The Kyle Brindza era for the Tampa Bay Bucs lasted two games.
The wayward kicker was released Monday. In the last two weeks, Brindza had missed five field goals and two extra points for Tampa Bay.
The Bucs had traded for the rights to Brindza during the preseason, sending tight end Tim Wright to the Detroit Lions for his rights. Brindza showed plenty of leg – he hit a 58-yarder against Houston – but his accuracy was sketchy. In all, he made only six of 12 kicks.
Bucs’ coach Lovie Smith said he did not regret giving Brindza another chance after his performance against Houston.
“Absolutely not, he deserved another shot,” Smith said. “I don’t think you move on from a player based on one performance. But when you see it becoming a trend, going a certain way, then you have to react to it and that was the case.
“Kyle has a strong leg, but in our league points are valuable. You can’t miss five out of seven field goals (the last two weeks) , two extra points, whatever it was. We just can’t afford to be in that position anymore, so I feel like we saw something we didn’t like two weeks ago and yesterday’s game told us the direction we needed to go.”
Tampa Bay has not named another kicker, but former Buc Connor Barth was with the team late in the preseason.
Kickers across the league are struggling with the new extra point distance. Pittsburgh has already replaced its kicker, and Philadelphia, Jacksonville and the Saints have struggled.
