Former Head Coach Recalls Mike Vrabel Taunting Randy Bullock While Kicking For Bengals

CINCINNATI — ESPN NFL reporter Mike Reiss gathered some fun stories about Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel this week ahead of the team's Divisional round playoff game against the Texans, and one former Texans coach had one tied right to the Bengals.

Former kicker Randy Bullock had nervous tendencies that Vrabel tapped into a few times during his time as a Texans assistant coach, including a missed Bullock kick on Christmas Eve in 2016. Bullock kicked for the Bengals from 2016-20.

"We had a kicker that was with us in Houston, and I would say he was a nervous kicker, which is not what you're looking for in a kicker," Former Texans head coach Bill O'Brien told Reiss. "At the end of practice, I usually did field goals and tried to put some pressure situations in there. And Mike, who is very vocal, would be the one taunting the kicker, saying, 'You're going to miss it!' We later moved on from the kicker, who got picked up by Cincinnati.

"We're playing Cincinnati on Christmas Eve [2016], and if we win, we win the AFC South. We drive the ball down late in the game and score to take the lead by 2. Andy Dalton is the quarterback for the Bengals. They're driving the ball, and they get into field-goal range with basically no time left. They're getting ready to kick a [43-yard] field goal. I ice the kicker, and during the timeout, Mike -- who is the linebacker coach -- basically walks out on the field and says, 'Hey, you're going to choke this kick just like you did in practice every day!' And the guy hooked it. We won the AFC South."

Bullock actually had the highest FG hit rate of his career in Cincinnati (84.9%), and that was one of just five regular-season misses from 40-50 yards he had with the team. Although he did go just 7-14 from 50-plus yards.

It was a period to forget for the team during one of their many years missing the playoffs this century. Cincinnati is trying to avoid a ninth season outside the playoffs in the last 11 years when things get rolling again in September.

Check out the full article from Reiss here.

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