The Buccaneers made a bold move in the draft, taking a kicker who had never missed a kick in college. And Roberto Aguayo already has missed three kicks (and two chip shots) in his NFL career.
Technically, he has missed none, since both misses have come in games that don’t count. Coach Dirk Koetter doesn’t see it that way.
“We gotta make the damn field goal,” Koetter said after Saturday’s game, via JoeBucsFan.com.
Koetter then was asked whether he’s worried about the first-year player, who missed an extra point last week and two field goals (32 yards and 49 yards) in Week Two of the preseason.
“I wouldn’t say worried, but this is the NFL, man,” Koetter said. “They’re paid to make kicks. He knows it. I know it. Everybody knows it. So, I mean, it is what it is.”
Here’s what it may be: Kickers already have plenty of pressure on them. Few have the extra pressure of meeting the expectations that come from being a high selection in the draft. And so at some point the question becomes whether the dynamic that Aguayo called the butterflies a week ago has become the yips.
If that happens, the Buccaneers will have an interesting decision to make. Do they sign another kicker to settle the position and carry Aguayo on the roster? Or do they simply move on from Aguayo the way so many other teams move on from kickers who can’t make kicks?
But for Koetter’s candor, I’d say it would be too early to start thinking about potential alternatives to Aguayo. It’s clear, however, that three weeks before his first game that counts, Aguayo is on notice. Adding that to his various other concerns, he has to be feeling a little like Vincent La Guardia Gambini.
