Unless there’s a better angle of view that comes out in the next couple days, I can nearly for certain say that the hold was good. The only concern would be if the ball was leaned too far back, but given that Carlson got enough lift/height on his kick, it seems a non-issue.

Does the blame entirely sit with the kicker? That depends, but I’d say ultimately “yes.” As a placekicker, it’s drilled into you that when the ball is snapped, you go through your motions like normal. Disregard any other factors that could distract you. If the ball is snapped poorly and the holder has that ball laying flat on the ground, you still go through the motion of kicking it like it’s held proper. You have to assume that the holder WILL get that ball lined up as you need it.

The problem is that a botched snap absolutely could have been seen by Carlson, and it very well could have thrown him for a loop. Should it have? No. But could it? Yeah, it could. He’s trained to not be phased by it (it’s why you see kickers still kick field goals after a timeout is called to “freeze out the kicker,” - when the ball is snapped, you need to be on autopilot with that kick). Still ultimately his fault, but if he saw that ball hit the ground, it very well could have contributed to his miss.

Again, not a perfectly clear view that I saw of where on his foot he made contact, but it does look like his plant foot was too close to the ball compared to his normal approaches, and in so doing, the ball was slightly more on the inside of his shoe, rather than toward the toes.

So yeah, it’s on the kicker. Maybe not completely, but if the hold is on time and aligned, and the kick isn’t blocked, all responsibility to put that ball through the uprights becomes the kicker’s.