The Buccaneers have not had the greatest luck with their kickers since Matt Bryant was released. Will Matt Gay be the one to change this?
Throughout the last decade, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have suffered through some of the worst kicking woes in the NFL, cycling through kickers left and right. These kickers include Mike Nugent, Shane Andrus, Connor Barth, Rian Lindell, Patrick Murray, Kyle Brindza, Roberto Aguayo, Nick Folk, Chandler Catanzaro, Cairo Santos, and Matt Gay.
The team selected Matt Gay with the 145th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Matt Gay competed with Cairo Santos this preseason to be the teams kicker, and Santos was ultimately released on August 31st in favor of Gay.
Gay has a boot for a leg as he can knock down kicks from 60+ yards with ease; the problem with Gay has been short kicks throughout his kicking career. This was evident when the Buccaneers played the New York Giants in Week three and Gay missed two extra points and a game winning field goal attempt from 34 yards away.
More from The Pewter Plank
- Devin White posts cryptic message to Lavonte David on Twitter
- ESPN predicts surprising outcome to Devin White trade saga
- Updated Buccaneers depth chart after signing two players from rookie minicamp
- Todd Bowles sends clear message about Baker Mayfield’s role with Bucs
- The Athletic is wrong about Bucs one ‘must-watch’ game in 2023
This prompted fans and media to react and say that the Buccaneers once again drafted a bust as a kicker and the kicking game is cursed. Since week three however, Gay has silenced the critics and the hope of the end of the curse could be near.
Since the Giants game, Gay has gone four-for-four on field goals and-11 for-11 on extra point attempts. This means that he has been completely perfect in the kicking game.
On the season, Gay is 11-for-13 on field goals and 16-for-18 on extra points; this equates to 84.6% field goal percentage and 88.8% on extra points. To put this in perspective, Matt Bryant for his career has an 85.9% field goal percentage and Buccaneers great Martin Gramatica had a 76.4% field goal percentage as a Buccaneer.
If Gay can keep this level of play up, he’s definitely the kicker of the future and Buccaneer fans will no longer have to look away and cringe when the field goal unit is on the field.