The Matt Bryant Curse
February 6th, 2019
Reverse the curse?
Could the Bucs be this desperate to finally find a reliable kicker?
Just before midnight last night, Dixie Chicks kicker Matt Bryant announced on Twitter he will be looking for a new home for the 2019 season. The Dixie Chicks waved bye-bye.
Now the Bucs have been pretty much s(p)it for kicking since the Bucs tried to squeeze Bryant on a contract, with the exception of a four-year period with basketball-playing Connor Barth. Bryant was let go before the 2009 season. Pennywise and pound-downright dumb. How many games (including possible playoff berths) have the Bucs lost because they had a garbage kicker?
Well Bryant, an old man now by NFL standards, has Bucs fans all giddy about a potential Bucs reunion. And Vaughn McClure of BSPN claims yes, the Bucs are interested in Bryant. And Joe knows who some of McClure’s NFL contacts are (ahem) so this isn’t just some dude in a bar throwing something against the wall on Facebook.
Of course, there are a couple of reasons to tap the brakes. If the Dixie Chicks were not concerned about Bryant, they would have kept him.
Bryant missed three games this past season after he blew out his hamstring kicking a game-winning field goal against the Bucs (!) in a game that should have meant the end of former defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Bryant also had a bum back this year.
A guy who will turn 44 before the 2019 season with a bad back has to raise red flags. Then again, Bucs special teams coach Keith Armstrong was the Dixie Chicks’ special teams coach last year. Who in the NFL would know him better?
If the Bucs do sign Bryant, it’s the first sure sign that new coach Bucco Bruce Arians really is about winning now.
Joe wonders if Bryant is still Gene Deckerhoff’s hero?
#theshowmustgoon pic.twitter.com/J63iycYTSY
— matt bryant (@Matt_Bryant3) February 6, 2019
February 6th, 2019 at 2:20 pm
Man,
I want this so bad. However, this guy is at the end of his career. More money wasted if we sign him.
February 6th, 2019 at 2:20 pm
Worst decision this franchise made since passing up on Aaron Rodgers. Despicable that they moved on from him after he lost his child. I don’t know if he has much left in the tank, he played in a dome ever since, but he’s an upgrade over Catanzaro. Go get him
February 6th, 2019 at 2:26 pm
sign him back when he’s just about done? ridiculous! 44 years old!!
February 6th, 2019 at 2:30 pm
No, that ship has sailed.
February 6th, 2019 at 2:35 pm
bucfan celebrates more washed up has-beens than AARP…. living in the past is for scared losers…. move on….
February 6th, 2019 at 2:35 pm
Nostalgia has done nothing for this team and it’s absolutely ridiculous to sign a 44 yr old kicker fresh off injury and if he wasn’t previously a buc this wouldn’t be talked about. I don’t care how many years we struggled to make kicks, last year we sucked because of dork not because of the current kicker. If you want competition for him go get it but not this dude and because of the way he was cut he’ll probably only come here out of desperation.
February 6th, 2019 at 2:35 pm
is it worth it if it ends the curse?
February 6th, 2019 at 2:38 pm
A blown hammy and a AARP card in pocket. Licht will have the contract printed up by the end of the day.
February 6th, 2019 at 2:52 pm
lol Bucs can’t even figure out kickers
February 6th, 2019 at 3:04 pm
Didn’t this guy just beat us with his leg on the last play of the 2018 season?
Sign him.
February 6th, 2019 at 3:19 pm
Not sure Bucs should sign Bryant but glad to see him off the Falcons–dude was a Bucs Curse!
February 6th, 2019 at 3:27 pm
You know vinateri is 46 and coming back? Right ?
Go get him. He still has a leg. He is automatic
Get him checked out with physical.
We lost out cause of his last injury and we let go. Atlanta gained
Let Atlanta lose out for this injury and hurt a division rival and we gain.
No brainer to me
February 6th, 2019 at 3:43 pm
He made 95 % of his field goals last year. Is usually around 88-90 range.
It’s so funny to see people say pass and he is washed up / that ship has sailed.
