Just when you think one thing is going well, two or three more problems show up. Kicking has become an issue again with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Not that it ultimately factored in the final score against the New Orleans Saints Sunday, but six points were left off the board that could have put the Bucs within a score of tying. After dumping kicker Chandler Catanzaro, who made 73 percent of his kicks and 85 percent of his extra points, the Bucs decided to sign four-year veteran Cairo Santos, a career 83 percent field goal kicker.
Santos missed both his FG from 46 and 40 yards respectively. Previously, Santos only missed 3 attempts in the 40-49-yard range his first three years in the league. Maybe the Bucs’ kickers’ curse has hit him, too. He’s only made one out of four attempts at that range in 2018, which includes his stint with the Los Angeles Rams. Is it time to panic for the kicker again? Since Santos didn’t cost us the game, he deserves a chance to redeem himself even as playoff hopes are fleeting.
As far as punting goes, the usually reliable Bryan Anger was blocked, but luckily it wasn’t a converted score by the Saints. For returns, neither Bobo Wilson nor Adam Humphries had a chance to do much of anything with three returns for a combined 54 yards.
Will kicking improve against the Baltimore Ravens? As unpredictable as the Bucs have been lately, all you really can do is shrug and hope for the best from rituals, prayers, sacrifices, incantations, whatever.
