Tag Archives: Punter of the Week

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TSR’s Punter of the Week:
Shane Lechler – Oakland Raiders

Who is he?
Edward Shane Lechler is believed by many to be the best punter in the history of the NFL. TSR isn’t in a position to make such an assertion. I haven’t seen enough of Lechler or many of the great punters who pre-date Bob Parsons and the punters who first caught my attention in the late 70‘s. Lechler’s stats make a good case for him being the best ever. His career average (47.6 yards per punt) is tops all-time and he’s been to the Pro Bowl seven times. The problem with punter stats, of course, is they don’t often accurately measure one’s effectiveness. Last week’s Punter of the Week Mike Scifres says Lechler is the best all-time. Endorsements like that mean a lot. Drafted by Al Davis in 2000 out of Texas A & M, Lechler hasn’t missed a game since 2002. He’s played 196 regular season games and is on pace to hit the one-thousand pro punt mark this season. Now 36, Lechler faces a phase of his career that will present a challenge as he considers preserving his legacy. If he walks away from the game with the best career punting average in league history after perhaps one more contract, Lechler will have supporters pushing for his enshrinement to the NFL Hall of Fame. As you probably know, Canton has been off-limits to punters up until now. Not even the great Ray Guy got in. Lechler could be the one who punts down that bolted door. Lechler is a team captain. He joined five of his Raider teammates for the pre-game coin toss prior to last Sunday’s home game against Jacksonville. Lechler had minor knee surgery on his plant leg this past summer and came into camp a bit slimmer than usual. He holds the ball on all PAT’s and field goal attempts by Raiders kicker Sebastian Janikowski. The two come from the same draft class and form the best kicker/punter tandem in the NFL. Credit the late Al Davis for risking mockery by taking both players with valuable draft picks.

The Lechler stat line vs. the Jaguars 10-21-12:
6 punts. 264 yards total. Avg. 44.0 yards per. 33.3 net.

The punts in detail:
1. After a three and out on the Black and Silver’s first possession, Lechler stepped onto the field wearing a long-sleeved black shirt under his black home jersey. It was typical Bay area football weather. 62 degrees. A steady breeze. The Coliseum crowd was noisy despite scores of empty seats in the upper level. Lechler’s pre-punt routine appears consistent. He pulls the seam on his shoulder pads down and tugs up a pant leg. He licks his right hand and then rubs both hands together to spread around the moisture. Like a lot of good Raiders over the years, Lechler has a beard. Penalty flags flew when usually reliable Raider long snapper John Condo double-clutched and held the ball while the line back-pedaled up to protect. That moved the ball back five yards. The Raiders deploy three blockers in the backfield which makes the space in front of Lechler a little crowded but safe from harassment. After two un-rushed steps, Lechler hit a solid, high drive. Michael Spurlock of the Jags didn’t move an inch to receive it. With the gunners a good ways off, Spurlock ran to his right and then cut back left in an attempt to circle up the sideline. Raiders coverage man David Ausberry cut him off and chased him to the sidelines. As is Raider custom, Ausberry got into Spurlock’s space after the play was over and gave him a menacing glance that bordered on the unsportsmanlike. It was a 49-yard punt, three yard return.

2. A stall at midfield sent out Lechler for a poocher with a minute to go in the first quarter. Lechler tilted the nose of ball downward and struck it low. The line driver traveled quick to Aaron Ross who made a demonstrative fair catch signal and caught it at the 11. It was a 38 yard punt. The Jags’ punt rush efforts have zero intensity.

3. Raider tailback Darren McFadden has been lousy much of the year which means lots of punts. Lots of Lechler. With the Raiders down 14-3, Lechler’s third punt came as he stood on his own 10. He launched it high. Not crazy deep. It was slowed by the wind. Spurlock caught it at his 30 and went down almost immediately after Mike Mitchell grabbed his ankle while falling down himself. 45-yard punt. Two yard return.

4. With boos raining down on Carson Palmer after a three and out to start second half, Lechler launched it from inside his own ten. Ian Eagle called it a “wobbly” punt, a fact I can’t confirm watching the broadcast. Spurlock fielded it at his 33 (46-yard punt) and somehow slowly wove his way upfield through a maze of bodies for a 28-yard return. You can’t really blame the punt for the lengthy return. Spurlock seemed to catch a few openings and timely blocks. Lechler was nowhere to be seen on the play which is probably smart given how important he is to the team. You can bet Sauerbrun would have been in on the tackle on a play like this. But Sauerbrun was kind of a unique case in terms of his involvement on coverage. Some of the league’s older, dependable punters avoid contact if at all possible. I’m guessing Lechler is probably coached to stay away from situations that may injure him. The 28-yard return by Spurlock killed Lechler’s net number for the day. Too many of these types of returns can really hurt a key punter stat.

