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Old 11-16-2007, 01:54 AM
VarlosZ VarlosZ is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2004
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Default Re: Value of a Kicker

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I think there is a good argument to be made for never kicking to good punt returners. the pats basically did this for a few games in a row this season

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FO just went into kicking away from Devin Hester (after the ratings tables), but they don't talk about punting away from him, unfortunately.

My guess would be that for punting away to be a good strategy, three things must be true: your punter has to be relatively inaccurate (so there's a good chance he'll shank it for a 15-yarder), your coverage teams have to suck, and the returner has to be really good.

Even then it's close. The large majority of punt returns are either fair catches or go for less than, say, five yards. The situation bette be pretty dire before you tamper with a pretty safe play.
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