Long On History; Short On Time
August 5th, 2017
More takes from JoeBucsFan Saturday columnist Gil Arcia
When the Bucs brought in competition for kicker Roberto Aguayo in Nick Folk, hope was that Aguayo would get his act straight.
And that hope has become real. This August is different. Aguayo has gotten a leg up on the kicking competition and also seems to be consistently nailing 50+ yarders in camp. Last season’s training camp was the opposite, as the Florida State product was inconsistent then just like he was throughout the regular season.
Roberto Aguayo 2017
This year appears to be a bit more promising already.
If Aguayo makes it into the season, there’s at least some history he can realistically hang his pride on. Baltimore’s Justin Tucker, Dallas’ Dan Bailey, New England’s Stephen Gostkowski, and Folk himself all saw a jump in their field goal percentagestheir second season, and they are just a few examples of many who have seen the same type of success.
Those previously mentioned kickers aren’t being compared to Aguayo in any way. We’ve seen their ability to accurately kick their respective teams into the win column. However, Aguayo is just 16 games into his career, so no reason to boot him to the curb just yet.
Last year’s struggles may have been mental for Aguayo. In fact, he did come out and say he put too much into it last season. Only time will tell if the 2016 woes are behind him. And time is something he’s short on.
August 5th, 2017 at 7:49 am
If he makes it. I would think the pressure would be on again.
August 5th, 2017 at 8:23 am
Been a kicker since middle school, it’s 90% mental – when you overthink you miss kick – he is maturing and settling down his thoughts
August 5th, 2017 at 8:31 am
Cl
I did some kicking too. Definitely was mental for him. The part i cant fathom was his lack of leg strength. We hear he is knocking down 50 plus yarders but we still gota see it in the preseason games. No way we can go through another season of not having a kicker who can knock down some long ones. Handicaps the offense big time. Go Bucs
August 5th, 2017 at 8:35 am
NFL kickers don’t last unless you have the mechanics to make at least 80% or so of your FG tries, so unless there’s an injury involved I’d think that problems are mental with just about all kicking less than 80%. I remember Martin Gramatica (‘Automatica’?) when he was first drafted in 1999. First 4 yrs with the Bucs he was Mr. Consistent from 40 yds in, and almost as reliable from 50 yds in. Then in 2003-2004 it all seemed to go kaplooey, and his FG% plummeted (if I remember, he was injured initially). Never really regained it after that. Bounced around with the Colts, Cowboys & Saints for 4 more yrs but never regained the touch. Hopefully Roberto’s turned that corner, gets the mental aspect of kicking squared away, and goes on to have an awesome career.
August 5th, 2017 at 9:07 am
his new nickname is A-A or simply adios aguayo, better get his act together and quick like, licht is building a winning team, no time for tip toeing thru the hash marks, it’s now or never
August 5th, 2017 at 9:09 am
The most promising part for me is that Aguayo seems to have recovered his leg strength once again.
I agree with D.R. about the accuracy issues…mostly mental…but is it just my imagination or did Roberto seem to struggle with his leg strength.
I could easily be remembering it wrong at my age. Maybe it was just a meme that developed like McCoy being soft…a soft All Pro LMAO.
But he’s clearly booting it well over 50 through the uprights in TC so far so I take optimism from that. Then again I take optimism from everything. LMAO
August 5th, 2017 at 9:54 am
The yips are like herpes, once you get them they never go away. Hope he doesn’t get a flareup in December.
August 5th, 2017 at 10:22 am
I wish Aguayo the best but kicking in practice is much easier than in games. Folk, Bailey and Tucker improved after their 1st season but their % was 84, 87 and 91 respectively not 71%. Aguayo was not great his senior year at FSU and terrible last season. The Bucs just can’t have that happen again this season.
If you take into consideration Folk’s 2 year recovery from his hip surgery he belongs in the Tucker, Bailey … group. Aguayo has a long way to go to be mentioned in that company.
August 5th, 2017 at 11:11 am
Even if Aguayo has a great camp, I will still be very nervous if he is the Bucs kicker for the regular season.
August 5th, 2017 at 11:55 am
Everyone (including coaches, players, fans) will be nervous when Aguayo kicks until he knocks down a bunch in a row in games and wins back trust. He’s off to a good start in TC – but has quite a ways to go in order to erase the negative emotional response one naturally gets seeing him line up for a kick which is based on too many bad kicks last year.
I don’t think the strength of Roberto’s leg was ever a problem. He consistently booms kickoffs well into or even out of the end zone. His problem was accuracy and obviously its harder to hit a 55 yarder straight when even your 35 yarders are too often suspect.
Hope Aguayo remains consistent from here on out – but I suspect the comparison of the yips to herpes above- while cute and kind of funny – may not be that far off.
August 5th, 2017 at 6:39 pm
I hope he makes it we did use a high pick for him and he seems like a good guy ! Bucs
August 5th, 2017 at 9:02 pm
Patriot 16, Bucs 14 and with the ball attempting a 48 yard field goal with five seconds left in the game. Roberto lines up, the ball is snapped, good hold, kick is up and away, and it’s
August 6th, 2017 at 10:09 am
GOOD!!
Aguayo wins it for the BUCS!!
Period!!