Tag Archives: Punter of the Week

Posted on by
Reply

TSR’s Punter of the Week
Drew Butler – Pittsburgh Steelers

As mentioned here a few weeks ago, TSR will assess performances of 17 NFL punters this season on a weekly basis. The Sauerbrun Report launched in 1995 as a bi-weekly print newsletter devoted to the punts and kicks of the original Punt King: Todd Sauerbrun of the Bears. After three seasons, the print publication ceased. In early 2006, TSR re-started as an online site with a broader mission.

My paying job’s work schedule makes it impossible to watch much pro football in real time but to maintain closeness to both the sport and the art of punting, TSR is watching one televised game per week on tape and reporting on the output of a single punter in the selected contest.

This week and every week through the end of the NFL regular season, TSR breaks down the bio, stats and outlook of the punter chosen as Punter of the Week. Included will be a description of each punt and an audio clip of one punt. Installment number 1 of 17 focuses on Drew Butler of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Who is he?
23-year-old Drew Butler is an undrafted rookie out of the University of Georgia. He signed with Pittsburgh immediately after the draft concluded. The son of great Bears place-kicker Kevin Butler, Drew was named the Steelers punter as camp ended. It was reported Butler won the job because incumbent Jeremy Kapinos had a bad back and was unable to play in the preseason. But even had Kapinos been healthy, Butler’s solid summer and future potential would have been enough to seal the deal fair and square. Butler earned a degree in telecommunications at Georgia. His grade point average was a tick shy of perfect and he was among the nation’s best collegiate punters over three full seasons. His rookie salary is reportedly $390-thousand and he wears uniform number 9. Active on Twitter, Butler sounds off quite a bit on professional golf and Bulldogs athletics.

Butler’s stat line against the Broncos on 9-9-12:
3 punts. 142 yards total. Avg. 47.3 yards per. 40.0 net.

The punts in detail:
1. Butler’s first professional punt came after the game’s opening possession for the Steelers went three and out. Standing inside his own ten, Butler’s warm-up routine included several simulated punting motions in between deep breaths. Looking very nervous, Butler closed his eyes a few times for a second or two and then licked his left hand. Butler wears a hefty set of shoulder pads on his muscular frame. Vertical facemask bars on his helmet extend from the bottom of his chin to the tip of his nose. He wore a tight, black synthetic undershirt that covered his upper arms down to his elbow. After a short count, Butler was delivered the ball with perfection by veteran long snapper Greg Warren. Standing thirteen yards behind the line of scrimmage, Butler took two quick steps before striking the ball solidly. The low, line drive punt with less than optimum hang time was received by former Jet Jimmy Leonhard at Denver’s 28 and returned twelve yards. It was a 52 yard punt. 40-yard net. As you probably know, official record-keeping doesn’t count punting yards traveled from where the ball is kicked. The starting mark is the spot where the ball is snapped. So, in reality, the actual distance on Butler’s punt was 65 yards.

2. There were more deep breaths and more expressions of nervousness from Butler before his second punt. But boy, was it a beauty. The game was scoreless midway through the first quarter and it appeared punting would play a big role in the battle for field position. The Steelers were forced to punt after Big Ben was sacked near at Denver’s 45 on a third and long. This is where even the most experienced punters are tested as they try to land the ball inside the opponent’s 20. Butler had to shift a bit to his right to field the snap before launching the rock toward the end zone. The ball fell at the one and a half yard line. What was most beautiful about it was the bounce it took. It went straight up in the air. It didn’t somersault into the end zone. It didn’t backspin away from the goal stripe. It went up in a straight line. Steelers coverage man Curtis Brown had a great read and was ready to bat the ball back into play. But because of Butler’s ability to get a flat bounce, DeMarcus Van Dyke was able to swoop in as he ran towards the end zone. He caught and downed the ball at the one. It was a perfectly executed pin job by Butler with great assistance from Brown and Van Dyke. You’ll only see this kind of play a couple dozen times across the entire league all season. The other interesting thing about this great punt was Butler’s reaction to it. You’ll see many punters go wild after a good outcome. Butler was not overly celebratory. He slapped hands with his special teams unit as they came off the field but didn’t appear interested in making it about him.

3. After Ben failed to see a wide-open Wallace for what would have been a sure TD early in the fourth quarter, Butler’s third punt was a chance to air it out. Standing at his own 14, Butler received the ball with the laces down. He quickly rotated it 180 degrees while taking two quick steps before sending it 58 yards downfield. Again, the hang time was less than what a coverage team would like. Leonhard returned it ten yards. It went in the books as a 46-yard punt, 36-yard net.

