite kickers to watch when he was younger.
The Patriots, where Vinatieri made his name, were the first team Gould signed with after he finished a somewhat undistinguished career at Penn State, where he made only 63.9 percent of his field goals, a number that’ll get you fired pretty quickly in the NFL.
“He’s a guy that I’ve always looked up to as a kicking role model, because he was a guy that always made the clutch kicks,’’ Gould said. “The playoffs make your legacy.’’
Those 20 consecutive postseason field goals made (and counting) are cementing Gould’s legacy.
Gould, who played his first 11 seasons with the Bears before they released him in 2016, has a chance to enhance his legacy Sunday in Los Angeles, and then again perhaps in Super Bowl LVI in the same stadium two weeks later.
“I’ve never been in such a calm place, such a peaceful football Zen when I’m kicking than where I am now,’’ Gould said. “I’m just playing in a place where my mind’s clear, in a place where I’m really secure with what I’ve been able to do and the legacy that I’ll leave behind. That’s freed me up a lot to play more confident football.’’
Gould was stung when the Bears let him go. He wanted to finish his career in Chicago, where he still makes his full-time home.
But he felt blessed to land with the Giants for the final 10 games of the 2016 season, making all 10 of his field-goal attempts. Gould felt an immediate bond with the Mara family and said members of the organization still text him after he makes big kicks such as last week’s game winner.
“Once a Giant, always a Giant,’’ Gould said. “They definitely embody that. I only played there 13 weeks and I appreciate texts that I’ve received from them. A lot of the people from the organization still follow my career. That’s why that culture in that building is so good, because they do pay attention to those who come and go.’’
San Francisco offered Gould a better contract in 2017, so Gould went to the 49ers, has been with them since and that’s certainly where his career will end — whenever that is.
“If it ended tomorrow, I made it,’’ Gould said. “If someone told me tomorrow that it’s over, I’d be like, ‘All right, it was a fun run.’ ’’
Sunday will be Gould’s fourth career NFC Championship game.
“I’m hoping to make my third Super Bowl, and hopefully the third time’s a charm,’’ he said. “I don’t believe in chasing a ring. I think you have to work to earn it.’’
That’s the only way Gould knows how to do it.
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