February 6th, 2019 at 3:48 pm
Glazers…Fire up the plane!
February 6th, 2019 at 3:49 pm
Donald Igwebuike is available, the guy never missed a kick inside of 35 yards! He’s only 58-years young, he should be on the teams radar.
February 6th, 2019 at 3:57 pm
If old “win now” kickers are Bruce’s thing…then 35 year old Stephen Gostkowski on a 2 year $6 mill deal with no state income tax, makes a hell of alot more sense than the Bryant walking m*a*s*h unit.
February 6th, 2019 at 4:00 pm
Remember when people used to bash Gruden for this?
February 6th, 2019 at 4:08 pm
44 year old. Blown Hammy. No thanks. Was a great kicker but we need a long term solution not a short term fix that probably wont even work anyways.
February 6th, 2019 at 4:08 pm
Shoot man, sign him as kicking coach. He could kick 2 games a year, against ATL. I don’t think dude EVER missed a kick against us! GO BUCCO…GO BUCS!!
February 6th, 2019 at 4:09 pm
Do the right thing Matt and retire on top.
February 6th, 2019 at 4:17 pm
They should sign him, and keep around Santos, and bring in a young guy, and here’s an idea, let them see who wins the job. There’s no reason Bryant couldn’t kick for another few years and he still, amazingly, hasn’t lost his range yet. In any case I doubt he’d want to come back, I think a dome kicking job is perfect for him at his age, and Indy could get younger at the position if they signed him – that’s where I guess he’ll end up. But for the Bucs, of course you sign the guy if you can, just make sure you have a plan b and a plan c, and have a legitimate open competition.
February 6th, 2019 at 4:19 pm
Dont care how old he is. Nobody should. It is and always has been a game by game year by year league. If he is an upgrade sign him. Same for every position.
February 6th, 2019 at 4:23 pm
kill the curse. sounds like it might happen
February 6th, 2019 at 4:54 pm
End the curse. Sign the man. Crown us!
February 6th, 2019 at 4:57 pm
no way on this but licht has zero clue so im guessing bryant a buc… go get everson griffin
February 6th, 2019 at 5:07 pm
Just imagine how many more games the Bucs would have won if they had kept Bryant all these years…………
It’s a Bucs Life
February 6th, 2019 at 5:34 pm
C’mon! Curse?! The only curse is this organizations lack of accountability when scouting, drafting, and signing FA’s.
NO, it’s time to move on people. Stop holding on to lost hope. It’s time to start a new legacy. New leadership and a new bar, don’t settle because of the name. We can find a competent kicker if we have competent leadership.
February 6th, 2019 at 5:36 pm
Exactly. You would think Buc fans would of realized by now trying to recreate the past just doesnt work.
February 6th, 2019 at 5:37 pm
Who cares about the “ curse”. He can still play st high level.
Way better the Cairo Santos.
Yah. Let’s look at long term guy when there is not one out there.
February 6th, 2019 at 5:46 pm
I just say sign him with a second kicker to end the curse😉😂🤷♂️
February 6th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
No.
February 6th, 2019 at 6:11 pm
Instant upgrade.
February 6th, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Matt come on down you are the winner of the price is right!
February 6th, 2019 at 6:30 pm
A similar thing that happened after the Bucs lost RFA Steve Christie to the Bills. read this same article in a ATL paper about a year and a half ago and they said we had 7 kickers since. Now it’s gotta be at least 9 different ones now. To be fair It’s not that we had all bad kickers, Conner Barth was good before that offseason injury.
February 6th, 2019 at 6:34 pm
Go get him, he’s got at least 1 year in him.
February 6th, 2019 at 6:46 pm
No why woukd they let him walk? He has bren such a good kicker they must feel like he wont be able to make it through an entire season
February 6th, 2019 at 6:48 pm
Sign him now and end this curse.
February 6th, 2019 at 6:55 pm
Good lord….when was the last time, Buc faithful, that Rick Stroud actually ….mattered???. I mean he is barely, barely above the Roy Cummings chap from the former Tribune who wore shorts and penny loafers on the sidelines of Bucs preseason games!?!
