Bucs Bring Back Barth
August 26th, 2015
Bucs general manager Jason Licht has been very busy this summer
This afternoon, Lovie Smith said he was unhappy with his kicking game on Monday night.
The Bucs have a good kicker in Patrick Murray. And now they have another good kicker, and one with more experience.
Tonight, the Bucs signed Connor Barth, who was a heck of a kicker here until Lovie and Jason Licht dumped him last year in favor of rookie Murray. At the time, it felt like a money move, since Barth was scheduled to make big Bucs while Murray was hovering at the NFL minimum.
The Broncos picked up Barth but just cut him after a successful season.
This is what you call high-pressure competition.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:21 pm
Oh well, Barth was good, so is Murray. Lovie is unhappy with the kicking game because Murray missed the PAT and a field goal? Murray had a good year kicking some long FG’s last year. May the best kicker prevail.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:24 pm
Welcome back, Barth Vader!!!!
(Stay away from the b-ball court, please.)
August 26th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Connor Barth is Awesome!!!!
August 26th, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Competition is a great thing on a football team. Not just with the kickers.
The DL and LB’s now have some competion as well. Some competition for the DB’s although Johnson’s injury may diminish that some.
I was hoping for more competition for the 3rd WR but I just haven’t seen it all in the first two preseason games. Nobody has played that much better than Murphy and Louis has proven over the years that he can do it when the lights come on.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:34 pm
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss!!!!!!!
Sorry to get so excited over a kicker but this is a big deal. I was pissed when he left and Im happy he is back!!!!!!!!!Welcome back broskie…..time to win some football games!!!!!
August 26th, 2015 at 9:37 pm
When I backed out the Morning Cup of Joe came up. I was thinking the Evening Cup of Joe debut. Different storylines from today. I’ll have to get my Megyn Kelly-Donald Trump battle take ready for tomorrow.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:41 pm
Good move! I was disappointed he was cut last season.
August 26th, 2015 at 9:42 pm
I approve!
August 26th, 2015 at 9:54 pm
Buccfan37 if you looked at the depth of the kick offs that has to be another reason. Very short so Barth always had strong leg so Lovie`s gotta do what he’s gotta do.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Why not? Now that there’s not such a big gap in salary consideration between the two kickers – it makes for a more interesting competition than last year when it felt like $ was a factor.
Barth is one of the most accurate kickers in the league looking back over the last 7 years or so. Murray kicked well last year for a rookie – but I’d say Barth has the edge if they both look good because of his history and experience.
I’m surprised Denver released him – wonder if he’s not been doing well in camp and pre-season for them so far? Anyone know or heard anything about that?
August 26th, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Great move! Murray was great last year but his production has fallen off to a sophomoric slump in the absence of competition. So Lovie has fixed that problem.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:24 pm
Off topic but this is a great article on young Jameis I had to share, http://espn.go.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/18593/jameis-winston-bengals-buccaneers-dre-kirkpatrick-staring-down-wrs-habit-fixed
August 26th, 2015 at 10:25 pm
DavidBigBucFan .. I didn’t notice the Bucs kickoffs were short. It was good that the Bengals won the coin flip and kicked off forcing the Bucs offense on the field first. That opening drive set the tone for the whole game.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:28 pm
Any chance he learned how to RETURN kicks while he was away?
August 26th, 2015 at 10:30 pm
Maybe Murray came in out of shape? Or maybe he has a sore foot or something.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:35 pm
Next year’s first round pick needs to be Roberto.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:43 pm
I didn’t like that they let him go and happy to see that they were willing bring him back in to compete. Hope Barth shows in competition that they never should have let him go.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:44 pm
Next week Lovie brings back zuttah and penn. Says he was just playin’
But seriously with all the excitement this week no one has talked about how poor the ST unit is, punting is still atrocious and missed FGs just won’t work for LovieBall.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:46 pm
SuperSam..thanks for the link, but us FSU fans have no idea wth Kirkpatrick is talking about. Perhaps JW did stare down his receivers at times last season because like many of us Noles fans tried to tell fans in here last season, he only had one WR and one TE he trusted in 2014. 2013 was a whole different deal. He doesn’t HAVE a habit of staring down receivers. If anything he was over-confident in himself in 2014. He thought he could put the ball anywhere he wanted to regardless if the WR was covered tight or not.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:50 pm
SuperSam
It truly is evil twin day. Thanks for the article! It’s impressive when your opponents show you love.
August 26th, 2015 at 10:52 pm
But he does process things on the field very quickly. Nevermind I’m just repeating the same stuff I said months ago.
