Lovie Smith: Kyle Brindza is "our kicker" after missing four times against Texans

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are sticking with Kyle Brindza after the kicker saw four of his attempts go wide of the mark today. Brindza hit a 58-yard field goal early in the game, but missed on one extra point, a 41-yard field goal, a 33-yarder and a 57-yarder. That cost the Bucs 10 points -- which is exactly the amount they lost the game by. Brindza was at least solid on kickoffs.

But Lovie Smith said after the game that he was sticking with Kyle Brindza, as he wasn't in the habit after firing players after just one bad game. Brindza won the kicking job in preseason after the Bucs traded for him, sending Tim Wright to the Detroit Lions. Brindza has an impressively strong leg and was highly accurate both in the preseason and the Bucs' first two regular season games, missing just one kick over that period -- but he collapsed today, seemingly spiraling out of control after his first miss.

Still, Lovie Smith is probably right to stick with Brindza. Misses happen, and this is more likely to be an aberration than a sign of things to come. Besides, the Bucs would have to find an accurate kicker who can execute on kickoffs if they were to replace Brindza -- that's not easy to do at this point in the season.