TRULY sad news from Tampa

[digitaldean]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3607238

K Matt Bryant's 3 month old son died in his sleep Wed. morning. It's not known if Bryant would play on Sunday vs. the Packers.

It's stuff like this and Al Harris' spleen that should make one focus that this is ONLY A GAME, not life or death.

[gbgary]

wow. very sad.

[Kiwon]

The Bucs should suggest that he skip the game and then let him make a decision to play or not without undue pressure from the team.

Kicker is a skilled position and the NFL is foremost a business but the team needs to allow this man to put his family first for a week.

Most families don't have the temperment that Farve's did that wanted him to play the night after his dad died. It would be super tough if the guy emotionally fell apart and had a terrible game because they forced him to play.

Let him make the call.

[Jimx29]

damn........:(

[BF4MVP]

That's just terrible. RIP :(

[GrnBay007]

As a parent, I can't even imagine what it's like to have that happen. Hope they find peace with it, as a family.

[oregonpackfan]

The most painful loss is the loss of a child.

Tragic.

[Tarlam!]

This is so sad. It puts everything into perspective.

[mission]

That is horrible beyond words. :(

[SnakeLH2006]

Sad.. :cry:

[channtheman]

The most painful loss is the loss of a child.

Tragic.

Yeah no parent wants to have to see their child dead before themselves. :(

[gbpackfan]

Ugh, words can't describe how much this sucks. Parents should never out live their children. I got nothing else....

[MadScientist]

Every parent's worst nightmare. Sounds like SIDS which is doubly cruel in that there is often no warning, no way to emotionally prepare.

[Badgerinmaine]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3607238

K Matt Bryant's 3 month old son died in his sleep Wed. morning. It's not known if Bryant would play on Sunday vs. the Packers.

It's stuff like this and Al Harris' spleen that should make one focus that this is ONLY A GAME, not life or death.

Wow. I absolutely cannot imagine how grief filled and empty they must feel. God bless the Bryant family.

[retailguy]

This is truly and utterly awful.

[KYPack]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.

[MJZiggy]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.

Please tell me you're kidding.

[cpk1994]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.Or they let the punter handle both duties. Not hard.

[KYPack]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.Or they let the punter handle both duties. Not hard.

You aren't serious, are you CPK? Few punters can kick XP's and FG's.

Zig, this from the Orlando Sentinel.

Local guys can be crazy but this sounds accurate...

Sometimes, there's got to be a loophole ... NFL could use some common sense on this issue



"I know the NFL is "The King" and all that, but sometimes compassion is needed from the throne.

Given the circumstances surrounding the death of Bucs placekicker Matt Bryant's infant son -- Matthew Tryson Bryant did not wake up Wednesday morning -- I sent an email off to NFL Senior Vice President of Public Relations Greg Aiello asking if there were precedents, from either side, that addressed a roster exemption for a player confronted by an unexpected tragedy during the season.

This was Aiello's response:

Chris: Every club has an eight-player inactive list for each game.

Obviously, I knew the eight-man inactive rules for each game.

But this is a little different.

This instances is not like a linebacker or wide receiver or offensive linemen who's injured and is de-activated for a game with a sprained ankle or strained hamstring. Teams carry one kicker. That means, if Bryant needs the weekend to mourn the loss of his son, the Bucs -- due to these unusual circumstances (Bryant, remember, is not injured) -- will have to sign a kicker, which means they'll have to cut a player in order to get that kicker on the roster.

That means that player, who has made the Bucs roster, could be scooped up by any of the 31 other teams and leave Tampa Bay -- through no fault of its own -- either to promote a lesser player from the practice squad or go find one.

Maybe it's me, but something just seems wrong about it. Afterall, a player suspended for a domestic violence incident or DUI arrest, for example, gets a roster exemption on the Reserve/Suspended list.
Why not a player who has lost a child?

It goes back to what Jon Gruden said a couple weeks ago in the aftermath of an official's inadvertantly blown whistle -- and blown call -- that cost the San Diego Chargers a crushing, last-second loss to rival Denver.

"Sometimes," Gruden said, "I think just doing what's right -- and correcting what's wrong -- is what we're after."

This is one of things that doesn't seem right. "

This guy should get a week to grieve and the Bucs should be able to use a kicker for a week.

[KYPack]

This from reports....

" Matt Bryant has been away from the team all week after the discovery Wednesday morning that his 3-months-old son had died overnight. The funeral is today in Tampa. Expectations are that he will kick Sunday. "

If he wants to, fine.

If he HAS to, man that's cold blooded.

[Tarlam!]

This guy should get a week to grieve and the Bucs should be able to use a kicker for a week.

Look, I don't know the work laws in the USA, but I tell ya, I couldn't get over this type of loss in a week.

I guess we Aussie/Europeans have a lot t learn.