If Jameis does turn out to be the QB the Bucs dreamed of, I’ll never gloat about it in here. What I will do however is remind everyone that it wasn’t just me being an FSU homer. That shyte bothered me. I kept repeating for months that I was a bigger Bucs fan than Noles fan. I know what I saw in 2013 and I wasn’t relenting from it.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:26 pm
87
What I will do however is remind everyone that it wasn’t just me being an FSU homer.
Not gonna fly bro. You are most clearly an FSU homer. But I’ll already concede you were correct. Fameis is the real deal. Of course my questions were more off field related. And so far I’ll give you props on that as well. You wrote it off to immaturity and that’s how it appears. He’s been the model Buc up till now.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:33 pm
I’m biased because I know Barth & he is from my home town…..setting that aside, I think he’s a better kicker than Murray….but not by a longshot….Murray is good.
This is a great thing to have happen…some real competition….we need it at punter..
The kicker that has the strongest leg on kickoffs should be the winner of the competition because I think they want to dump Koenen if they can.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:37 pm
Glad to have him back. Competition makes everyone better. And kickers only have to miss a couple to lose their confidence. I’m glad we have a plan b now.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:45 pm
Yes Joe Jason has been busy.. And me my favorite GM happen to share the same birthday. Different years of course.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:46 pm
Oh yah btw..I’m happy Barth’s back too, just like everyone else.
August 26th, 2015 at 11:47 pm
Put Murray in at punter. Koenen sucks
August 26th, 2015 at 11:49 pm
StPeteBucsFan…lol re-read it again. I didn’t say I’m not an FSU homer. I said wanting Winston had nothing to do with it.
August 27th, 2015 at 12:11 am
We get Barth Vader back at a discounted price, all is well.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:21 am
An article out of Denver said that Barth was most likely released because his kickoffs were not deep enough. The other guy they have who was released last year for inconsistent field goals and then they brought Barth in (who rewarded the Broncos by hitting 17 out of 18 field goals) – is now hitting every field goal AND getting touchbacks on every kickoff practically – so in their mind Barth was expendable.
If Barth sticks – it will likely be because Koenen is retained also – as Koenen is usually deep with his kickoffs and will handle those duties.
August 27th, 2015 at 1:32 am
So we bring back Barth, which I approve, but we leave the much more glaring hole at punter untouched. FIRE KOENAN
August 27th, 2015 at 4:00 am
@Pickgrin
You are correct Barth’s only weakness is his kickoff. He is clearly a better Fg K when you take away the salary differences and kick off distance. That’s why they signed P Schum (On Bucs PC last season) who not only punts but does kick-offs and onside kicks well. Look for Barth and Schum to both make this team if they perform well over the next two weeks.
August 27th, 2015 at 4:16 am
I was hoping we would pick him up after his release….good job.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:18 am
Um…he wasn’t sent packing just for salary. He’s a kicker who tore his Achilles in an offseason charity basketball game. The Bucs needed to bring in a replacement because he was out.
After that…why take the risk that the injury might not heal properly?
They handled letting him go perfectly. Dump the salary, let some other team test him, and now we get him back.
I’m actually surprised he was willing to come back though. As I recall there were some bad feelings after he was sent packing.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:22 am
Buc89 Says
“So we bring back Barth, which I approve, but we leave the much more glaring hole at punter untouched. FIRE KOENAN”
They also have Spencer Lanning and Karl Schmitz on the roster, in case you didn’t notice.
Schmitz seems to be okay, though he had a bad game this week. That’s okay though…adversity leads to growth in many cases. Maybe he’ll get better because of it. His first game was pretty good.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:24 am
Pickgrin Says
“… AND getting touchbacks on every kickoff practically…”
See, now to me that isn’t a good thing.
I would rather pin them on the 5 yard line than the 20.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:33 am
At least with a touchback, you know your opponent can’t run it back.
August 27th, 2015 at 9:36 am
I get that…but giving them 20 yards for free isn’t good either…not in my opinion anyway. If you have a good enough special teams unit…run backs won’t happen.
August 27th, 2015 at 10:15 am
According to the article I read – the Broncos got burned on a couple long kickoff returns off Barth’s leg as his kickoffs were not even making it to the goal line.
I think you would be in the minority of not preferring a touchback Bonzai. And the only way that a kickoff returner gets pinned deep (barring a muffed catch) is if he runs out a kickoff that was 8 or 9 yards deep in the end zone. A kick that doesn’t even make it to the end zone or just barely does will not usually result in in a tackle inside the 15 yard line.