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Punters are better than ever, which may not be good for the NFL
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 12, 2017

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The 2016 season was the best ever for punters in the NFL. Maybe that’s a bad thing.

According to statistics posted by Jaguars Senior V.P. Tony Khan, the 2016 season was the best since at least 2000 in a wide variety of categories.

The average of 40.1 net yards per punt was the best ever. The percentage of punts landed inside both the 20-yard line (38.8 percent) and inside the 10-yard line (13.8 percent) was the best ever. The average post-punt field position of the receiving team’s own 25-yard line was the worst ever. And there were more punts of 70 or more yards than ever before.

But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Punts are among the most boring plays in football. There’s a reason that the Red Zone Channel usually cuts away from punts. The Rams were perhaps the most boring team in the NFL last season, even though their punter, Johnny Hekker, was the best in the league.

Fans enjoy scoring and the very nature of punting is to prevent scoring — it’s the offense giving up, and trying to put the other team as far away from scoring as possible. Occasionally something exciting happens in the NFL, with a blocked punt or a punt return touchdown, but that’s exceedingly rare: There were 2,335 punts in the NFL last season, with just 10 returned for touchdowns and seven blocked.

The NFL could consider some rules changes that would make punts more exciting, such as requiring the punting team to give the returner two yards of space to make the catch — the old “halo rule” that college football dropped in 2003. However, a rule that would encourage more returns could result in more injuries on returns, and the NFL has already shown with its changing rules on kickoffs that that’s the last thing the league office wants.

And so we may be stuck with a league in which punters are dominant, to the detriment of the excitement of the game.

Leuzer said:

Turning 21 today, GO RAMS!!!:cheers:

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Well happy birthday. I remember when I turned 21.
Vaguely.

Don't over-do it like I did. Celebrating in Broward County Jail isn't as appealing as it sounds.

But I'm quite keen on Bucky Hodges from Virginia Tech. He's a big guy (6'7") with a huge catch radius a perfect Red Zone target for Goff. He may drop into the 3rd, but I really doubt it - he can also throw the ball having split his time in 2013 (redshirt year) between TE and QB. trick play anyone??

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Yes because everyone knows mentally unstable people can't go on vacation

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This made me Lol and i don't know why.

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I remembered why.

TR, when the Cowboys start losing and the Rams start winning, you'll be a Ram fan again? (until the Cowboys start winning again and the Rams start losing again.......) Perfect plan as a fan, always rooting for a winning team!

Ramlock said:

Yeah

And we know how that front office turned out too

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Not too well. But I wish our FO had the balls to do that to Jeff. Might have gotten him a winning season and saved his career here.

What about roll outs?

I don't remember many this year. Bradford had many his first year to help read the field. It's not like Goff can't run either. He is just about as fast as Wentz.

Yamahopper said:

Hue doesn't get to make those calls.

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I seriously doubt, they draft any QB that Hue isn't 100% in love with.
No such thing as trading back gets you just average players. The top 100 players in every draft aren't just average players. There should be some excellent prospects in the top 100. And if done correctly it will make the overall team stronger. People misuse the draft all the time. And those are the guys not fit to draft or develop players in the NFL.

Merlin said:

I don't think we'll ever know how it went down. Did Snead jump on Demoff's desk to get those done? Were Les and Fish (who clearly wanted both guys back) on the same page? I suspect the dysfunction ran really deep in terms of who wanted to keep who. So IMO it's just another indicator that we did not have the top-notch GM leadership we need in that position.

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What do you think of the idea of bringing in someone Like Bill Polian to help guide us through our FO/Coaching overhaul!!?

Never was a fan of Musgrave, but IMO, he'll be a QB Coach for somebody next year.

Psycho_X said:

The thought that each position group is being coached and told what to do completely away from the rest of the offense seems like a poor decision to me.

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It's imbecilic.
If that was really happening, Fisher et al should have been fired a long time ago.

Tron said:

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That is awesome

Alaska Ram. Now that's too funny. Another tough guy behind a keyboard? lol

I'm gonna go against the grain and say that while some changes may be needed that it's important to not underestimate how broken the scheme was.

