When it comes to placekicking for the Bucs, the difference between the good ones and the bad ones can be of biblical proportions. In fact, listing Bucs kickers can sound very similar to the New Testament; ..and Green begat O’Donoghue, who begat Yepremian, who begat Capece, who begat Ariri, who begat Iguebuike, who begat Christie….ok the names were sounding biblical until we got to Christie. You get the point though…The Bucs have had their share of kickers that led you to feel like you could get three on any Sunday. The last such guy, Matt Bryant, started to get a little unpredictable, especially when kicking a FG longer than 49 yards. This from the guy with the Bucs, and NFL’s 2nd longest record kick, of 62 yards! So the Bucs brass decided to look into a new kicker, and they went out and got a pretty good kicker in some aspects, Mike Nugent. Maybe they just got him too early, because right now Nugent is still looking like a winner in Cincinnati, and the Bucs will face him in a couple weeks. For Nugent however, his stay with the Bucs was anything but complimentary! Nugent missed four big kicks in the first quarter of the season going 2 of 6 and was replaced by Shane Andrus. What does he do? oh just miss the first FG of his Buc career, of which the Bucs gave him the boot! In comes Connor Barth, who kicked against the Bucs when he was a member of the KC Chiefs in 2008; the great comeback game! It wasnt all smooth sailing for Barth, who did miss a 45 yarder in swirling winds vs Green Bay, but made 3 straight 50+ yard Field Goals against the Dolphins to raise some hairs! Now just as soon as an optimist like me is ready to anoint Barth as the next Gramatica (No comment), he misses a 51 yarder, no gimme, vs the Falcons that would have extended the Bucs lead to 7. Altanta won the game. Then, Barth would struggle a little bit more, missing a make-able FG vs the Seahawks that caught the ire on camera of Bucs Special Team coach Rich Bisaccia. Then a funny thing happened….Barth hasn’t missed since. A solid/Money/TheMan/100% kind of year, Mr. Barth has begot perfection in 2010, a solid 5 of 5. How long can it go? This Bucs fan hopes Barth kicks his way into a history of Biblical Proportions!
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