Quote:
Originally Posted by HPF Bob
Lechler: I think the yards per return does reflect, in part, how long his punts are. Punter A gets 40 yds/punt. Punter B gets 45 yds/punt. If Punter A's team gives up 7 YPR and Punter B's team gives up 10 YPR, the A's look like they have better special teams even though the B's tackled their man two yards further down the field (35 to 33).
Bulloch: I'm fine with giving him an extra year. He had the yips early and I think he had a disadvantage by having so few easy FG attempts those first few games. A lot of very good field goal kickers sucked with their first club and only found success with another team that was willing to be patient.
Martin: He seems to put up respectable numbers even though I am never impressed. He has neither top flight speed nor elusiveness. I want to see someone who can either outrun his opponents if given a seam or has enough wiggle to make guys miss in the open field. I hope O'Brien finds a better fit.
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Re: Lechler, ya, I believe you're speaking of the "net" yards per punt. Lechler was 14th in the NFL with a 40.0 net avg on punts. He does sometimes outkick his coverage but I think if he had faster guys and better coverage, it wouldn't happen so much... One of Lechler's great skills is his ability to hang a dead fish inside the 20 and often, inside the 10... The ball is usually fair caught or downed before it has a chance to go into the endzone....
I forgot to mention Bullock's kickoffs. He averaged 67.1 yards per kickoff which was 2nd best in the NFL. However, he was 28th in touchbacks. 29 of his 67 kickoffs were touchbacks. That is 43% which rated 23rd in the NFL. So, he was kicking them long but the return guys were running them out. Return guys got 25.8 yards per return on his kickoffs, 6th worst in the NFL. Poor coverage could be the culprit but in all fairness, there's just a few yards difference between 6th worst and say, 12th best. The good news is there weren't any return TD's from his kickoffs....
I agree about K Martin.