Bengals kickers going toe to toe to win job

If Randy Bullock and Jake Elliott keep this up, the Bengals are going to have an extremely difficult decision on their hands on cutdown day.

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The competition for the kicker job that already was neck and neck coming into Friday’s game got even closer when Bullock hit field goals of 54 and 49 yards and converted his only extra point attempt, while Elliott made a 45-yarder and a PAT.

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“I think I’m pushing Randy, and I think Randy’s pushing me,” said Elliott, the rookie fifth-round pick. “I think it’s bringing out the best in both of us and we’re both kicking pretty well in camp and both had good nights tonight.”

Despite missing a 52-yard field goal and extra point in last week’s intrasquad scrimmage, Elliott would seem to have the advantage given that the Bengals spent a fifth-round pick on him, making him only the second kicker the team has drafted in the Marvin Lewis era.

But Bullock, who spent the final four games of 2016 with the Bengals after the team waived Mike Nugent, is performing like it’s his job to lose.

“I came in here with a good opportunity,” he said. “I’m trying to take full advantage of it. I worked really hard in the offseason and I’m just having fun with it.”

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