[bobblehead]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.

I would hope the bucs and bryant can work out an agreement..something like releasing him for week to replace him with a mutual promise to resign him immediately after the game. I know the real world rarely works in such common sense ways, but if I'm bryant I spend the time with my wife and whatever the team decides it decides...not his first concern atm.

[KYPack]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.

I would hope the bucs and bryant can work out an agreement..something like releasing him for week to replace him with a mutual promise to resign him immediately after the game. I know the real world rarely works in such common sense ways, but if I'm bryant I spend the time with my wife and whatever the team decides it decides...not his first concern atm.

This is where Pete Rozelle was a giant and Roger Goodell is a dwarf. Under Goodell's watch, PR disasters happen routinely. Rozelle would have made a PR masterstroke out of a tragedy. Goodell makes the NFL look like Simon Legree.

[mmmdk]

This guy should get a week to grieve and the Bucs should be able to use a kicker for a week.

Look, I don't know the work laws in the USA, but I tell ya, I couldn't get over this type of loss in a week.

I guess we Aussie/Europeans have a lot t learn.


First, my thoughts goes to the Bryant family.

Tarlam, I hope/believe it's not an Aussie/Europeans vs US thing but I'm with you 100%.

[cpk1994]

The big hearted NFL office will help here. No, maybe it won't. Bryant may HAVE to play. The NFL doesn't give a roster exemption for bereavement. if the Bucs need a kicker to sub for Bryant, they have to cut a player, and add a kicker in that spot.

That puts Bryant in a tough situation.

That is pretty stupid.Or they let the punter handle both duties. Not hard.

You aren't serious, are you CPK? Few punters can kick XP's and FG's.

Zig, this from the Orlando Sentinel.

Local guys can be crazy but this sounds accurate...

Sometimes, there's got to be a loophole ... NFL could use some common sense on this issue



"I know the NFL is "The King" and all that, but sometimes compassion is needed from the throne.

Given the circumstances surrounding the death of Bucs placekicker Matt Bryant's infant son -- Matthew Tryson Bryant did not wake up Wednesday morning -- I sent an email off to NFL Senior Vice President of Public Relations Greg Aiello asking if there were precedents, from either side, that addressed a roster exemption for a player confronted by an unexpected tragedy during the season.

This was Aiello's response:

Chris: Every club has an eight-player inactive list for each game.

Obviously, I knew the eight-man inactive rules for each game.

But this is a little different.

This instances is not like a linebacker or wide receiver or offensive linemen who's injured and is de-activated for a game with a sprained ankle or strained hamstring. Teams carry one kicker. That means, if Bryant needs the weekend to mourn the loss of his son, the Bucs -- due to these unusual circumstances (Bryant, remember, is not injured) -- will have to sign a kicker, which means they'll have to cut a player in order to get that kicker on the roster.

That means that player, who has made the Bucs roster, could be scooped up by any of the 31 other teams and leave Tampa Bay -- through no fault of its own -- either to promote a lesser player from the practice squad or go find one.

Maybe it's me, but something just seems wrong about it. Afterall, a player suspended for a domestic violence incident or DUI arrest, for example, gets a roster exemption on the Reserve/Suspended list.
Why not a player who has lost a child?

It goes back to what Jon Gruden said a couple weeks ago in the aftermath of an official's inadvertantly blown whistle -- and blown call -- that cost the San Diego Chargers a crushing, last-second loss to rival Denver.

"Sometimes," Gruden said, "I think just doing what's right -- and correcting what's wrong -- is what we're after."

This is one of things that doesn't seem right. "

This guy should get a week to grieve and the Bucs should be able to use a kicker for a week.Yes Im serious. Craig Hentrich did it. It has been done before.

[KYPack]

]Yes Im serious. Craig Hentrich did it. It has been done before.

Well, ya shouldn't have been serious. There are very few punters that can do both gigs.

[falco]

]Yes Im serious. Craig Hentrich did it. It has been done before.

Well, ya shouldn't have been serious. There are very few punters that can do both gigs.

maybe its rare, but it happens. i seem to recall (maybe i'm wrong) situations in the past where the punter handled the kickoffs due to his leg strength, while the kicker only placekicked

[KYPack]

]Yes Im serious. Craig Hentrich did it. It has been done before.

Well, ya shouldn't have been serious. There are very few punters that can do both gigs.

maybe its rare, but it happens. i seem to recall (maybe i'm wrong) situations in the past where the punter handled the kickoffs due to his leg strength, while the kicker only placekicked

I thought you guys were joking. Hentrich had the very unique ability to punt and place kick. There might be one other guy in the league with dual ability. You don't just tell your punter, "hey, handle both gigs Sunday". There are very few punters who could kick it past the line. it's two very different skills.

Why some teams use TWO punters on the roster at the same time.