The Bucs cut popular kicker Matt Bryant after he lost a preseason battle against kicker Mike Nuggent. Bryant, despite kicking a 62 yard FG in 2006, couldn’t be counted on to kick accurate FGs 50 yards or beyond. Nuggent had a good leg at long FGs, but there were issues.
Issues that crept up almost immediately in the 2009 season. Wasn’t long before the Bucs simply had to admit Nuggent was a 2+ million dollar mistake. After giving yet another kicker a shot, the Bucs brought in Connor Barth, who kicked well enough.
He had his moments, on both sides of the coin, nailing some, missing on others. After a miss against Seattle, a switch came on with Barth and he was remarkable.
In 2010 Barth was dead on accurate, and even when he did miss, it wasn’t by much. Going into the 2011 season, Bucs special teams are set in the area of place kicking. He was 23 of 28, 50% on 50+ yarders, and 60% from 40-49 yards.
Barth never missed a FG less than 40 yards all year long. You can check out this 48 yarded in your browser if you like.
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