“Fun” Return To Tampa Bay
August 29th, 2015
Yet to miss an NFL extra point.
So the Bucs are unsure of their kicker position. That’s apparent since they brought back Connor Barth.
At least we’re not talking about punters, who are not people. Some suggest punting is a waste of time.
For Barth, coming back to the Bucs is like putting on a comfortable pair of tennis shoes. Smooth.
“It’s been fun,” Barth said. “It’s just one of those things – I’m just trying to come in and help the team. The familiarity was here and I’m just comfortable here. I made my choice and I’m looking forward to putting on the pads tomorrow night and going back out there. I played a bunch of games in there so it will be fun. Kind of a cool thing to see again.”
Barth missed the 2013 season after blowing out his Achilles in a charity basketball game. He lost out to rookie Pat Murray last year at this time.
Per NFL.com, Barth has hit on 85.3 percent of his field goal attempts in his career. In six seasons, Barth has yet to miss an extra point.
If nothing else, this is good competition. May the best man win a roster spot.
August 29th, 2015 at 8:16 am
Come on Mr. Barth win the job so we can again have a dependable kicker, please stay away from basketball until your NFL kicking career is over.
August 29th, 2015 at 8:18 am
I’m interested in our kickoffs……Barth is accurate but doesn’t have a strong leg for them. Koenen shouldn’t stay on the roster…..so, who kicks?
August 29th, 2015 at 8:57 am
They might just eat his salary for one more season (Koenen)
August 29th, 2015 at 9:02 am
@Tampabaybucfan … “I’m interested in kickoffs”.
Me too, but don’t want to see our field goal kicker doing that. Too much risk, not only to his leg from all the extra kicking required, but also chance of getting hurt tackling or potentially getting mauled by the receiving team.
I’m fine with Koenen making what he makes … as long as he delivers. Virtually every kickoff should be a touchback far as I’m concerned under the new rules (unless the receiving team does something stupid like bringing one out from 9 yds deep). His punting wasn’t great (OK, maybe that’s an understatement), but we don’t know what his special teams coach was telling him to do either.
August 29th, 2015 at 9:12 am
Nobody asked Barth what is the difference between kicking in the cold and in the heat. Don’t say it was cold there and hot here. Also, Bortles sure looked good in Jax, the Lions had a hole there missing Suh. The Bucs-Jags game is no gimme either.
August 29th, 2015 at 11:21 am
I rooted for Murray last year because Barth wasn’t healthy and then rookie Murray was determined…this preseason, Murray has been shaky, I’ll take Mr. Consistency Connor Barth back thank u. No offense Murray.
August 29th, 2015 at 11:39 am
I like Barth and I’m not ready to give up on Koenen yet. He averaged 45 freaking yards for three straight years for the Bucs which is why he IS getting the big$$$
If you look at Koenen’s career he has had longest punts of well over 60 yards, one year it was 70 for the Falcons, and then last year he fell off dramatically.
He only averaged slightly better than 40 yards almost FIVE yards shorter than his previous three years with the Bucs. His longest last year was only 56 yards.
Obviously we can’t have last year’s performance but Koenen is 33 a prime age for a kicker. He has close to a decade of experience. If he simply returns to the form he displayed in his first 3 years here to not only make us forget last year but to realize what a weapon he CAN be. There is no reason to assume he suddenly went over the hill at 32. Let’s hope he just recaptures his form.
August 29th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
In Barth I trust.
August 29th, 2015 at 1:19 pm
buc4lyfe1979 Says:
“I’ll take Mr. Consistency Connor Barth back thank u. No offense Murray.”
On this we agree buc4lyfe.
SPBF – If you look at Koenen’s career statistics – the first 3 years as a Buc was a significant jump statistically for Koenen. What he did last was below average – but was more in line with what his stats were as a Falcon for 6 years than what he averaged here 2011>2013.
I would be good with the Bucs keeping Barth because statistically he is $ when it comes to field goal accuracy and this is very important. But they also need to keep Koenen if they do keep Barth because Koenen is one of the better deep kickoff kickers in the league.
August 29th, 2015 at 1:35 pm
The Bucs also signed a punter Shum last week. He was on the Bucs practice squad last season and he does kickoffs/onside kicks well. I realize that I’ve written this a few times but I keep reading people’s comments asking ‘who will do kickoffs if they keep Barth’. I’d like to see this combination work because both the other punters are too inconsistent and Murray just not that good.