“Like It’s A Heavyweight Fight And You Got To Knock The Guy Out”
June 4th, 2019
The kicking battle never stops
Former Bucs Pro Bowl kicker Martín Gramática hung out with Cairo Santos last week and shared some impressions today.
After chatting it up with the batting Bucs returning kicker, Gramática said, “you get the feeling that he feels he has to kick way better than the rookie to win the job. … like it’s a heavyweight fight and you got to knock the guy out.”
Of course, the Gentleman Gerry Cooney of the bout is Bucs rookie Matt Gay, the kicker drafted in Round 5.
Gramática was talking to his WWBA-AM 820 audience and said he is concerned that Gay and Santos will be mentally fried from the kicking battle by opening day, and possibly physically worn. However, Gramática added he’s not too concerned about the physical end of things because both are young and they are not kicking off in practice. That duty goes to the Bucs’ new punter, Bradley Pinion, who Bruce Arians called the biggest signing of the offseason.
So what if they were kicking off? Gramática explained that the warmup required for the kickoff is completely draining and more taxing on the leg. He said a lot of times guys in a battle won’t rest when they are sore and end up less than 100 percent for opening day.
Gramática believes rookie Gay is the one with the least pressure because the team will be more patient with him. And that led Gramática into a rant of disbelief for what happened to Roberto Aguayo and all the self-inflicted pressure he put on himself, in addition to inexplicably trying to change his kicking style when he got to the Bucs, per his recent quotes to Bleacher Report.
Joe thinks Gramática has a fair point about the downside of a kicking battle. A veteran kicker can just manage himself to be ready and healthy for opening day.
Of course, that didn’t apply last year when Chandler Catanzaro was the expensive new kicker of the year, only to be launched by midseason.
June 4th, 2019 at 11:18 am
I just want someone to hit 40 yarders and not close my eyes when we kick. You look at the NFL and you see guys lining up from 55 like they are kicking extra points and I don’t think Santos has that range but Gay does; while I know Arians loves Pinion I don’t want him trotting out instead of trying field goals.
June 4th, 2019 at 11:54 am
To compare kickers to heavyweight boxers is so laughable……seriously??
June 4th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
Oh, baloney.
Gramatica is talking hyperbole, and he knows it.
It is not like they are practising 100 kick-offs a practice.
Back in The Day, between my junior year in HS, 4 years in college and 3 in the pros, I kicked and punted a minimum of 100 footballs a day with only a few days break here and there. I never once had leg fatigue.
I can’t speak for Santos, but Gay has a powerful leg and won’t suffer from practices.
I never suffered from leg fatigue.
June 4th, 2019 at 12:13 pm
I think BA is doing the exact correct thing with these guys: put them under pressure EVERY DAY!
There is NO better way to get a kicker or punter mentally prepared than to make pressure routine until you don’t even notice it.
June 4th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
Cobra, your “pressure principle” (“Miss Jackson if you’re nasty”) could be applied to all players, no?
June 4th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
Why is the kicking game such a fiasco with this team?
June 4th, 2019 at 1:36 pm
Hopefully the rookie can prove his accuracy – because he’s got a good bit more leg/range than Santos.
Its most important to be able to hit kicks 45 yards and in consistently.
But it also kind of sucks having your kicker’s outer range for an attempt be 52-53 yards or whatever.
Sometimes the ability to hit a 55-60 yard field goal (which Gay has and Santos doesn’t) can mean the difference between a win and a loss…
It will certainly be interesting to watch how the Buccaneers kicker battle plays out over the next 3 months.
June 4th, 2019 at 1:48 pm
SCBucs,
I thought I was the only person that closes my eyes or goes in the other room when we kick field goals! Every time we kick I feel like that guy who punches his tv. Haha
It’s pretty sad we have to have this conversation every year since Bryant moved on. Seems like kicking is a thing of the past and so many kickers now have so many problems. Hard to think that you have 1 job, get paid well for doing it, and still can’t do it in the 90-95% range….. I wish my student advisor would have told me about that job in high school.
June 4th, 2019 at 2:45 pm
If a kicker is too tired (mentally or physically) when the regular season rolls around b/c of battling through training camp, then he’s probably not cut out for starting job in the first place.
I also think Gramatica is being a little too dramatica about all this…
June 4th, 2019 at 3:09 pm
Trust me, “soft” applies to kickers, too.
We witnessed that with Aguayo.
June 4th, 2019 at 3:14 pm
Let’s just go for it on any fourth down inside of the opponents 40 yard line and forgo the kicking all together?
June 4th, 2019 at 3:23 pm
jesus, i am sooooo tired of hearing, seeing, and reading about frigging kickers. this is unbelievable that we cant find 1 guy.
June 4th, 2019 at 3:27 pm
This whole thing was just setup so poorly.
If you’ve signed a kicker, why draft one. Now it’s a lose-lose for us.
If Santos wins out, you cut your 5th round pick. If the 5th round pick wins, you lose the guy that was consistent for you last year and fall back to a rookie who has never kicked a high leverage kick.
This GM is something else… Let’s just say the Bucs haven’t sucked DESPITE Licht
June 4th, 2019 at 4:37 pm
@mike10
We had to do something. Calling Santos consistent would be a pretty big complement for his play last year:
He was ranked 29th in FG% last season. (Actually 32nd, but there were 3 guys who kicked less than 6 FGs all season, I didn’t count them)
So I’d say we want the draft pick to work out…
June 4th, 2019 at 5:51 pm
Cobra
Thanks for those enlightening takes from someone with experience.
Unbelievable
Agree totally! There is a yuuuge difference in upside. Santos playing his best could become an adequate or competent NFL kicker.
Gay OTOH has All Pro potential if he’s the real deal.
The upside difference is so large gotta root for the rookie!
June 4th, 2019 at 6:44 pm
I said it before and I’ll say it again. The biggest failure of the Buccaneers was not drafting Aguayo in the second round. The biggest failure was not having him compete from the day he arrived.
Kicking is a specialty role in football. Competition for each position only makes the players better. The they can all then be a part of the “teams” within the one team.
Always return to the basics when evaluating. Football remains a team sport.
__________
Go Bucs!!!
June 4th, 2019 at 10:31 pm
Martin is spot on, good points, agree with his observations. May the best leg win.