Don’t Blame The Wind
January 6th, 2020
What happened?
It has become a sad tradition: Bucs football and bad kickers.
Man, have the Bucs tried to change their luck, bringing in kickers from all corners of the globe for years to solve this problem. It hasn’t worked.
For a while there, Matt Gay seemed like he had everything fixed and in midseason he began a nice streak of accuracy. Then came the final two games of the season.
Ugh.
Now Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians has stated Gay is better kicking long distances than short. Joe wonders when this began exactly. Per Rodger Sherman of The Ringer, Gay was 37-of-38 on field goal attempts under 40-yards in college.
How exactly did Gay go from being almost automatic on short field goals in college to struggling to kick short field goals in the pros? Did he decide to change his kicking swing like this fan favorite did?
Now Arians has noted Gay struggles with the wind at home, specifically kicking into the south end zone. It’s not the first time Joe has heard this. A couple of years ago former Bucs coach Dirk Koetter said studies have shown the Den of Depression is one of the windier stadiums in the NFL.
While Joe doesn’t discount the wind element as a factor, Joe smelled something rotten. So Joe did a little bit of research.
At the Den of Depression, Gay connected on 12 of 17 field goal attempts. That’s 70 percent. Not great, of course.
Opposing kickers nailed 18 of 20 field goal attempts at the Den of Depression in 2019. That’s 90 percent. That’s pretty damn good.
Just a hunch those kickers battled the same winds as Gay.
But here is where the wind factor gets Joe frustrated. One would think if the wind is that much of a factor, then it would hurt dome kickers, right? They are not used to kicking in any sort of wind. Gay, in theory, should be used to kicking in windy conditions, right?
Well, the Bucs hosted five dome teams this year (Arizona, Houston, Indianapolis, Atlanta and New Orleans). Combined, their kickers nailed 14 of 15 field goal attempts at the Den of Depression this season.
One missed field goal by dome kickers in the Den of Depression in 15 tries. One!
So Joe must apologize beforehand if he pukes on the floor the next time he hears anyone from the Bucs citing the wind as a factor in why Bucs kickers stink.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:06 am
back off gay….sheez.
if his name was JW you’d be gushing over the size of his legs and how the goalposts sway too much.
he’ll get there.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:10 am
Gay single-handedly lost 1 maybe two games. That said, he did show something in the middle of the season. If he has trouble kicking into/with wind maybe he should, you know, work on that?
January 6th, 2020 at 10:15 am
Extreme competition in TC is necessary…….the more pressure on Gay to perform, the better……pressure will help him in live games……
As with Jameis….I think there is some “home-choking” going on…..
And, I agree….it’s not the wind….it’s between the ears with both of them.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:17 am
Matt Gay is garbage. Cost us 2-3 games by his lonesome. It’s all JW fault because of the obsession. I get it tho
January 6th, 2020 at 10:20 am
What is the avg or a median distance of those kicks. Other than the Giants game. Which I was at, I don’t recall him missing another kick under 30. And if I remember correctly at one point he led the league in >40 yds made. Yes he missed 3 the last game. But let’s not panic again.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:21 am
Matt gay rookie 77% 3 games that he impact. Not bad.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:22 am
Licht is saying … give him a chance next year. He’s only going to screw up 2 games.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:28 am
Licht Brain is allowed to waste a 2nd rounder on Aguayo(out of Football now). So what is Licht Brain allowed to do again? Waste another pick on a kicker. Pi$$ poor decision making by the GM and ownership , and what do the owners do for Licht Brain? Re-up him for another 5 years after a totally abysmal track record. Go figure that one out.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:28 am
is there something about the field at Ray Jay that makes it hard to kick? How can all these kickers be bad.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:29 am
HEY TAMPA THE TENNESSEE TITANS ARE IN THE PLAYOFF AGAIN SINCE JW AND MARIOTA WHERE DRAFTED ONLY DIFFERENCE TENNESSEE KNEW WHEN TO THROW IN THE TOWEL AND THE BUCS DONT!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 6th, 2020 at 10:31 am
If he made just 3 kicks he missed, the Bucs would be 10-6, not 7-9. Think that is important?
January 6th, 2020 at 10:31 am
Not all kickers are bad at RayJay-look at Connor Barth and Matt Bryant numbers-however Buccos were too stupid or cheap to keep either.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:34 am
2019-20 Playoff Interceptions:
Tom Brady: 1
Drew Brees: 1
Jameis Winston: 0
January 6th, 2020 at 10:42 am
As tiring as the gay ‘jokes’ are, I think Matt Gay will be fine. It was his rookie year, and most of the season, we felt confident we could make field goals for the first time in years.
