Punt coverage
- Thread starter mr12182
- Start date
Podcasts covering kids day said hang time was great (over 5 seconds) on all but one punt.
Hang time, boundry placement and deep placement (inside the 10) real make a huge difference. What you are saying does make some sense when punting from DEEP in your own end.....that is where the hand time and keeping the ball close to one sideline can come into play. Hope to not see TOO many punts in game one but am looking forward to seeing him drill a few when it really counts.
I agree. The fewer punts, the better. But when the Hawks DO have to punt, consistently drilling them deep and/or pinning the opponent inside their 10 yard line can go a long ways towards winning the game. A good punter is worth his weight in gold.
Naturally it would be better if the Hawks DIDN’T have to punt at all!
I guess you didn't get the "Punting is winning" memo.
You're also correct about the value of a great punter. Flipping field position, especially in close games against good teams, can make the difference. It has for Iowa on many occasions.
One thing I often question about punting, not just Iowa but everybody, is why punters tend to kick the ball down the middle of the field directly to the punt returner. Going all the way back to the days of Nile Kinnick, punting the ball to the corners was an art. By doing so you often eliminated any return at all and made coverage pretty easy. But it's been a long time since I've seen punters try to do that with any consistency. Maybe a punt here or there they aim at a corner, but mostly it's just down the middle, which makes no sense to me. So I hope part of Iowa's punting game this year will be punting to the corners.
I think punt coverage as a whole has dramatically improved in my lifetime. Between the modern shield formation and more rugby style kicking it has gotten a lot harder have significant returns. It seems like in the Tim Dwight days it was all about making the first guy miss and then having open field to get up to speed. Now coverage is better spread and down field before the ball even goes up. So if a guy in the college game booms it, it's gotten much harder to outkick the coverage.
Oh Lord….don’t poke the bear (we know who I am referring to)!I guess you didn't get the "Punting is winning" memo.
You're also correct about the value of a great punter. Flipping field position, especially in close games against good teams, can make the difference. It has for Iowa on many occasions.
One thing I often question about punting, not just Iowa but everybody, is why punters tend to kick the ball down the middle of the field directly to the punt returner. Going all the way back to the days of Nile Kinnick, punting the ball to the corners was an art. By doing so you often eliminated any return at all and made coverage pretty easy. But it's been a long time since I've seen punters try to do that with any consistency. Maybe a punt here or there they aim at a corner, but mostly it's just down the middle, which makes no sense to me. So I hope part of Iowa's punting game this year will be punting to the corners.
I agree about punting to the corners and wonder, like you, why it doesn’t happen much anymore. Seems to me getting the ball out of bounds inside the 5 yard line would be better than punting to the return man and giving him the chance to return it, but what do I know? I am sure some learned individual will post a lengthy treatise explaining to us dummies about probabilities, scenarios, situations and coaching decisions.