When an NFL team is struggling, one of the jokes that fans make is that the punter is the best player on the team. The punter is one of those players that gets absolutely no respect until he makes a great play. But that play is soon forgotten and the punter is allocated to the bench until the offense cannot move the ball and the punter is needed to get the team out of trouble again.
How important is a good punter to an NFL team? When your favorite team is looking at a fourth and long from its own goal line, you can start to appreciate the value of a good punter. In the NFL, a good punter is one that can average anywhere from 45 to 55 net yards per kick. That sounds easy, but net yards are gross yards minus the return yards. You may have a punter that can boot the ball 65 yards, but if he cannot get any hang time, then he may constantly give up 30-yard returns.
A good punter is one that can consistently place the ball inside the 20-yard line without giving the other team a chance at returning the ball. The really good punters can drop the ball inside the opponent's five yard line and make the ball stop or kick backwards so it can be downed by the punt coverage team. Without a good punter, a team's bad offense becomes even more of a liability. A good punter is the player that gets a team out of trouble and prevents the opposition from starting a drive inside his team's side of the field.
When it comes to separating the good punters from the popular punters, that can be a little more difficult. Punters are popular with their teammates when those punters contribute to the punt coverage team. If a punter puts up a bad punt and then does not even try to tackle the returner, then that punter loses a lot of respect from his teammates. A punter who can tackle is one that will earn the respect of his teammates and the fans.
Punting is something that is often taken for granted by football fans. It is incredibly difficult to punt a ball to a specific location on the field and then get that ball to spin a particular way. When a team finds a punter that can consistently control the flight of the ball, then that is a punter that will usually get paid a lot of money and get offered long-term contracts.
Even the best offenses in the NFL get in trouble sometimes. A team with a good punter has an expert that can get that team out of trouble when things go wrong. The job of a punter is often never appreciated until a team realizes that it has an inconsistent punter. The desire for a good punter is never high on a general manager's list until things start to really go wrong.
Adrian Peterson: One-Of-A-Kind Talent The Value of a Good Punter to an NFL Team
0 comments:
Post a Comment