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K Mike Nugent (All American, Lou Groza Winner, National Champion)

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Nugent, Rayner kicking battle too close to call
By Kevin Goheen ? Enquirer contributor ? August 30, 2010

CINCINNATI -- The competition to replace Shayne Graham as Bengals kicker is going down to the wire. Dave Rayner and Mike Nugent have been sharing the duties this preseason and the final decision won?t be made until after Thursday night?s preseason finale at Indianapolis.

Dave Rayner and Mike Nugent have been sharing the duties this preseason and the final decision won?t be made until after Thursday night?s preseason finale at Indianapolis.

Rayner has gotten more work than Nugent due to a groin injury that has been hampering the Centerville native but Nugent made good on a 54-yard field goal attempt at Buffalo last Saturday that he hopes signifies he is finally healthy.

?It was good to get out there and get the attempt,? said Nugent. ?The tough part is that with the groin problem I haven?t given myself the best opportunities to get on the field and get a chance to get a lot of looks. That?s why whether it?s an extra point or long field goal or a kickoff, when your time comes you?ve got to make the most of it.?

Rayner is 5-of-7 on field goals this preseason, having a long of 36 yards against Denver while missing wide left from 44 and 34 yards. Nugent?s only other field goal attempt came up short from 59 yards against Philadelphia.

Placement kicks are just part of the equation. The other part is their performance on kickoffs. So far, the Bengals have had 19 kickoffs, with Rayner handling 13 of them, and only three of those opposing possessions have begun from the 30-yard line or beyond. They are tied for 11th in the preseason allowing an average kickoff return of 22.1 yards. Both kickers have had one touchback.

Rayner is in his second go-around with the Bengals. He kicked in two games in 2008 when Graham was injured. Nugent was signed as a free agent in April.

?I really don?t have any idea what?s happening because they haven?t said anything to us either way. It?s still a competition and I?m going into it like the job is still wide open,? said Rayner. ?The truth of it is one of us is not going to be here so you want to put together some good film because there is always a chance that at some time in the year someone is going to mess up or get hurt or something is going to happen so you always have to be ready.?

Special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said the final outcome will be determined by overall performance, from game action to every kick taken in practice.

?It?s going to be a tough call, it?s going to be a gut call,? said Simmons. ?Now the race is back to both guys being full-steam ahead again. I think it?s been fortunate for both of them that we?ve had these five games because it?s given us an extended look.?
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Nugent, Rayner kicking battle too close to call | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com
 
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Standoff at kickoff
By GEOFF HOBSON

The Bengals kicking competition is so even heading into Thursday?s 7 p.m. preseason finale in Indianapolis (Cincinnati?s Channel 12) that Mike Nugent doesn?t even get an edge for Who Dey karma.

?Who Dey.?

That was the simple two-word text he sent to his mother when the Bengals signed him back in April.

?I had to call him and ask him, ?Is that what I think it means?? ? says Carolyn Nugent.

Mike Nugent is the Centerville, Ohio product who grew up Bengal. Or as his mother likes to say, he was a fan even before he was born. And that?s because a grand total of 51 days before he arrived on March 2, 1982, his parents went to the Freezer Bowl and watched the Bengals win the AFC championship in the wind-in-the-willows chill of minus-59 at Riverfront Stadium.

?I called my doctor to check to see if it would be OK to go. I probably called the day before when we found out how cold it was going to be,? Carolyn Nugent says. ?He said, ?Just keep warm. If you?re warm, the baby is warm.? It was no problem staying warm. We never stopped jumping up and down cheering and yelling. It was so exciting. And he turned out OK.?

He turned out to be a second-round draft pick out of Ohio State 23 years later and began a tough career through the hills and valleys of NFL kicking. Nugent was good enough to be an 81.5-percent career kicker in his first three seasons in the league in New York, those days when the kids in Mrs. Nugent?s first-grade reading class in Centerville were wearing Jets jerseys. But a muscle injury in early 2008 wiped him out until he hooked on last year in short stints with Arizona and Tampa Bay. Even his four months in the offseason and preseason with the Bengals have been tainted by injury and uncertainty.
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Standoff at kickoff
 
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Nugent's chances better than 50-50?
BENGALS NOTEBOOK
By Kevin Goheen ? Enquirer contributor ? September 2, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - Mike Nugent made a field goal of greater than 50 yards for the second consecutive preseason game Thursday night. Whether or not that resume piece will be enough to earn him the Bengals? kicking job remains to be seen.

