A week earlier, a pair of short missed field goals and blocked extra point in an overtime loss (more on that later), prompted McKay to cut his kicker and sign another one.

In a meaningless season finale on the road against the Detroit Lions , new guy/barefooted Dave Warnke badly spun a 29-yarder to the left. He also missed a PAT. McKay had seen enough.

He called for George Yarno.

"I was the emergency kicker," Yarno recalled of that Motown moment 25 years ago.

The coaches had seen Yarno, an offensive guard, messing around in training camp with dropkicks, so they asked him to line up for some field goals and extra points, just in case. He was good enough.

It was Dec. 18, 1983, late fourth quarter and the Bucs were about score.

"You're going in to kick . . . and you better not [expletive] miss it!" McKay instructed.

So Yarno, a burly 6-foot-2, 260-pounder who'd spent the afternoon blocking the likes of star defensive tackles William Gay and Doug English, ran onto the field and lined up.

Straight on and left-footed, no less.

"Bill Gay and those guys were giving me all kinds of grief, heckling me to death," Yarno said. "I just kicked it."

Right down the middle.

The Pontiac Silverdome went crazy.

"Standing ovation," said Yarno, 51, who played 11 seasons in the NFL, the first eight in Tampa. "I actually got some letters from Detroit fans saying stuff like, 'It was nice to see a real man make a kick.' It was a neat deal; and probably what I'm remembered for."

The Bucs lost 23-20, but it put a lighthearted finish on a 2-14 season.

"We have a professional holder and professional snapper; all we needed was to find a professional kicker," McKay said afterward. "Unfortunately, it turned out to be a lineman."

(Note: To see video of Yarno's kick, go to www.orlandosentinel.com/NFLiNFLa )

"My whole career was one missed extra point." - Former Tampa Bay Coach John McKay, upon his retirement in 1984 Tampa Bay place kicker Matt Bryant has bailed out his teammates numerous times this season, but with Tampa Bay (7-3) heading north this weekend to face the winless Detroit Lions (0-10), it seems like a good time to remind folks that life hasn't always been kicks and giggles for the Bucs. Over the years, field goals and extra points have made for pure theater in team lore -- as in tragedies and comedies -- including a gem of a scene in the Motor City a quarter century ago.

Allow us to put our best foot forward in a look back at Tampa Bay's kickers over the years.

During the streak

Everyone knows about the infamous (and still NFL record) 26-game losing streak that christened the Tampa Bay franchise during the inaugural 1976 season and first 12 games of '77. The Bucs' first kicker was Mirro Roder. He missed all his attempts and was cut. Then came Dave Green, who doubled as a punter.

Along the way, the Bucs tried out a fellow named Pete Rajecki, who struggled during practices and told reporters that he got nervous when McKay watched him.

"Please inform Mr. Rajecki I plan to attend all games."

Rajecki was cut, too.

Swing and a miss

If you watch NFL Films, you've seen the bad snap sail past kicker Neil O'Donoghue, the gangly 6-foot-6 Irish soccer player, who tries to kick the ball out of bounds with his left foot and whiffs. That play often is used to illustrate the ineptitude of the 0-14 Bucs of '76, but the play actually occurred in a victory over Minnesota in '78.

The next year, on the final week of the season and in virtual monsoon conditions, O'Donoghue kicked a 19-yard field goal in the fourth to give the Bucs a 3-0 defeat of Kansas City that clinched the NFC Central Division and the club's first playoff berth.

He once threw a pass

Anyone remember Garo Yepremian kicking for the Bucs? He did.

Yepremian was in Tampa Bay throughout the 1980 season and into the '81 season (making 16 of 22 FG tries), when he was waived and replaced by a former Florida State star by the name of Bill Capece (below).

Read on.

The boot

The week before Yarno made his history, Capece missed 22- and 35-yarders, plus a PAT, in a 13-10 home loss to Green Bay that set Monday Night Football back 20 years.

After the game, McKay had this to say: "I lost the Football game by being stupid enough to think that we could kick a field goal. We will not kick a field goal next week if we are on the 2-yard line, the 1-yard line, none."

McKay, of course, did not adhere to his promise (See Warnke), but he did dispatch of his incumbent kicker. The day after the loss to the Packers, McKay was asked what would become of Capece.

"Capece is kaput."

Oh, that old guy?

In 1988, the Bucs needed to fill in for injured kicker Donald Igwebuike (below).

Note -- Coach Ray Perkins couldn't pronounce Igwebuike's name. He called him simply "Donald Kicker" -- so the team signed a little-known player from Notre Dame.

The Bucs let John Carney go the next offseason.

That was 20 years ago. Carney is currently kicking for the reigning world-champion New York Giants and is the No. 4 scorer in NFL history with 1,902 points.

Wink, wink

Perkins thought he'd solved the team's perpetual kicking problems when they found Steve Christie in 1990. Christie put together solid back-to-back seasons and when it came time for Free Agency in '92 the Bucs told Christie they intended to re-sign him, but needed to put another player on their Plan-B protection list. Christie promised to stay with Tampa Bay.

He signed with Buffalo the first day of Free Agency.

Automatica

Martin Gramatica (below) scored the franchise's first Super Bowl points and remains the all-time scorer in Bucs history with 591 points.

He also drew attention (both good and bad) for his zealous (sometimes overzealous) celebrations after converted kicks and even got into a war-of-words with Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun over his fist-pumping.

Yes, a kicker and punter mouthing off.

The best ever

Free-agent signee Matt Bryant has found a home as the club's all-time leader in field-goal accuracy at 83.3 percent. His emotional and inspiring performance earlier this season -- five days after the death of 3-month-old son Matthew Tryson -- when he kicked three field goals and three PATs, each time blowing a kiss toward the heavens, is one for the storybooks.

"We tend to forget about all the circumstances surrounding Matt," Coach Jon Gruden said. "The tragedy that he has suffered through just doesn't go away in three or four or six weeks."