The unfortunate punter.

BigBenRoeth

Now lads,
In the NFL Hall Of Fame we have players who played every position on the field,Quarterbacks,Running Backs,Linebackers and Defensive backs to name but a few,theres even one placekicker,Jan Stenerud.

But for those of you who didnt know,and those that did and already have an opinion on this,there is not so much as one punter in the NFL Hall of fame!!!:eek:

Now people may scream at me names like:Tom Landry.
But as far as i know,Tom is in the hall of fame for coaching,not for playing.
And also,Tom played defensive back and punter,so he wasnt a pure punter.
And there are no pure punters in the NFL hall of fame.

Now although the Punter might not be the most important player on a team,he is by no means useless.
In fact he can be very important late in games where his team holds on to a slim lead.

You will never hear any TV announcers mention "Super Bowl winning Punter".
Or "Pro Bowl Punter".
Even though there are and have been many spectacular punters since the dawn of the NFL.
Matt McBriar springs to mind as a great punter of the decade...

I just want to hear peoples criticism on this and want to know peoples views of whether Punters deserve a place in NFL hall of fame.

hanton12

in fairness, its not really a true skill tho is it? At least with place kicking there is an element of pressure and accuracy, and I'd reckon Vinatieri will be the next and only kicker to get in for a long time yet. But punting, while important and while a valuable asset if you have a strong one, isnt exactly a game winning position. Most of them are 2 a penny, and teams pick up punters easily in off season. Sure there are 2 former Aussie rules players now considered among the better punters in the game, with Jets and Eagles. Their careers were over in Australia so they went to America to make some extra money when they werent fit enough and past their prime for Aussie Rules.

BigBenRoeth

True enough i suppose,Punter isnt really the most demanding of positions.:p
And also,how many times have we seen punters struggling to hobble from one hasmark to the nearest sideline,only to miss a diving tackle on a CB or WR:D:D..Fun to watch every time:)
But dont ye think that if they inducted a pure punter or two into the Hall Of Fame that it might encourage people to consider playing there?

Manny7

BigBenRoeth wrote: »

True enough i suppose,Punter isnt really the most demanding of positions.:p

Loved the CBS commentary during the Pats-Jax game when they had a clip of Chris Hanson (Pats punter) - "Imagine what it's like for him going home after the game "So honey, how was work?", "Well, I warmed up really well...." To be fair I think he got to punt once with about 2 mins to go

BigBenRoeth

Hehe...didnt hear that meself but good one :D

Chucky the tree

BigBenRoeth wrote: »

You will never hear any TV announcers mention "Super Bowl winning Punter".
Or "Pro Bowl Punter".
.

Punter do go to the pro-bowl though.


Shane Lechler has been Oaklands best player for the last couple of seasons nearly. Says it all i suppose..

BigBenRoeth

Yeah punters go to the pro bowl but theyre never really mentioned in detail.
And oakland sucks ass,whatya expect?:D

Chucky the tree

Need a reminder on who won the last time Oakland and the Steelers meet?

BigBenRoeth

Im trying to forget:o

jdivision

Chargers punter kicked it 66 yards net on Sunday to give the Colts crap field position with little time left - commentators expected Colts to start around halfway, In reality it was on around the 30, that's huge. New York's punter kept Dallas within five yards of the goalline on another punt. Special teams are key in football.

BigBenRoeth

I agree.....ive seen a few amazing punts in me time watching it....absoloutely massive.

jdivision

This was the first ever year where a punter had a net yardage of more than 40 yards per punt and there was two. The guy in Oakland and damned if I remember the other one.