BRADENTON, Fla. — Robbie Gould recently reached out to Joey Slye after the Panthers’ young kicker missed two extra points and a late-game, 28-yard field goal attempt in a 34-31 loss at New Orleans.

Gould, 37, spoke with the 23-year-old because they are members of a unique NFL fraternity that can go from celebrated to castigated quicker than you can say “wide right.”

“I think in the community that we’re in,” Gould said, “truthfully, no fan, no reporter, no family member can truly understand it.”

Yes, Gould, a 15th-year veteran, has been there before. Actually, he’s hanging out there right now.

On the heels of the best two-season stretch by a kicker in NFL history, Gould is enduring a nightmare year that’s included four long snappers, a quadriceps injury that sidelined him for three games, and as many missed field goals (eight) in 22 attempts as he had in his previous 106 tries entering 2019.

Last year, Gould, the sixth-most accurate kicker in league history, made 33 of 34 kicks and led the NFL in field goal percentage. This season, his percentage (63.6) ranks 34th of 35 qualified kickers.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said his confidence hasn’t wavered in Gould, who missed three kicks (72 of 75) in his first two seasons with the team.

“All those misses this year haven’t been totally his fault,” Shanahan said. “I know he’s had some that have been, but others have been other guys: Whether it’s the snapper, the hold, and things like that. We’ve had a couple blocked.”

Gould has seen two kicks blocked, three long-range misses (57, 55 and 52 yards) and missed a 45-yarder at rainy Washington in laughably poor field conditions.

Still, after Gould requested a trade in the offseason while declining to sign the franchise tag, the 49ers opened their wallet because he’d established a standard of near-perfection. Gould signed a four-year deal that made him the league’s second-highest paid kicker. He has fully guaranteed base salaries totaling $7.5 million over the next two seasons.

“The season hasn’t been what you want for it to be or hope for it to be,” Gould said. “That doesn’t mean we can’t do well down the stretch.”

What’s happened to Mr. Automatic? Gould pointed to a lack of continuity for some issues.

The 49ers’ longtime long snapper, Kyle Nelson, was suspended for the first six games and the 49ers used Colin Holba (two games), Jon Condo (one game) and Garrison Sanborn (three games) to open the season. In addition, rookie punter Mitch Wishnowsky has served as Gould’s new holder.

“Those things aren’t going to be easy for any operation,” Gould said. “You try to get continuity and by the time you get continuity there’s another guy that came in. Those are things you have to adapt to as a player that’s played in this league for a long time.”

Due to his quadriceps injury, Gould has kicked with Nelson as his long snapper for just three games, and he’s made 2 of 3 kicks in those contests. His miss was a 51-yarder before halftime that was partially blocked in a 20-17 loss at Baltimore last Sunday. It appeared Gould didn’t take an aggressive swing on the attempt, but he said that wasn’t the problem.

“I’m not really an aggressive swinger as it is,” Gould said. “That’s really not my game. I think (Baltimore’s) Justin Tucker is more of an aggressive swinger. I think (retired kicker) Sebastian Janikowski is a very aggressive swinger. I’m more of a finesse type of guy.”

Most of Gould’s misses haven’t come at critical times. For example, his worst game, when he missed three of four kicks, came in a 31-3 win over the Browns. Still, he’s received blowback from fans, which, he says, hasn’t inspired him to be less active on social media to avoid the slings and arrows.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Gould said. “They love you when you make it. And they hate you when you don’t. And that’s OK. … A lot of people aren’t going to understand what you go through because they’re not in it every single day. They don’t know the details that go into it. They don’t know how hard you worked.”

Gould is now working to salvage his year. And there’s reason for optimism. He now has his health and he’ll presumably have continuity for the rest of a season that could include some of the biggest kicks of his career.

“We’re coming on a playoff stretch,” Gould said. “I’m going to be needed. I’m going to be ready when my number’s called upon. Hopefully, that’s this weekend. Hopefully, now that the three of us are together, we can do something special to end this season and win a Super Bowl.”