Nugent started the scoring in the Bengals? 30-28 win against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium by splitting the uprights on a 52-yard field goal attempt. He later added a 34-yard field goal to close out the scoring for the Bengals.

Nugent and Dave Rayner are competing for the kicking job. Final roster cuts to the 53-man limit are due on Saturday.

The kickers split duties throughout the game, alternating on kickoffs and place kicks.

Rayner made his lone field goal attempt, from 39 yards, and two extra point attempts to one PAT for Nugent. Rayner kicked off four times to three times for Nugent.

Nugent, a former second-round pick of the New York Jets, was slowed early in training camp and preseason games with a groin injury, but that injury has seemingly passed.

?I feel great, I feel healthy and I?m trying to get 100 percent,? said Nugent. ?Not to take things too far ? it?s just preseason ? but I feel that working with Darrin (Simmons) has made me a better kicker. I didn?t kick the way I wanted to the last couple of years, but Darrin and I worked on some things, and I really feel I?m hitting the ball more consistently.?

Nugent made a 54-yard attempt last Saturday at Buffalo. He said he had previously made kicks of 50-plus yards in consecutive games in college at Ohio State.
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Nugent's chances better than 50-50? | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com
 
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Bengals kicker Nugent exactly where he wants to be
By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer
Saturday, September 11, 2010

CINCINNATI ? When the Cincinnati Bengals made their final cuts a little over a week ago and announced their 53-man roster, Centerville?s Carolyn Nugent got a two-word text message from her son, Mike: ?Who Dey!?

She laughed as she remembered the giddy cautiousness she felt as she looked at her phone.

?I had to call him right away and ask, ?Does this mean what I think it does?? ? she said. ?He told, ?Yes, Mom. I made the team.?

?I said, ?What a dream come true!?

?And he just went, ?It certainly is.? ?

For Mike Nugent, the new placekicker for the Bengals ? who open their season today at New England ? this not only proves that a little kid?s dreams can come true, but so too can those of a seasoned pro.
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http://www.daytondailynews.com/dayt...gent-exactly-where-he-wants-to-be-911572.html
 
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buckeyes_rock;1769402; said:
Loss for the Bengals, but looks like a perfect start for Nugent. 3/3 extra points and 1/1 FGs with it being a 54 yarder.
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Ha, that's another way to look at it. Unfortunately for me though, I was facing Tom Brady in fantasy and the Bengals secondary did not help me at all.
 
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5 questions with Mike Nugent
By Shannon Russell ? [email protected] ? September 18, 2010

MIKE NUGENT
Position: Kicker; Team: Bengals
Height/Weight: 5-10/ 186; Age: 28
College: Ohio State; Hometown: Centerville

After beating out Dave Rayner to become the Bengals' kicker, the sixth-year pro was among few bright spots in the team's season-opening loss at New England. Nugent booted a 54-yard field goal and was 3-for-3 on PATs in the 38-24 defeat. The newly minted Bengal shared his thoughts on football and more in a media session this week.

Q. The 54-yard field goal tied your NFL career long and was the longest for the Bengals since 2002. How do you approach that kind of distance?

Nugent: I think every kicker has their distance where you're like, 'OK, this is pretty deep. I've got to put more on it.' Luckily, 54 is a ball I think I can hit. But I never know the distance. People always ask what the distance was right after the kick, and I'll have an idea - 30s, 40s, 50s - but that's one of the things I don't look at. I don't want it to influence anything I do on the ball. I just go out there thinking, 'Just hit it like an extra point.' The way I hit extra points, they should have enough distance from that point.
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http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100918/SPT02/9190350/1062/SPT/5-questions-with-Mike-Nugent
 
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