SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Memo to Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski: all three of the Patriots’ Super Bowl victories have been by a margin of three points.

Which is to say, a field goal.

“So I’ve been told,” he said yesterday morning at the team hotel. “I don’t keep tabs on that stuff.”

As far as NFL kickers are concerned, ignorance isn’t merely bliss — it’s a necessity.

They have trained themselves to think only about the process, not the result. To think strictly about their technique, not the situation. And never, ever, to think about missing.

“I don’t think about negative situations,” Gostkowski said. “I work on being mentally prepared for every kick. I can’t be thinking: ‘Oh, man, we need this kick.’ I just play dumb, and do what I do.”

What Gostkowski has done for the past two seasons is handle the placekicking for your New England Patriots.

You may remember his predecessor — fellow by the name of Adam Vinatieri?

You may recall that Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal as time expired to beat the Rams, 20-17, in Super Bowl XXXVI, and a 41-yard field goal with four seconds to go to beat the Panthers, 32-29, in Super Bowl XXXVIII. His 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference in New England’s 24-21 win over the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX.

You also may not want to mention any of that when you’re talking to Gostkowski.

“I’m not answering any more questions about Adam Vinatieri,” he said, in a tone more befitting a linebacker than a kicker. “I don’t care about replacing Adam Vinatieri.

“He was great. He did some great things. I can’t control the opportunities he had. I can only do what I do.”

Because the Patriots so often win by lopsided scores, Gostkowski has seldom been in a position to hold the outcome of the game in his hands. Or on his foot, as the case may be.

The highlight of his brief NFL career came in the playoffs last year at San Diego, when, after nailing a 50-yard field goal in the first quarter that was the longest in Patriots’ postseason history, he made the game-winning kick from 31 yards with 1:10 remaining.

It wasn’t as if that was automatic. Gostkowski missed 3 of 10 kicks last season in the 30-to-39-yard range. He was only 2-for-4 from 40-to-49. He even missed one from inside 30 yards. All in all, it wasn’t the sort of performance that reminded Patriots fans of You Know Who.

Gostkowski has been better this season.

Not only did he set a franchise record by making all 74 of his PATs, but he also converted 21 of 24 field-goal attempts, with only one of those misses coming from inside 40 yards. He did, however, miss another from just 35 yards in the AFC semifinal game against Jacksonville.

“You can’t be scared to miss,” he said. “I know the TV cameras are going to be on me if I miss, but I can’t let that bother me so much that I can’t do my job. If I do miss, I have to bounce back and make the next one.”

Just as Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes did in the NFC championship game in the snow and cold at Green Bay.

After missing from 43 yards late in the fourth quarter, and then again from 36 yards as time expired, Tynes hit the game-winning kick in overtime from 47 yards.

“He did a good job of bouncing back,” Gostkowski said. “Kicking is 95 percent mental. In crunch time, we have to concentrate on form. It’s all about technique.”

And routine.

Whenever the New England offense crosses the 50-yard line, Gostkowski kicks three balls into a net along the sidelines, takes three gulps of water, stretches, and then is ready to kick.

Like many another NFL kicker, Gostkowski was a soccer player before he was a football player.

“I went out for the high school football team in ninth grade because all my friends did,” he said. “I could kick a soccer ball pretty hard. Turned out I was pretty good at kicking a football, too.”

He also was pretty good at throwing a baseball. He had a career record of 16-2, with a 1.00 earned-run average, as a pitcher at Madison, Miss., Central High, leading the team to the state championship in 2002.

But it was his kicking, not his pitching, that earned him a scholarship to Memphis, where he set a school record with 369 career points. He made 42 of 49 field-goal attempts his last two years, prompting the Patriots to draft him in the fourth round in 2006, after Vinatieri signed a free-agent contract with Indianapolis.

Gostkowski came to New England knowing he had big shoes to fill.

“I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody,” he insisted. “I just try to make every kick.”

It would be nice if, with the Patriots’ perfect season on the line, Gostkowski is perfect on Sunday.

And, oh, here’s one other reminder — when the Pats beat the Giants in the final game of the regular season, the margin of victory was three points — 38-35. A field goal.

jdonalds@projo.com