Former Georgia Southern kicker Bironas killed in car accident

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Rob Bironas, who worked his way through odd jobs and the Arena Football League before becoming one of the NFL’s most accurate kickers, was killed in a car accident. He was 36.

The former Tennessee Titans and Georgia Southern player died Saturday night when he lost control on a curve in his 2009 GMC Yukon Denali and crashed less than a mile from home after 11 p.m., Metro Nashville police said.

In a statement on the department’s website, police said his SUV was speeding off the road and crashed into a line of trees before coming to rest upside down in a culvert.

Bironas was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. According to police, there was no evidence of alcohol or drugs at the scene.

Bironas transferred from Auburn to Georgia Southern in 2000 and was the kicker on the Eagles’ national championship-winning team in 2000. The Titans fired Bironas in March after nine seasons. The Tennessean reported that Bironas worked out for the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay in the offseason.

Bironas married Rachel Bradshaw, daughter of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw, in June. Police spokesman Don Aaron said a police chaplain was with her after the accident. Bradshaw did not appear on the Fox NFL Sunday pregame show and wanted to go to Nashville to be with his daughter.

A post on his verified Twitter account @RobBironas on Sunday morning said: “It is with heavy hearts that we confirm the passing of RB #2. We thank you for your respect for the family’s privacy and for your prayers during this time.”

The Titans, who play in Cincinnati, expressed their condolences on Sunday.

“Rob has made a significant impact as a player during his nine years with the team and, more importantly, touched many lives in the Nashville community off the field,” the team said in a statement.

There were strong reactions on Twitter, with former teammates, friends and fans remembering the kicker.

“This morning I am shocked and saddened by the passing of Rob Bironas,” wrote country singer Carrie Underwood. “Such a nice guy. Sending prayers and love to his family…RB #2”

Titans cornerback Jason McCourty wrote on his Twitter account, which he shares with brother Devin of the New England Patriots, “Rest in peace my former teammate Rob Bironas.”

Bironas was the fourth most accurate kicker in NFL history, connecting on 85.7 percent of his kicks (239 of 279). Only David Akers made more field goals (247) than Bironas between 2005 and 2013. Bironas ranked third among kickers with 100 or more field goals since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, completing 75.2 percent of his kicks from 40 yards or more (94 of 125).

He became the Titans’ second all-time leading scorer with 1,032 points and set a franchise record with triple-digit scores in seven consecutive seasons. He also set an NFL record in 2011 by making a field goal of at least 40 yards in 10 consecutive games.

Bironas made a franchise-record 11 game-winning field goals during his career, including a 60-yarder against the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 that remains the longest field goal in Oilers or Titans history. In a 2007 win over the Houston Texans, Bironas made an NFL single-game record eight field goals, including a 29-yard game-winning strike as time expired. That helped him reach his only Pro Bowl, the same year he was named Associated Press All-Pro.

He went to Auburn and transferred to Georgia Southern, where he won a Division I-AA national title. Bironas worked for his father’s company in Louisville, Kentucky, and was fired by Green Bay in 2002. He played in the Arena Football League and even the AF2 while working part-time in training camps with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, guard and other jobs while trying to stay with an NFL team.

In 2005, he won a spot on the Titans’ roster.

“Playing in the NFL,” he said in 2006, “was the ultimate goal.”

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