As I said last off season about Rojo…how a player responds after getting a full season behind them is how you know whether they will turn out alright. They don’t have to come back perfect for their second year, but they need to show strong improvement.
Rojo did.
I predict Matt Gay will this year.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:42 am
Gay simply got the yips when the kicks counted in the Giant and ATL games (you can also chuck in the key miss at Carolina that could’ve lost the game). Yeah I know he boomed some big kicks from close to 60 yards but man he did choke in the clutch and missed way to many XPs. Granted there were other kickers who got the yips this year in other cities like Chicago and the Titans (who did have the common sense to can Cairo Santos), heck even the Saints kicker jaked one FG that would have gave them a W this weekend and didn’t the Bills miss an XP in Houston, another game that went to OT. Still Gay has a leg but under pressure he simply cracks. He reminds me of a slugging DH who K’s in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded tied or down by a run but will bang 3 long homers in a game where his team is up 13-2 or down 13-3….
He merely chokes when he was drafted to make these ****ing kicks.. Bring in competition next year.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:44 am
Off topic, Cowboys got Mike McCarthy as head coach, and I could not be happier. I was concerned the Panthers would hire him.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:46 am
If a kicker misses XP. There’s a problem. And the problem will not go away.
XP’s are Easy kick. No rush. Etc. etc.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:50 am
Wow, five (yes, five) actual uses of Joe’s favorite trope (aside from the ludicrous and dubious JW America’s QB crapola) “Den of Depression” in one article. That has to be some kind of record.
January 6th, 2020 at 10:53 am
While I’m not a believer in one play or one player determining the outcome…
While it appears that way at the moment of crunch it totally ignores we had 59 minutes of play before Gays missed kicks or JW’s Pick six and other ints.
It’s the sum of the plays that actually determine the outcome.
However if that sum gets you to the final seconds then we see who chokes and who doesn’t…who are the money players.
In that situation…yes Gay “choked” the Giant game…if you judge everything by when the game is literally on the line.
He DID NOT LOSE that final game vs Atlanta anymore than the linemen who missed blocks….missed tackles…bad throws…bad routes…the COMBINATION of TEAM events that got us to OT. That’s on the ENTIRE TEAM
But if Gay choked NY #3 clearly choked away our final game! The ball was in his hands to start OT and his pick six ended any chance of even someone else pulling out the game.
And for yahoos coming on with but…but…Tom Brady did it this weekend.
Comparing a 28-42 turnover disaster to the GOAT…a guy who has 6…DID YOU READ THAT 6 SB’s and 4 SB MVP awards is freaking sacrilegious to real sports fans. I do not hate but I truly dislike both Brady and Belicheat. I root for them to lose every game. Having said that…despite my distaste for them I ABSOLUTELY RESPECT their achievements. They’ll always have SCOREBOARD!
JW has nothing but meaningless stats and NO playoffs. If JW led us to the next six SB’s and won them all then he might have something to talk about.
With this logic…Brady did it so JW’s not really that bad I should go dig up all the great kickers who have missed game ending kicks and then compare Gay to guys like Janikowski and Vinateri.
The absolute logical absurdity of comparing a players single failure to rationalize and EXCUSE another player for that mistake….
I’m a writer. I’m sloppy here and confess it, so many here can point out all the bad sentences (ints) I’ve written. John Steinbeck had a few bad sentences. So there…if Steinbeck does it then I’m a potential Steinbeck?
January 6th, 2020 at 11:14 am
Maybe Matt Gay is “near sighted” like Winston is. Does he need glasses? I hope we find a better kicker. This kid buckled under pressure several times this year. Head case.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:19 am
As a kicker , you are what your stats say you are. Matt gay was 24th in the NFL among full time kickers @ 77%-FREAKING HORRIBLE-especially when you consider a 5th Rounder was wasted on him.
Gay has been on a steady decline as a kicker. Junior year at Utah-88%. Senior year at Utah 84%. Rookie year in NFL 77%.
Dan Bailey and Mason Crosby are BOTH UFA’s that are well over 90% on field goals. If LICHT BRAIN is serious about winning , admit you made a horrible mistake drafting Gay and go get Bailey or Crosby-that is pretty simple.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:25 am
Gay didn’t cost us the NY game. He did however cost us the Atlanta game. The reason Gay didn’t cost us the NY game is because the defense cost us that game. No way NY should’ve been in that game after the first half. Gay just had a chance to win it for us.
