Connor Barth returns to Bucs full of confidenceRick Stroud, Times Staff WriterFriday, August 28, 2015 2:38pm
Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Connor Barth (10) kicks a 45 yard field goal in the fourth quarter to help seal a 34-24 victory of the San Diego Chargers.If Barth had his way, the NFL would make the target smaller."I wanted to just narrow the uprights," Barth said Friday. "That would be cool. It'd make play-calling different. It would make guys who are a little bit more accurate … to really thrive."Barth, 29, signed a two-year, $2.75 million contract with the Bucs and will have two preseason games to convince them to give him his old job back over the man who took it from him, second-year pro Patrick Murray. Murray, 24, missed an extra point and a field goal in Monday night's 25-11 preseason win over the Bengals.Barth said he has no animosity toward Murray. The two got to be close friends a year ago."You come in almost as a contractor," Barth said. "You come in and it's a business. You've got to look at it like that. You just come in, we shake hands and compete and laugh and have fun off the field."I always say I treat people the way I want to be treated, and I don't come in here any different, not with any attitude or anything."Barth was released by the Broncos on Wednesday. He is a career 85.3 percent field-goal kicker and has never missed a point-after try in 149 attempts from the old distance, 20 yards.The Bucs made Barth their franchise player in 2012 before signing him to a four-year, $13.2 million contract.His career was derailed when he tore an Achilles tendon in his right foot playing in a charity basketball game a week before the start of the 2013 season, which he then missed. After losing his job to Murray in training camp last year, he joined the Broncos in late November, playing in six games and connecting on 17 of 18 field goals."I used to take it for granted coming out to practice every day, but now I enjoy it every day," Barth said. "Because you never know when it's going to be your last."Barth says he feels as if he never left Tampa Bay."It almost feels like deja vu from last year," Barth said.THE BELL IS TOLLING: Rookie WR Kenny Bell has a hamstring strain that will keep him out of tonight's game against the Browns. That's not good for the fifth-round pick from Nebraska, who is not among the 17 players who have caught at least one pass in a preseason game. If Bell is unable to return in the preseason finale Thursday at Miami, it could affect his chances to make the 53-man roster."We've seen him, but we would've liked to have seen more of him, especially the next couple weeks," coach Lovie Smith said. "Have we seen enough? No. It's not like he's done enough right now where we say we definitely know what direction to go."Right now we'll evaluate him based on what we know right now."THIS AND THAT: S Chris Conte and DE T.J. Fatinikun were expected to play tonight. Both have fresh legs. "Those guys both look like they just started training camp," Smith said. … The Bucs are expected to play their starters into the third quarter. … S Major Wright was excused from practice to attend to a family matter.