5. Lechler had a big job to do on his fifth punt. Standing at his own 42 with his team down a touchdown late in the third quarter, Lechler needed to put the ball inside the 20 without letting it roll into paydirt. What occurred is not what you’d expect from the best punter in the game. Lechler landed it on the goal stripe. It bounced forward. That’s a bad touchback in a big spot. You’re handing the opponent ten yards plus on a touchback. 45-yard punt. 25-yard net. Not good. CBS showed Lechler coming off the field after the play. He looked miffed.

6. Lechler punted from deep in his own zone with a minute to go in a tie game between two bad teams. It was a low, line driver and not what you’d want in this spot. The hang time stunk and Spurlock advanced it ten yards to give the Jags a shot to win it on a trey. Luckily for the Raiders, Chad Henne’s ineptness kept Jacksonville in neutral. The Raiders actually got the ball back and gave Sea-Bass a shot at a 64-yarder to win it. It was short but on line. Woulda been good from 59. Sea-Bass came back later and won the game with a 40-yarder in OT. The miss from 64 is his only fail all season.

The Sound of a Punt:

Greg Papa (not related to Bob Papa) is the primary radio voice of the Raiders. He’s joined in the booth by former Raiders coach Tom Flores. Papa delivers a crisp, enthusiastic and sometimes critical call. A Syracuse grad, Papa got very emotional calling the Raider win hours after last year’s death of Al Davis. The clip below captures Lechler’s first punt against the Jags last Sunday. The sound of foot on ball contact can be heard nicely thanks to solid production by those who put the broadcast together – heard in the Bay area on KITS-FM (Live 105) in San Francisco. This game was nearly blacked out on television locally. The Raiders needed a one-day extension to reach the 85-percent tickets sold threshold necessary to keep the game on the tube.

The Punt-osis:
Lechler is in the final year of a four-year deal worth $16 million. His net punting average is 30th in the NFL this season and his performance against Jacksonville wasn’t vintage Lechler. The Raiders aren’t winning anything anytime soon and I’d think Lechler would use free agency to consider options that would give him a shot at a ring. Lechler has become the most well known punter to play the game since Ray Guy and his body of work as a punter from a statistical standpoint is unrivaled. We’ve seen plenty of punters maintain form into their late 30’s and early 40’s. Lechler likely has an eye on his career yardage per punt number. Hopefully he can retire with some assurance he’ll get a plaque in Canton.

Next week’s Punter of the Week:
Zoltan Mesko – New England Patriots

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TSR’s Punter of the Week:
Mike Scifres – San Diego Chargers

Who is he?
One of the NFL‘s best punters, Scifres (pronounced Sigh-Fress) is valued most for his ability to limit return yardage. More than half of his 500 plus career punts have not been returned and he’s usually great on the deep ball when the situation calls for it. Scifres became much more of a known commodity among football fans when he was suddenly pressed into placekicking duties during the first week of the 2011 season. Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding tore up a knee on a Percy Harvin kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter of last year’s opener leaving Scifres as the only immediate viable roster option on point-after attempts and field goals. Scifres had kicked a big long-distance field goal as a sophomore at Western Illinois University but had not attempted a trey in a game since. As Kaeding’s emergency replacement, Scrifres nailed a 40-yarder and three PAT’s in that Vikes game. Sportscenter and all the highlights shows screamed about the greatness of it and now Scrifres is a borderline household football name. A decade of consistency under his belt, Scifres punts in the best outdoor conditions one could have at a home venue. It’s almost always nice in San Diego. Scifres played high school football in Louisiana. The future Hall of Famer Ed Reed was a Scifres teammate at Destrehan High. Reed graduated one year ahead of Scifres.

The Scifres stat line vs. the Broncos 10-15-12:
4 punts. 180 yards total. Avg. 45.0 yards per. 42.0 net.

The punts in detail:
1. Wearing a white long-sleeve shirt underneath his partially un-tucked powder-blue home Bolts jersey, the 32-year-old Scifres doesn’t have an elaborate on-field routine before the punt. You don’t see much in the way of leg flapping and the like. All I saw Scifres do before punts was blow on his hands. He wears uniform number 5 which is a numeral without a lot of historical football fanfare – fitting for a punter. Scrifres clearly works in the gym to maintain power in his upper body and thighs. He preaches the “two-step, two-second” rule after receiving the snap and may have exceeded that on both counts a bit after the Chargers went three and out on their opening drive. Denver punt rusher David Bruton made a quick slice move off the edge and nearly got his left hand on the ball as Scrifres let it rip. It wasn’t a great punt but the roll worked eleven yards in Sciff‘s favor. Denver return man Trindon Holliday (cut by the Texans the week before) was probably expecting something deeper. He left the ball alone. It was a 51-yard punt. No return.

