More Kicker Sadness At One Buc Palace
August 27th, 2020
“Operator, I said “Barth” not “barf.”
Does anyone have Stephen Gostkowski’s phone number?
The Bucs have a real football game in 17 days and so far, it seems they don’t have a real kicker who is ready for opening day.
There’s a well documented kicker battle at One Buc Palace between second year kicker Matt Gay, a fifth-round pick in 2019, and Elliott Fry, a guy who bounced around NFL preseason camps before going 14-for-14 in the defunct AAF league last year.
Joe’s out at practice today and doesn’t have the best angle to view kicking, as media can’t move around, but the Twittering below of longtime local sports multimedia guy J.P. Peterson sums up today’s kicker battle well.
Tough day for the kickers! Elliot Fry missed 3 of his 5 kicks and Matt Gay missed 2 from my vantage point. All from about 45 and back but it’s hard to tell from 100 yards away.
— JP Peterson (@FanStreamJP) August 27, 2020
Gostkowski is the heralded former Patriots kicker who is a good friend of Tom Brady. He injured his hip early last season and remains on the street.
Joe really doesn’t care who the darn kicker is this season as long has he’s at least average. It’s not too much to ask. Why can’t the Bucs find a guy who hits 85 percent in practice and then 80 percent in games?
As wacky as this year has been, Joe almost expects the Bucs to keep two kicker until the position is sorted out.
August 27th, 2020 at 10:23 am
Wow, what a shocker!!! LOL! Brady def isn’t used to having kicking struggles on his teams! Fix this ASAP Licht!
August 27th, 2020 at 10:24 am
My money is still on Matt Gay. He was serviceable, despite a couple of bad games that are not acceptable. Of course I’d like to Fry also. A 62 year old kicker with a bum hip is just that. Even if it’s Ghost. A bad day at practice is just a bad day at practice. If it happens a lot, like it did Aguayo and Winston, then I worry.
August 27th, 2020 at 10:30 am
@ Roy Buford,
I usually would agree with you, I just have a bad feeling this could linger into the season! We just can’t afford to give away any games this year, the NFC is too deep!! They at least need to bring in Gostowski for a look!
August 27th, 2020 at 10:50 am
Only thing worse than having a bad kicker is having 2 bad kickers taking up valuable roster spots.
August 27th, 2020 at 10:53 am
Can Gostkowski be any worse than this #hit $how???
August 27th, 2020 at 10:58 am
I thought the Bucs got rid of the pirate curse when they won the Super Bowl. Obviously, the curse is alive and well and the continued kicking woes lead in that direction. What are the Bucs evaluating in kickers that other teams aren’t impressed with?
August 27th, 2020 at 11:04 am
short leash for both kickers this year…
when do we start looking at the kicking coach?….
GO BUCS!!!!
August 27th, 2020 at 11:12 am
Our kickers cost us on average 2 games (PROBABLY MORE) a year! That this was not addressed in March is ridiculous. This is by far the weakest part of this team. Gostkowski should have been here long ago!
August 27th, 2020 at 11:25 am
This article is “AKicknTheBucNuts”
August 27th, 2020 at 11:34 am
We need a kicker dammit!! As good as Brady is he’s had a kicker save his ass more than once.
August 27th, 2020 at 11:51 am
Matt Gay is not a good enough kicker for the Bucs to make a serious run for the Super Bowl. Some of you guys will foolishly convince yourselves that “we’ll be alright” like you did for five years with Jay-Miss.
August 27th, 2020 at 11:53 am
Hey potlickers, I love when people use the word “serviceable” to describe a player but have no way to quantify or justify that remark.
August 27th, 2020 at 12:20 pm
Are these on the Skinny Posts or regulation posts?
August 27th, 2020 at 12:26 pm
It’s hard to believe we are still searching for a kicker!
This is not the year for kicking struggles.
August 27th, 2020 at 12:39 pm
We need to get Gostkowski in here ASAP. He might not have the range, but we need to hit every extra point and all of the fg’s inside of 40 yards. Gay is such a head case that he can’t and never will be able to do that when the game is on the line. We need to carry two kickers going into the season and Gay isn’t one of them.
August 27th, 2020 at 12:56 pm
In addition to the Bucs the Glazer’s own The most prestigious professional soccer team in the world.
Surely, someone in the man U organization would love a all expenses paid vacation to Florida and a shot at a lucrative contract to kick field goals.
August 27th, 2020 at 1:09 pm
Joe, would I be off my rocker to have us use two roster spots for kickers? One that is consistent from 40 yards and shorter, and another that has a half decent kick percentage from 40+?
I feel like some kickers have more leg strength than accuracy and vice versa.
It sounds crazy to lose a roster spot over this, but kickers can have a much more direct impact on the result of a game than going without a #6 or #7 D-lineman.
August 27th, 2020 at 1:11 pm
D1, I think the Brits would eat them alive if they tried that, haha
August 27th, 2020 at 1:13 pm
Don’t be. Remember what we are going through. It’s not crazy at all to keep one on the practice squad. For example, if, say, Matt Gay tests positive the day before a game, what then? You are screwed. So at least this year, don’t be surprised if several teams keep two kickers.
August 27th, 2020 at 3:12 pm
One of the two, either Gay or Fry, will be on the practice squad. Bank on it. You definitely need a backup. If someone better becomes available during the season, grab him. But for now, you keep both and hope the competition improves both of their games.
August 27th, 2020 at 4:50 pm
Someone who is half llterate understands what “serviceable” means. That is, sufficient, good enough, not great, etc. Quantifable and qualifiable is comparison with his peers, which when you look…not too bad. But as I said, losing two games as the kicker is not going to cut it. And really, he lost them 1.5 games directly (Winston didn’t have to throw a pick 6 against ATL). Gay is not yet consistent enough.
VABucsfan…good points…you may be right. I’m not “comfortable” but I’d not be quick to run out and insert Ghost just yet. My expectation is that games won’t come down to a field goal or PAT. Alas, they may, and that is football.
Last year, there were two times in games where I was most nervous:
1. Gay coming on to kick in a close game.
2. And every single time Winston went back to pass.
We’ve made some headway, more work to do.
August 28th, 2020 at 6:00 am
Maybe the league needs to adopt higher pay for kickers and get more people in the pipeline. The kicker pool is weak to the point that you could count the “Automatica” kickers on one hand.
Who’s got Morten Anderson’s number?
August 28th, 2020 at 4:15 pm
🤦🏿♂️