When the defense KNOWS what they need to do in order to defeat the play including what the OL is going to do, then there's not much anyone can do.

We could have Ram's all-time greats playing in this scheme and...they'd look terrible. And not just because they're zombies....*rimshot*....

Last year with Cignetti as the OC, we gave up among the fewest sacks in the NFL. It's not like these guys, among them rookies at the time can't hold blocks or open holes. They can.

But... there's issues:

1) The blocking scheme is as broken as the overall offensive scheme. Enough that defenses KNEW what was coming before the snap. When you're so well scouted that the play is defeated prior to the snap, that's just turrible...knuckle-headed turrible.

2) The RBs and OL aren't on the same page. We say plenty of gifs where is seemed like Gurley was going to the wrong hole. Not so. The problem was that the RB coach had him stupidly slamming into holes that weren't there while the defense had the play fully diagnosed RATHER than having him actually BE a fully functioning RB, READ the line and see the sometimes gaping backside holes opened up by the defense over-pursuing. It made the OL and the RB look bad when it was on the OC and RB coaches. The contrast is LeVeon Bell. Watch him against Miami. If he just slammed into the line, he wouldn't have broken 60 yards. Instead, he waited, saw the crease, accelerated and broke big and timely runs. Gurley CAN do that, but he needs a coach who values patience rather than expecting his RB to be a stupid battering ram. Remember, our Rams are the legacy of Marshall Faulk and Eric Dickerson. Even Jerome Bettis wasn't JUST a dump truck like Gurley seems to have been coached this year. Heck, we saw better patience from John Cappelletti, and his game wasn't exactly about being slow to the hole...

Anyway, I fully expect some changes, but I have faith that more than a few of our guys who had bad years...did so due to bad coaching rather than being bad players.

I mean, seriously, this broken scheme was HISTORICALLY bad. No one was gonna succeed in it. The fact that Britt got 1k yards is kinda surprising. Lets us know how brilliant and amazing Bruce's 1800 yards was...

I have faith that with not that many changes, our OL will be substantially better next year. And that difference will be coaching. You'll see it on the guys faces. And hear it...

"We all loved Coach Fish, but... *and then player gushes with excitement about the new culture and all the actual football they're learning*"

Not trying to bump, just adding to the conversation in light of further information.

We DO NOT want McVay coaching the 49ers. He has the ability to turn the 9ers around in a heartbeat. He's the kind of coach that will infuse a young team with BELIEF.

They have pieces on D. They can salvage their OL. What if they get Romo? Trade down from the #2 to stockpile picks and take a stud WR?

Now, all of a sudden... the 9ers have a young team with a veteran QB led by a QB whisperer BELIEVING.

What people miss is that if we lose Shanahan to Denver, Vance Joseph to SD, McVay to the 9ers and Lynn to Buffalo...

Are we content with Patricia?

I'm pretty good with that, but I'm NOT okay with McVay going to the 9ers.

Of all the coaches up for jobs, the most "transformative" of the coaches I see out there is McVay. The more inputs I get, the more he separates himself (health issues had me behind in my research).

Let's be clear. Why do I say this? Cuz some might think I got this voodoo or I make stuff up...

Every single interview or piece of information, bar none, is thematic. I have the time, so I venture down the youtube rabbit hole as well as take the time to "use de google". This singular theme isn't just rare, it's extraordinarily rare. It means that McVay's rare in that he's got the most ingenious disinformation campaign going on in the information age...ever. OR... he is what they say he is, which is this... He's a guy that transcends his age... that people feel cheated for not knowing longer (as Chris Cooley stated and I'm certain he wasn't alone in his feelings about McVay)... that he inspires with his knowledge and presence and has been doing this for YEARS. Understand, he's 30, NOW, but he's been this way for YEARS.

In all that time, I can't find ONE disgruntled, "man, that McVay is an a-hole" type output. Not. One. Not from a current or former player, coach, scout, roommate... NO ONE.

