After rookie Kyle Brindza went 1 for 3 with a missed extra point this past Sunday against the Panthers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided to bring back veteran/locker room leader Connor Barth. It was an overall tough stretch for kickers across the NFL in Week 4 as there were a total of 4 missed extra points and 18 missed FGs. Barth Vader noticed not only Tampa's kicking struggles, but the collective kicker community's struggles and decided to tweet out this:
The tweet must have caught the attention of the Tampa Bay front office since Barth was signed on Tuesday. Barth has a career 85.3% field goal percentage with all of his misses being attributed to either hurricane-like weather conditions or 80-plus yard attempts. Rookie QB Jameis Winston was excited about the Barth news and was quoted as saying, "Knowing that I only need to get the ball past our own 40-yard line in order to get some points for our offense is a huge boost of confidence for me."
Coach Lovie Smith would not give a definite yes or no answer when asked whether or not Barth would also see time in a wildcat offense role, "We know that Connor is a very versatile player with MVP potential, but we first just want to make sure our kicking game gets back to where we want it to be." He added, "After we see a few weeks of continuous 60 and 70 yard field goals from him, then we will explore an expanded role for him in our offense."
The Buccaneers are currently 1-3 in 2015 and trail the 4-0 Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons in their division. However, the news of Connor Barth coming back to town has now made them the odds-on favorite to win the NFL South.
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