Rob Bironas
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| Tennessee Titans — No. 2 | |
| Placekicker | |
| Date of birth: January 29, 1978 | |
| Place of birth: Louisville, Kentucky | |
| Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | Weight: 205 lb (93 kg) |
| National Football League debut | |
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| 2005 for the Tennessee Titans | |
| Career history | |
| College: Georgia Southern | |
| Undrafted in 2001 | |
Teams:
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| Current status: Active | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Selected NFL statistics (through Week 17 of the 2007 NFL season) |
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| Field Goals Made | 80 |
| Field Goals Attempted | 96 |
| Field Goals % | 83.3 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
James Robert Douglas Bironas (born January 29, 1978 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an American football placekicker for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2002. He played college football at Georgia Southern.
Bironas was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in 2008. He has also been a member of the Charleston Swamp Foxes, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Cobras, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Dragons.
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[edit] Early years
Bironas attended Trinity High School in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a four-year varsity letterman in soccer, a two-year varsity letterman in football and swimming, and also added a varsity letter in track and field. He graduated in 1996.
[edit] College career
Bironas attended Auburn University where he was a semi-finalist for the Lou Groza Award in 1998 after making 12 of 16 field goal attempts (including two successful 49-yard tries with the four misses from 40+) and making all 18 PATs for a team-high 54 points. The following season, the preseason All-SEC kicker was kicked off the football team and replaced by the punter, Damon Duval.[1][2] Bironas later transferred to Georgia Southern University, where his brother was on the soccer team, for his final year of collegiate eligibility. While with the Eagles, Bironas won the 2000 NCAA Division I-AA National Championship, before returning to graduate from Auburn with a degree in marketing.
[edit] Professional career
[edit] Arena football
Bironas spent the 2003 season with the Charleston Swamp Foxes of the Arena Football League's minor league system (af2). He made 12 of 27 field goal attempts that season for the Swamp Foxes. He moved up to the Arena Football League in 2004 with the Carolina Cobras converting 17 of 40 field goal attempts and 70 of 89 extra point tries. He spent the 2005 season with the New York Dragons before signing with the Titans connecting on seven of 16 field goal attempts and 99 of 117 extra point attempts for the AFL's New York Dragons.
Note: AFL Goal posts are nine-feet wide with a crossbar height of 15 feet (NFL goalposts are 18 1/2 wide with the crossbar at 10 feet).
[edit] National Football League
[edit] Early career
Bironas spent time on the preseason rosters of the Green Bay Packers (2002), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (2004).
[edit] Tennessee Titans
In 2005, he signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Tennessee Titans, where he finished his first season with the Titans converting 23 of 29 field goals attempts (79.3%) and 30 of 32 extra points attempts (93.8%). Bironas also finished the season with 11 touchbacks, which tied him for fourth in the AFC and seventh in the NFL.
In 2006, Bironas built on his previous success and has kicked a number of game winning field goals. In week 12, he kicked a 49 yard field goal in the final seconds to beat the New York Giants 24-21. The following week (December 3, 2006), he converted a 60 yard field goal with seven seconds remaining to upset the Indianapolis Colts. It was the longest in franchise history and is tied for the fourth longest field goal ever kicked in NFL history (along with Morten Andersen and Steve Cox). Bironas was also awarded AFC's Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance against the Colts. After the game, ESPN's Chris Berman called him Rob "My Bironas", a reference to the song "My Sharona" by The Knack. He kicked another game winning field goal aganisit the Buffalo Bills in week 15 to improve the Titans record to 8-7. Rob finished the season converting 22 of 28 field goal attempts (78.5%) and 32 of 32 extra points for 98 points. He also tied an NFL record (most recently Josh Brown, Seattle Seahawks, also in the 2006 season) by converting four game winning field goals in a season. Rob has 5 career game winning field goals in the 12 wins the Titans have had in the last two seasons.
Bironas was named the AFC Player of the Month for the month of October. He made 13 of 14 field goals (92.9 percent) and all six PATs as he helped the Titans earn a 3-1 (.750) record for the month. He also accounted for 45 of the team’s 81 points in October. In the Titans’ three wins in October, Bironas connected on 12 of 13 field goals, including an NFL-record eight field goals (52, 25, 21, 30, 28, 43, 29 and 29 yards), included the game-winning kick that gave the Titans a 38-36 victory against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on Oct. 21. The previous NFL record was seven field goals in a game, which was accomplished by four players: Jim Bakken (9/24/67), Rich Karlis (11/5/89), Chris Boniol (11/18/96) and Billy Cundiff (9/15/03). In the same game, he also tied the existing record of five field goals made in a single half. Bironas hit a 56 yard field goal against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football on 11/19/07 (one yard shy of the longest field goal of the season) - he was 4/5 on 50+ yard field goals in the 2007 season. Rob Bironas was also selected to the NFL's All Pro Team and was the AFCs kicker in the pro bowl.
On February 28, 2008 the Titans tendered Bironas to a one-year, $1.417 million contract as a restricted free agent. He signed his tender on May 9, 2008. .
[edit] Records and honors
- AFC Special Teams Player of the Week - 2006 Season - Week 13
- AFC Special Teams Player of the Week - 2007 Season - Week 7
- AFC Special Teams Player of the Month - 2007 Season - October
- Most game winning field goals in a season (4 in 2005 - Tied, most recently, Josh Brown)
- Most field goals in a game (8) - October 21, 2007 at Houston Texans
- Most points by a kicker in a game (26) - October 21, 2007 at Houston Texans
- Most field goals in a half (5 - Tied with Morten Andersen and Chris Boniol) - October 21, 2007 at Houston Texans
- 2008 Pro Bowl selection
[edit] Career statistics
FIELD GOALS
| Season | PAT | PAT Pct. | 1-19 | 20-29 | 30-39 | 40-49 | 50+ | FG-FGA | FG Pct. | Long | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 30/32 | 93.8% | 0/0 | 10/10 | 6/7 | 5/7 | 2/5 | 23/29 | 79.3% | 53 | 99 |
| 2006 | 32/32 | 100.0% | 0/0 | 10/11 | 7/7 | 4/8 | 1/2 | 22/28 | 78.6% | 60 | 98 |
| 2007 | 28/28 | 100.0% | 0/0 | 10/12 | 12/12 | 9/10 | 4/5 | 35/39 | 89.7% | 56 | 133 |
| TOTALS | 90/92 | 97.8% | 0/0 | 30/33 | 25/26 | 18/25 | 7/12 | 80/96 | 83.3% | 60 | 330 |
KICKOFFS
| Season | KO | Avg. | TB | Ret | Ret Avg | TD | Onside | Recov |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 71 | 64.2 | 11 | 57 | 22.6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2006 | 70 | 62.2 | 10 | 57 | 22.1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 141 | 63.2 | 21 | 114 | 22.4 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Joshua Cribbs |
AFC Special Teams Player of the Month 2007 Season - October |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Matt Stover |
AFC Special Teams Player of the Week 2007 Season - Week 7 |
Succeeded by Mike Scifres |
| Preceded by Roscoe Parrish |
AFC Special Teams Player of the Week 2006 Season - Week 13 |
Succeeded by Maurice Jones-Drew |
| Preceded by Gary Anderson |
Tennessee Titans Placekickers 2005-present |
Succeeded by TBD |
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