It wouldn’t be a Bucs season without drama surrounding the kicker position, so here we go again. The Bucs have dodged COVID-19 positives as well as any team in the NFL this season, but five days before Week 15, their special teams battery is currently down for the count. The team announced on Tuesday that they have placed K Ryan Succop, P Bradley Pinion and LS Zach Triner on the COVID-19/Reserve List. It is unknown at this time who, if any, tested positive, or if all three are simply close contacts of someone else who tested positive.
If the trio remains on the list and can’t play in Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, that would present a unique and significant challenge for the Bucs roster. Succop has been brilliant all season, making over 92 percent of his field goal attempts and nearly 93 percent of his extra points. Still, he might be the easiest to replace, as the Bucs have protected practice squad kicker Greg Joseph all year long in the event of a situation like this.
Joseph may also have to handle punting duties on Sunday if Pinion can’t go, as the Bucs don’t have another punter on the practice squad and almost certainly can’t add one in time to clear COVID-19 protocols and play on Sunday. The same problem exists at long snapper, although the Bucs have obviously had emergency backups for that position. The only catch may be if the Bucs have known about the positives long enough before their announcement to begin the process of bringing in a replacement punter and long snapper.
The Bucs travel to Atlanta to take on the division rival Falcons on Sunday at 1 PM.
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About the Author: Jon Ledyard
Holy shit! Just when we need all hands on deck to make an end of season run! Kicker, punter, holder, RB1…just sucks man!
Could be worse. All three QBs could be out with COVID.
The positive is we should be going for more touchdowns versus settling for a field goal. Same for going for 2 versus 1 after the TD.
Guess we will have to go for two all game and hope it doesn’t come down to a field goal. Guess our center can snap on kicks but he seems to have issues with it.
Ndamukong Suh actually tried to kick a PAT for the Lions once. Stretch that leg out big fella we need you!
Maybe we finally have to trust our offensive line to go for it at the 1 yard line instead of going to the half with 3 points.
Put points on the board and go for 2. Use an extra OT or OG as a TE in a Jumbo Package. Atlanta’s defense is bad.
Falcons defense is pretty bad. Hopefully this Joseph guy is decent. Score TD’s and beat Falcons and it shouldn’t matter or come down to a FG. Punting is another story. We need a punter if backed up in own territory don’t want to be going on 4th and long.
False positives…all 3 cleared for Sunday.