I know most of you don't give a **** about punters. Thinking of them as an afterthought, only to be an object of ire and disgust, to kick em when they're down (have a bad play). We remember the days of Bill Cowher berating Miller on the sidelines after a bad kick. More of a knee-jerk bully move that offered nothing in constructive criticism, or advice to coach em up. Josh had the last laugh earning a superbowl ring in NE before retiring, heck Bellicheat thought he was good enough.
Enter the era of finding a great punter. In 2000 we witnessed the worst offense win the Superbowl when the Ravens hoisted the Lombardi. Sure they had one of the top defensive years in history, but their special teams were equally as dominant. The had an excellent return game with Germaine Lewis, putting their offensive MVP (IMHO) Matt Stover, in position to kick that team to victory each weekend. Their punter, Kyle Richardson, was a field flipping weapon, who paired with the excellent kick coverage units, placed the opposing teams in the worst possible locations to go up against that formidable defense. Without excellent kickers, the Ravens don't even sniff a Superbowl that season.
So Miller departs and the Steelers suffer with Gardoki for 3 years. Knowing that punting is important to help the defense, the Steelers FO makes a smart move and try to sign the RFA Andy Lee away from the 49ers. A good move, since Lee was one of the best young punters in the league, and since he drafted in the 6th round, it would have been a 6th round pick given up to get one of the best punters in the league. Unfortunately, the 49ers had us create Lee's contract and signed him. This led to a chain reaction on the punting roller-coaster we got to enjoy for the past decade.
Instead of costing a 6th rounder to pick up a punter via RFA, we instead used a 4th rounder on the thickly built Daniel Sepulveda. He was built like a linebacker, he blew up a guy and forced a fumble in college. This is a kicker the blue collar Steelers can rally around! Fortunately the internet wasn't as well used so a 4th round pick on a punter, it didn't destroy any message boards, though there was a bit of displeasure using a high pick on a punter. He had the power and hang time, but his technique put tremendous strain on his plant leg, and he ended up missing the entire 2008 season as well as the end of 2010 and 2011 before retiring. Even though he has a superbowl ring, he never kicked in any superbowl for us. I thought the ground kicking Mitch Berger would cost us a chance at #6, but he at least followed through and allowed us to hoist the Lombardi. Kapinos was our kicker in the Green Bay superbowl, and he wasn't anything special either, but also didn't hurt us.
Then the parade started Butler, Zoltan, McBriar, Wing. I was happy when we got Zoltan. Doing the Z was fun, but it was not to stay, since he was injured and out by midseason. Wing was a new direction. Entering into the Aussie footballer route to find punters has been well documented and quite successful. These guys are born punting, and they do it all the time in the Aussie Football League. They know how to get a punt away under duress, and they also know how to tackle a guy, and don't shy away from contact. They also are very good at kicking with backspin, to down the ball inside the 10. Wing had a good rookie year providing some of our most consistent punting in recent memory, and even threw for a first down! He looked even better this offseason. So much so, that we had to make a decision to keep him, or the other phenom Aussie kicker, Berry.
Berry kills the football with his leg. Excellent distance and hangtime. He did so well, that the steelers were actually able to trade a punter for a draft pick! That's huge. The position that had been weak for years, now was thick enough at punter that we gained a pick because of it. Berry being kept over Wing seemed to be received in a very ho-hum manner from Steeler fans. As soon as he kicked his first 70yd beauty, I was in awe. I watch this guy kick in person, and he can literally kick it out of the stadium. Not only that, but he's also shown he's accurate and can pin a team inside the 10. We now have a field flipping punter who can put the ball on the other team's 30, while being backed up in an end zone. This is a huge advantage. One the Ravens have been exploiting for years with Koch. This is just the weapon we need with an offense in flux and a defense on the rise. This hidden portion of football will be necessary to eek us out a couple wins in Ben's absence. And Berry's the guy that will hopefully continue to wow me, when he lines up 15 yards deep on 4th downs.
Enter the era of finding a great punter. In 2000 we witnessed the worst offense win the Superbowl when the Ravens hoisted the Lombardi. Sure they had one of the top defensive years in history, but their special teams were equally as dominant. The had an excellent return game with Germaine Lewis, putting their offensive MVP (IMHO) Matt Stover, in position to kick that team to victory each weekend. Their punter, Kyle Richardson, was a field flipping weapon, who paired with the excellent kick coverage units, placed the opposing teams in the worst possible locations to go up against that formidable defense. Without excellent kickers, the Ravens don't even sniff a Superbowl that season.
So Miller departs and the Steelers suffer with Gardoki for 3 years. Knowing that punting is important to help the defense, the Steelers FO makes a smart move and try to sign the RFA Andy Lee away from the 49ers. A good move, since Lee was one of the best young punters in the league, and since he drafted in the 6th round, it would have been a 6th round pick given up to get one of the best punters in the league. Unfortunately, the 49ers had us create Lee's contract and signed him. This led to a chain reaction on the punting roller-coaster we got to enjoy for the past decade.
Instead of costing a 6th rounder to pick up a punter via RFA, we instead used a 4th rounder on the thickly built Daniel Sepulveda. He was built like a linebacker, he blew up a guy and forced a fumble in college. This is a kicker the blue collar Steelers can rally around! Fortunately the internet wasn't as well used so a 4th round pick on a punter, it didn't destroy any message boards, though there was a bit of displeasure using a high pick on a punter. He had the power and hang time, but his technique put tremendous strain on his plant leg, and he ended up missing the entire 2008 season as well as the end of 2010 and 2011 before retiring. Even though he has a superbowl ring, he never kicked in any superbowl for us. I thought the ground kicking Mitch Berger would cost us a chance at #6, but he at least followed through and allowed us to hoist the Lombardi. Kapinos was our kicker in the Green Bay superbowl, and he wasn't anything special either, but also didn't hurt us.
Then the parade started Butler, Zoltan, McBriar, Wing. I was happy when we got Zoltan. Doing the Z was fun, but it was not to stay, since he was injured and out by midseason. Wing was a new direction. Entering into the Aussie footballer route to find punters has been well documented and quite successful. These guys are born punting, and they do it all the time in the Aussie Football League. They know how to get a punt away under duress, and they also know how to tackle a guy, and don't shy away from contact. They also are very good at kicking with backspin, to down the ball inside the 10. Wing had a good rookie year providing some of our most consistent punting in recent memory, and even threw for a first down! He looked even better this offseason. So much so, that we had to make a decision to keep him, or the other phenom Aussie kicker, Berry.
Berry kills the football with his leg. Excellent distance and hangtime. He did so well, that the steelers were actually able to trade a punter for a draft pick! That's huge. The position that had been weak for years, now was thick enough at punter that we gained a pick because of it. Berry being kept over Wing seemed to be received in a very ho-hum manner from Steeler fans. As soon as he kicked his first 70yd beauty, I was in awe. I watch this guy kick in person, and he can literally kick it out of the stadium. Not only that, but he's also shown he's accurate and can pin a team inside the 10. We now have a field flipping punter who can put the ball on the other team's 30, while being backed up in an end zone. This is a huge advantage. One the Ravens have been exploiting for years with Koch. This is just the weapon we need with an offense in flux and a defense on the rise. This hidden portion of football will be necessary to eek us out a couple wins in Ben's absence. And Berry's the guy that will hopefully continue to wow me, when he lines up 15 yards deep on 4th downs.