3 missed fg’s in the Atlanta game did cost us. We should have never went to OT. Also the fact the BL took the ball out of JW hands in the second half the the Atlanta game cost us. We ran the ball effectively between the 20’s however we stalled out. The kicker missed fg’s at that point BL should have been trying to score TD’s instead of milking the clock. Thats what got us sent to OT. Then you want to tell JW go out and win it in OT. Why not allow him to win it in regulation instead. Hopefully the the coaches learn alot from this past year like the players. Never take your foot off the gas for a whole half. Thats a recipe for disaster. It happened 2-3 times this year. The bucs arent good enough to play that type of football.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:39 am
I think his issue is alignment. He lines up the same on short and long opportunities as if he expects his short kicks to have a draw on them as do the long kicks… for short kicks he should line up straighter.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:45 am
Don’t complain about our kicker too much or Jason might draft a K in the first or second rd.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:04 pm
The wind.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:15 pm
Who coaches the kickers and holders? They should have better control and a read on this mess.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
We need more competition at kicker. Gay is not the answer. We probably also need to have a backup kicker on the practice squad next year. No more drafting kickers let’s pick up a veteran if possible.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:17 pm
Jameis Winston bailed him out as the last games scapegoat for all those missed kicks which should have been chip shots. Unforgiveable at the NFL level.Lets bring in more competition next season.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:35 pm
@St.Pete
No apology necessary. This is the last place one should render concern about punctuation and syntax.
Let’s have it–fiction? Nonfiction? Periodicals?
January 6th, 2020 at 12:43 pm
Adam Vinatieri was 77% on his fg’s and missed 3 xpoints his rookie year.
Gay was a rookie, he needs to improve next year and beyond.
January 6th, 2020 at 12:43 pm
Ineffable
Fiction. And if you ask NDOG and his loyal gang of JW supporters he’d probably laugh and say I write nothing but fiction here. LMAO
THX for asking. I’ve tried to lobby Joe to put up a special banner ad…a kind of classified ad space for people like me, Bonzai..also a published writer…Lord C who is a musician..I’m sure I’m leaving guys out.
I would never get specific with my writing until Joe feels comfortable about letting us pay for it. It’s his site and I don’t come here to advertise for free.
@Joe….could you let us pay…Please? LOL
So easy to set up an intern could handle it..I get nobody would pay you the big bucks of other sponsors but put us all together in one ad and who knows?
January 6th, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Not one kick missed during outback bowl. Would be interesting to see how the college kickers have faired when playing USF at ray jay
January 6th, 2020 at 1:21 pm
-Matt Gay missed 3fg’s against atl. He cost us 2 games this season.
-Jameis cost us 2 games with his 4+turnovers
-Defense definitely cost us 2 (if not more)
-refs cost us 2
We really only got beaten by 49ers, seattle was unlucky with the coin toss in ot, and the saints just beat us. Division games are not easy. We are so close to getting over that hump.
January 6th, 2020 at 1:21 pm
That’s some poor analysis. You should have separated out the North kicks vs the South side ones and gone back many years for a larger sample size regardless of who it is that’s kicking.
I’ve kicked with a few (Bucs & now former NFL) kickers in the offseason and all of them said the South side at Rayjay was a bitch to make consistently especially later in the year. The most experienced kicker who is now a kicking coach told me it was just a tricky as Allegheny River side in Hines field.
January 6th, 2020 at 1:47 pm
just ask Scott Norwood
January 6th, 2020 at 1:51 pm
“Look at those eyes
The eyes are the window to the soul
Those manicured eyebrows are saying
These Kobe Fakers “look at those eyes jokes are so gay”
Chaz Bono
January 6th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
NFL kickers are like PGA golfers, where you drive for show and putt for dough. The best golfers make the clutch putts while the big swingers don’t. Putting and kicking are both 99% mental.
January 6th, 2020 at 1:56 pm
NFL kickers are like PGA golfers, where you drive for show and putt for dough. Putting and kicking are both 99% mental. The best golfers make clutch putts. It’s as simple as that.