It takes a super strong magnet to get all the iron shavings to align. Even then, they almost never truly align perfectly. You need a REALLY, REALLY strong field, and even then you sometimes have to shake the shavings a bit. And people aren't as consistent as iron shavings...

So when there's a young coaching prodigy who's not JUST an Xs and Os prodigy, but a leadership prodigy... we just HAVE to have him.

Moreover, if for whatever reason Demoff doesn't go with him, that scares the crap out of me, unless he gets Asshole Face. For me, McVay is closing the gap, not because Payton is less of the QB whisperer he is, but because I'm becoming more aware of exactly how much of a leadership prodigy McVay is. I'm simply learning how massive this young coach's potential is... and it's scary.

The LAST thing I want with us facing Carroll and Arians twice a year is to also face McVay...

I think McVay is the young coach this team needs to get these players to BELIEVE that they can win...in this division...in this league...consistently...all the way to the Super Bowl.

And you know if I didn't wholeheartedly believe it. I wouldn't say it.

I have a problem with King...To me he is to N.E. what Berman is to S.F...Asskissers...

My local sports radio show here in Orlando had something to say about what Khan and Jax did yesterday.

Apparently... the GM in Jax was recently given an extension or something. He's the decision maker. Anyway, now he's going to have to find a way to take direction from Tom C. The radio guy has some inside knowledge of the Jags... he says that the addition of Tom C is going to create major dysfunction in the front office. Khan brought him back for the fans who remember him from the old days coaching there. The radio guy thinks that Tom C won't really be doing anything... he'll just be a imaginary VP with no real authority with decisions. If that's not the case, then he thinks the whole thing will be a dysfunctional disaster.

I think I got most of what he said communicated in my best caveman style. I found his take on adding Tom very interesting. He doesn't think Khan has a fucking clue and is turning the front office into a clown show.

BonifayRam said:

Pass catching TE,

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I am hoping Higbee can improve enough to be that guy.

Merlin said:

“The talk hasn’t ended because it’s widely believed in league circles that O’Brien is not happy in Houston. (One league source used extremely colorful language in explaining O’Brien’s mind-set.),” Florio writes.

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As much as I dislike BOB, can't blame him here. It's hot all year and traffic is awful.

jrry32 said:

I really shouldn't take such a harsh stance against McDaniels. He might prove me wrong. But I'm not the type to sit on the fence. I just have a gut feeling that he's the same egotistical jackass that he was in Denver (and here).

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Me either. But my whole deal this time around is that they need to get someone in here who can develop Goff and this offense and take them out of the stone age, so it can be paired with a young and talented defensive core. Getting a defensive guy with a top OC like McCoy can work, sure, but then McCoy's gone probably after one season given success. So that poaching deal is why I don't think they really have a choice to do other than an offensive mind.

So if Demoff effs this up, then it's going to give me John Shaw flashbacks and tbh I don't think I can stomach any more of that nonsense. I am getting real tired of having allegiance to a franchise that can't get out of its own way.

EDIT: oh and re: McDaniels I fully understand the angst many have with him. But that said, he at least fits what this team obviously needs, and his hiring, particularly if it comes with the addition of Caserio, is a direction I can get behind.

10 free agents is a bit pie in the sky..

I would love it though

I have never been a fan of winging it with the offensive line. The trenches are where the games are won and lost. Look to the Cowboys or Raiders on how to effectively build an O-line.

OldSchool said:

Looks like a lot of freaking out about missing our opportunity for nothing, as usual.

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Yeah, I know I'm guilty. Don't mind me while I grab my pitchfork and.....

I like the way all you guys think. First priority in Free agency is two pro bowl level Olineman, followed by a lineman in our first pick of the draft.

I hope Ram Brass is thinking the same way.

Next priority becomes CB. I personally am not spending my money on a free agent WR unless it's a #1 WR type like Alshon. Dallas has had a great offense all year without Dez or a #1 WR. When you dominate the LOS there are many ways to score.

Personally I am keeping Saffold. Though he still gets knicked up He appears to be healing up from major injury and turned in a solid year, let's not create another hole to fill at Oline.