Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicker Matt Bryant has strong comments about Mike Nugent, Raheem Morris, Mark Dominik

TAMPA — Matt Bryant took shots at fellow Bucs kicker Mike Nugent on Thursday and suggested that coach Raheem Morris and general manager Mark Dominik have been less than truthful.

Bryant, during an interview on WSUN-FM (97X) was asked if he was getting along with Nugent, his competitor for the kicking job.

"We pretty much go about our business. … It's not like we're shutting the door on somebody's foot," said Bryant, who hasn't kicked in the preseason due to a hamstring injury. "But the other day, it dawned on me. He made some comment awhile back when he was asked why he would sign here, and he said he thought this was the best opportunity for him.

"Did (Morris and Dominik) tell him something to make him think this was the best opportunity? Or did he look at a number of teams and single me out? If he singled me out, then he's out of his damn mind. If I would have been 100 percent healthy, like we do back home, you take somebody out behind the woodshed and kick their butt. But that hasn't been the case, so you go on with your business."

Bryant said he didn't know if he would kick in tonight's preseason finale against the Texans, though his hamstring is close to being healed. Morris on Monday had a meeting with Bryant in which he encouraged Bryant to try to kick this week if he didn't want to jeopardize his future with the team. It sounded like an ultimatum from the coach, but Bryant said Thursday that Dominik was in the meeting, too.

"I noticed that Raheem got a lot of flak from that newspaper article," Bryant said. "I can tell you he wasn't the only one in the room."

Bryant also suggested Nugent might not be the best option even if Bryant can't kick, calling into question his preseason performance (4-of-7 on field-goal attempts). Bryant, 34, has 83 percent accuracy over his four seasons with Bucs and 82 percent over his seven-year career.

Nugent, 27, signed after playing his first four seasons with the Jets, who drafted him in 2005.

"It's not necessarily going to be Nugent," Bryant said of who might get the job. "You've seen the preseason? Even though that could be your next $2.5 million kicker.

"There's different things that could happen. They could very well go with him, or they could give me a little more time to get a little stronger. They could go with somebody from another team."