The Sound of a Punt:
The clip below is the Steelers radio call (carried on WDVE-FM in Pittsburgh) on Butler’s beautiful punt downed at the one yard line by DeMarcus Van Dyke. Play-by-play man Billy Hargrove misidentified Van Dyke on the play. His partner Tunch Ilkin caused further confusion by adding another misidentification before Hargrove eventually got it right. The third voice heard in this clip is the sideline reporter Craig Wolffey who adds little value to game descriptions. Aside from the mistakes made, the thing that most annoyed me about the call is the complete failure to credit Butler for his placement of the ball.

The Punt-osis:
Butler had a great debut and appears ready to prosper as a NFL punter. He fought a serious case of the butterflies to perform well in a noisy building. NBC’s Al Michaels commented before Butler’s first kick that Denver’s altitude makes it punter-friendly. “Nice place to make your debut as a punter, at 5280 feet,“ said Michaels. That’s true. The game’s opening kickoff landed in the stands. But success as a punter is more than just distance. It’s placement. Ilkin said on the radio that he observed both punters struggling with swirling winds during pre-game. Butler seems to have a firm grip on snap reception and acted cool when he had to. As the holder for all Suisham field goal and point after attempts, Butler was perfect. Expect an effort to improve hang time on punts but otherwise I believe you’re looking at a guy who has both the bloodlines and the ability to stick around and punt on a team with great tradition. Let’s see how Butler fares when it gets cold.

Next week’s Punter of the Week:  Andy Lee of the San Francisco 49ers

-Mike Francesa appeared to fall asleep momentarily while on the air during a Tuesday interview with WFAN’s Yankees beat reporter Sweeny Murti. The video clip showing the sequence has been circulated widely. Lots of people in this town seem to gain delight with the occasional Mikey blooper. I think it’s important to remember the hours this guy keeps, especially during football season.

Posted on by
Reply

We have just a few more days to wait before next week’s Wednesday launch of the NFL regular season. My excitement is down a notch in large part because I won’t see hardly any action in real time.

I work during all four of the Sunday/Monday game slots and there’s no television in the work space I’ve been relocated to. The job’s so busy I wouldn’t have time to look at a TV screen even if there was one.

I’m free for the Thursday nighter but my cable provider is the lone holdout (among the majors) without a contract to carry the NFL Network now that Cablevision cut a deal with the league.

There’s also part of me that believes football’s extinction is a matter of when – not if. So why bother getting wrapped up in a sport that will shut down little by little starting at the high school level (which is the best all-around version of the game experience from a fan’s standpoint).

Despite these personal constraints, I’ll try to keep up with the Jets and their circus. I’ll keep an eye on my Mizzou Tigers as they get knocked around by Georgia, Alabama and new conference rivals in the SEC. I plan on hitting a high school game back in suburban Chicago in a month.

I’m also gonna revive this website’s long dormant discussion of punters and punting. Each week of the NFL season, TSR will review the performance of a single punter. Seventeen weeks. Seventeen punters. The new feature will keep me engaged with the art of punting even though I’ll be out of the loop on Sunday afternoons. I mean, I’d rather be in my chair at home with cold beer, hot pizza and the clicker doing the noon to midnight football-on-tv routine. But since I can’t do that, I’ll sit down when the weekend’s over and watch a game on tape.

TSR has chosen rookie Steelers punter Drew Butler as the focus for the first week of this new feature. Butler has not yet officially won the punting job in Pittsburgh but he will. He’s the son of legendary Bears kicker Kevin Butler. He’s been boomin’ em in the preseason.

Look for an installment of TSR’s “Punter of the Week” every week during the NFL season. If you have a favorite punter you’d like included beyond Butler in week 1, submit a suggestion in the comments section below.

-Despite a NFL assertion that it will start the regular season with replacement officials, I believe you’ll see the union stripes back on the field in time for Wednesday’s opener. The pressure on Roger Goodell to cut a deal with locked-out union refs has grown exponentially since players’ union boss DeMaurice Smith hinted at a player revolt if the dispute isn’t settled. SI’s Peter King says it would cost the league only about $2 mil annual to settle with the regulars. That’s total chump change given the likely chaos that would unfold if the current batch of confused rookie call-ups work the regular season.

-Hannah Lew of the band Grass Widow has recorded a beautiful cover version of the great Mantles tune “Don’t Lie.” You can stream the number at Lew’s Tumblr page which features several excellent demos. The Mantles were the first act of five to play the first day of Woodsist Fest 2012.