C’mon now, PFT says this is the sourcing….Rick Stroud. It very well could be conjecture, which in intelligent parlance is….speculation, or formulation….otherwise known as basically……..NOTHING!!
And NO….Jenna Laine…is hardly the answer. Good lord. Get the mail.
Schefter AND Florio…..are, the answer.
G-O-S-T-O-W-S-K-I. If wanting older sure footed characters less injured.
February 6th, 2019 at 7:25 pm
Fun fact… when the Bucs cut Barth after drafting Roberto, Barth was the 7th most accurate kicker in the HISTORY of the NFL at the time.
February 6th, 2019 at 7:27 pm
Get Kareem Hunt as a back-up kicker.
February 6th, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Cairo Santos, not Catanzaro.
Pretty much explains our kicking situation lol
February 6th, 2019 at 7:39 pm
What’s the price? Give him a one year deal and keep Santos on. His deep ball may be getting shorter year by year but if the guy still feels like he can play, we at least know he’s likely to be accurate in the 30-40 yard range. He is one of the best kickers ever and has proven he’s still got it every year he gets older.
February 6th, 2019 at 8:25 pm
What other kickers in the FA market this year? Robbie Gould (SF). UFA, 37 years old, 16 games 2017 (FG% 95.1, PAT% 93.3) and 2018 (FG% 97.1, PAT% 93.1).
February 6th, 2019 at 8:30 pm
He’ll be another vet that gets guaranteed money as the sun sets on his career at our expense.
February 6th, 2019 at 8:39 pm
It’s the only way to break the curse. If we get one average Matt Bryant year out of him, we will still be the beat kicker we’ve had since, well, Matt Bryant.
February 6th, 2019 at 8:53 pm
ok so im gonna tell you his last two years stats
2018 : 4-5 50yds and up, 7 -7 40 to 49
2017: 8-9 50yds and up, 9 -10 40 to 49
so where in any of these stats do you see some freaking decline? ill be waiting on that answer. its called your assuming and being lazy bc hes 44. so old must mean he has no leg strength or he is declining etc. 95 percent this year , yes he had injuries but seriously theres not one stat to say he is losing anything. do your homework next time
February 6th, 2019 at 9:43 pm
We gave him the shaft. One of the worst moves we ever made.
I would like to have him but who says he’d even sigh with us?
February 6th, 2019 at 10:51 pm
No!
February 7th, 2019 at 6:42 am
Only moronic Buc fans would want a 44 year old Kicker with a bad back…
February 7th, 2019 at 9:00 am
Loyaltotheend
We let him go for a bad hamstring last time. And look what happened . He made 95 % of his kicks last year. Vinateri is 46. Bryant is 43.
It’s ok to make a point but to call people idiots and morons is really funny.
FYI
Look in the mirror next time you get a chance.
February 7th, 2019 at 9:45 am
Only the Bucs…. we cut Barth because we were to cheap, waste a 2nd round pick and have been over paying kickers ever since…..can’t make this stuff up, lol.
February 7th, 2019 at 11:49 am
If kickers are so volatile and a hard position to fill then why are the Falcons letting him walk? There must be more to his injury status than they disclosed. It would be just like the Bucs to bring in an injured player for high $ just to have him don the floppy hat. We must move forward and keep searching for a young accurate kicker. This is why we don’t get our share of compensatory picks. We want to buy everyone else’s castoffs, instead of developing our own. Then, when we realize it was a mistake to hire them we get nothing for letting them go.
February 7th, 2019 at 5:40 pm
@Bird
Who cares if a stranger on the internet insults you
Point is Bucs fans are stuck living in the past
Good teams aren’t trying to bring back players they find good players to replace those guys
February 7th, 2019 at 10:14 pm
There is no Bryant curse. There is a Barth curse. He was great, and he came after Bryant.
February 7th, 2019 at 10:15 pm
Do not bring back Bryant. That ship has sailed.
February 8th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
Sign him as the kicking coach