January 6th, 2020 at 2:41 pm
so basically with matt gay we have a 14 game season…???
the other 2 games you just chalk up as losses due to the kicker…???
is that how buccaneers fans should start to think…?
oh wait…
give us a game in london and we are down to a 13 game season…
oh wait…
jameis is also sure to blow 2 games all by himself…
so we are down to an 11 game season…
then we begin to play well for bruce and win 7 of the 11…
thus going 7-9…
oye yoy yoy
January 6th, 2020 at 2:44 pm
St Pete–
Yeah, too bad we can’t get specific. Best I can do is inform that I recently completed my third novel. Not sure if my website will appear above if you seek contact. I’d be interested in giving your work a look see. In the meantime I’ll kiss some ass by stating … Go Bucs! Go Joe!
January 6th, 2020 at 2:45 pm
St Pete–
Yeah, too bad we can’t get specific. Best I can do is inform that I recently completed my third novel. Not sure if my website will appear above if you seek contact. I’d be interested in giving your work a look see. In the meantime I’ll kiss some ass by stating … Go Joe!
January 6th, 2020 at 2:45 pm
remember when jpp was talking to matt gay on the sidelines after his 2nd or 3rd miss…
he wasn’t patting him on the butt to build confidence…
he was telling him:
“miss another one rook and the whole d-line is hazing the fugg out of you in the locker room son”
#WhenShizGetsRealOnGameday
January 6th, 2020 at 2:45 pm
Saint Pete,
Yeah, too bad we can’t get specific. Best I can do is inform that I recently completed my third novel. Not sure if my website will appear above if you seek contact. I’d be interested in giving your work a look see. In the meantime I’ll kiss some ass by stating … Go Joe!
January 6th, 2020 at 5:22 pm
Another GM Licht stellar draft pick. At least this time he waited until the 5th round to waste a pick.
January 6th, 2020 at 6:28 pm
I’ve been watching this team since the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I never remember hearing this many complaints about the gosh damn wind. It’s not like we haven’t had good kickers in the past. This dude is not good. Bring in some serious competition. Hire some kicker consultants too while you are at it Glazers since Licht and the scouting department are clueless at what makes a good kicker.
January 6th, 2020 at 7:09 pm
I agree a thousand percent Buczilla. You’d think..with the NFLs largest coaching staff Our Bucs can find a Kicking coach…
January 6th, 2020 at 10:47 pm
Just like long range shooting. If you can’t read wind and adjust accordingly, you don’t belong in the game. To think you can just power through it is naive at best. Another head case lol.
January 6th, 2020 at 11:05 pm
I can’t believe I’m one of the people defending the Gay, but he’s a rookie who mostly had a good year. He single handedly lost us the Giants game, a game that had the domino effect of eliminating the team from the playoffs early on and that’s really his unforgivable sin for the year. The only way he would make up for that is to have won the Bucs a game on an very long FG, one that he shouldn’t make. However that never happened.
Game 16 was a meaningless game that he also single handedly lost for the team. I’m not going to get that upset by it.
In any case I think he’ll be very good next year, and by year 3 should be a legit pro-bowl candidate.
It’s really about making money kicks and he really didn’t have a chance to do that this year. The issue however is if my memory serves me right, he’s never won a game, not even in high school – he’s just never had the chance. You wonder how a guy gets this far into his career and has never had to kick a game winner. I think he’ll be OK, but who knows. In any case kicker really isn’t something I’d be worried about at this point.
BTW, Roberto never MISSED a money kick and never lost us a game and yet you dopes wanted him lynched.
January 7th, 2020 at 12:28 am
I just have never been enamored with the soccer style kick, especially in close range. Why can’t they just line up straight behind the holder and aim down the middle.
January 7th, 2020 at 5:50 am
His only job is to kick FG’s.. when you miss game winning FG from 38 yards out, after your teams entire drive was to set you up for a FG….. their final plays of the game were used to position the ball for said FG, which would have won the game. Aaaannndddd… Matt Gay misses it. Next… how do you miss 3 FG’s in a game!? 0/3, 0% FG’s made in a close game. 1 would have made a difference.. just ONE field goal to prevent the game from going into overtime. Just ONE would have prevented Jameis Winston from getting his 30th interception, and record breaking pick six. The offense sets you up THREE times to do your job, and you fail every time… nah fam…. NEXT!
January 7th, 2020 at 11:44 am
Gay Sucks! He hooks every kick. The almost never go straight. Cut Gays sorry ass and go draft another kicker this year idiot Licht. Gay cost the Bucs a winning season. That makes him a loser. Kick rocks Gay