It's going to be a natural reaction…"We Got (Lawrence) Tynes, he's a good kicker too"! Ever heard the story of the Fox and the Grapes?
But make no mistake about it, losing Connor Barth for the 2013 season is a huge loss, any way you look at it. The numbers show Tynes had just as accurate a season. Barth set a franchise record with his 84.3% accurace since being named a Buc in 2009.
Barth suffered a torn achillies tendon in his right leg by playing in a charity basketball game in North Carolina, where he starred as a Tar Heel kicker for University of NC. He has succesful surgury Monday and is expected to make a full recovery.
Tynes is no slouch at 81.5% lifetime, and having kicked in New York, at Meadowlands stadium (both old and new), few kickers veteran enough at the age of 35 are as ready to step into an NFL kicker role on the fast track like Lawrence Tynes.
He has made Super Bowl kicks, NFC Championship kicks. But when the money was on the line, Connor Barth seldom missed. You can make the point the Bucs need to worry less about 3 and focus more on 6. You wouldn't be wrong, but once or twice a year, a kicker lines up at the end of a game to try to win it.
In 2011, Barth kicked an astounding 92.9% in FG accuracy. Tynes kicked a respectable 79.2 that year. If the Bucs line up for 35 FG tries this next season, the 2011 numbers would say Tynes will miss 4 more than Barth. But which 4 FGs would they be? Mind you 3 extra FGs last year at the end of three games, and the Bucs are 10-6 and probably representing the NFC South in a wild card game.
But thats on paper, and the NFL does not play its games on Paper. Lets hope not anyway. Last year Tynes was 84.6 in FG accuracy.
Barth was 84.8%.
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