- Rob Bironas
Infobox NFLactive
currentteam=Tennessee Titans
currentnumber=2
currentpositionplain=Placekicker
birthdate=birth date and age|1978|1|29
birthplace=Louisville, Kentucky
heightft=6
heightin=0
weight=205
debutyear=2005
debutteam=Tennessee Titans
college=Georgia Southern
undraftedyear=2001
pastteams=
*Green Bay Packers (2002)*
*Charleston Swamp Foxes (2003)
*Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003)*
*Carolina Cobras (2004)
*Pittsburgh Steelers (2004)*
*New York Dragons (2005)
*Tennessee Titans (2005-present):*Offseason and/or practice squad member only
status=Active
highlights=
*All-Pro selection (2007)
*Pro Bowl selection (2007)
* Records and honors
statweek=17
statseason=2007
statlabel1=Field Goals Made
statvalue1=80
statlabel2=Field Goals Attempted
statvalue2=96
statlabel3=Field Goals %
statvalue3=83.3
nfl=BIR753911James Robert Douglas Bironas (born
January 29 ,1978 inLouisville, Kentucky ) is anAmerican football placekicker for theTennessee Titans of theNational Football League , who holds the record for most successful field goals kicked in a single game, with 8. He was signed by theGreen Bay Packers as anundrafted free agent in 2002. He playedcollege football at Georgia Southern.Bironas was an
All-Pro andPro Bowl selection in 2008. He has also been a member of theCharleston Swamp Foxes ,Tampa Bay Buccaneers ,Carolina Cobras ,Pittsburgh Steelers andNew York Dragons .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.College career
Bironas attended
Auburn University where he was a semi-finalist for theLou Groza Award in 1998 after making 12 of 16 field goal attempts (including two successful convert|49|yd|sing=on 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 . [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/10/19/archive/main67081.shtml] [http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2000/11/30/Sports/Auburn.Kicker.Might.Be.Key.To.Teams.Success-701320.shtml] Bironas later transferred toGeorgia 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 football championship|NCAA Division I-AA National Championship, before returning to graduate from Auburn with a degree in marketing.Professional career
Arena football
Bironas spent the 2003 season with the
Charleston Swamp Foxes of theArena 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 theCarolina Cobras converting 17 of 40 field goal attempts and 70 of 89 extra point tries. He spent the 2005 season with theNew 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)."
National Football League
Early career
Bironas spent time on the preseason rosters of the
Green Bay Packers (2002),Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003) and thePittsburgh Steelers (2004).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 convert|49|yd|sing=on field goal in the final seconds to beat the
New York Giants 24-21. The following week (December 3 ,2006 ), he converted a convert|60|yd|sing=on field goal with seven seconds remaining to upset theIndianapolis Colts . It was the longest in franchise history and is tied for the fourth longest field goal ever kicked in NFL history (along withMorten 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'sChris Berman called him Rob "My Bironas", a reference to the song "My Sharona " byThe Knack . He kicked another game winning field goal aganisit theBuffalo Bills in week 15 to improve the Titans record to 8-6. 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) andBilly 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 convert|56|yd|sing=on field goal against theDenver Broncos onMonday 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..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 withMorten Andersen andChris Boniol ) - October 21, 2007 at Houston Texans
*2008 Pro Bowl selectionCareer statistics
External links
* [http://www.robbironas.com/ Official Website]
* [http://www.titansonline.com/team/players/bio.php?PRKey=295/ Tennessee Titans bio]
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