2. The second Scifres punt was a crazy play. Five minutes into the game (after SD’s second offensive possession went nowhere) the ball was punted from the exact same spot on the field as the first punt. This one went much higher and a little further. Holliday signaled fair catch early on and attempted to haul in the punt at his own 17. Gunner Marcus Gilchrist got in Holliday’s private space as he was about to catch it. The obstruction caused Holliday to muff it. The NFL’s fair catch rule is vague on what constitutes “hindrance.” On the telecast, Gruden said Gilchrist did nothing wrong. It appeared to me that Gilchrist went overboard trying to mess with Holliday’s vision. After the muff, there was a fight for the ball between Denver’s Tony Carter and Chargers tight end Dante Rosario. Umpire Jeff Rice aggressively dug his way into the pile of players to find truth about the ball‘s ownership. It was a bold effort by Rice squirming his way among bodies twice his weight. Rice’s quick action led to the conclusion Rosario had the ball. San Diego scored a field goal off the miscue. Holliday was brought in to give the Broncos punt return game a little more sizzle than what former Jet Jimmy Leonhard was giving it. Incidentally, Leonhard had a big pick early in this game. The punt was 47 yards and the muff made it a zip return.

3. The poocher from Scifres on his third punt was textbook. Just a shade outside of field goal range, Norv Turner sent out Big Mike (nicknamed “Scabies” in college according to one of his online bios) to pin Denver deep in their own territory. Scifres barely kissed it and sent the skin into the coffin corner. It bounced at the 7. San Diego gun man Darrell Stuckey was waiting for it. How did he get in perfect position so quick? I don’t know. Stuckey is lightning fast and took a few peaks up and behind him while in an all-out sprint. Holliday was probably freaked out about another fumble and got way out of the way. 33-yard punt. No return.

4. Sciff’s final punt of the game came as Denver was mounting a furious second half comeback. After Denver sacked Rivers at his own 18, Mike came out with three minutes to go in the third quarter with his team still up ten at that point. His punt looked almost identical to his first one of the game. With a menacing Bruton rush coming from the edge, the Sciff-kick was low in trajectory and not particularly long in distance. The bounce was kind to the tune of about ten yards. Holliday picked it up and scampered up the sideline. 49-yard punt, 12-yard return. Not great by Scifres at a time his team needed a boomer. Not awful but not really what you‘d expect from one of the game‘s best.

The Sound of a Punt:
The familiar voice of Josh Lewin describes Chargers games on radio. Lewin’s just-completed rookie season sitting next to Howie Rose in the Mets radio booth has to be considered a success given the clear chemistry the two built as the season went on. Lewin’s football call is solid and takes on additional importance to Chargers fans who face occasional television blackouts given the team’s failure to sell out the building there. The clip below is Lewin and broadcast partner Hank Bauer describing the first quarter muff of a Scifres punt by Trindon Holliday. The flagship station of Chargers football is KIOZ-FM (Rock 105.3) in San Diego. Chargers games are also carried in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Reno on radio (as well as several smaller California markets).

The Punt-osis:
As has been the trend league-wide with elite punters, Scifres got locked up with a five-year career extender potentially worth $19 million. He inked the deal before last season. It includes eight mil guaranteed. That’s good coin for a punter. Sciff doesn’t go to pro bowls because he just happens to play in the same conference as Shane Lechler but who cares about the Pro Bowl anyway? Scifres puts great emphasis on the drop element of his punt and spends a lot of time practicing a release that falls flat. Scifres is likely relieved he’s recovered fully from hernia surgery and issues with an abdominal muscle. He can still kick like he did before popping the hernia. It appears to me the Chargers need to shore up a vulnerability on the right side of the line during punts. Watching this football game in its entirety makes me a believer in the Denver Broncos come postseason. I knew about the pass rush, but Tony Carter and Chris Harris are tough in the defensive backfield. Peyton Manning looked awesome. One side note on the telecast. I set my DVR to capture this event and my box failed to record it. The error message on my cable box said “the set-top was unable to record this program.” I panicked a little and then ended up dropping $40 on a package of video from the NFL that entitles me to high-quality recordings of every game played this regular season. The DVR malfunction has turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I’m really enjoying “Game Rewind” at NFL.com. I can watch a ton of punts and a lot of them can be viewed using the “Coach’s Film,” which is footage shot from two angles high above the playing surface.

Next week’s Punter of the Week:
Shane Lechler – Oakland Raiders