Do Punters Fit Under a Bus? - jmik58's Blog

jmik58's Blog

Do Punters Fit Under a Bus?

Posted on December 21, 2010 at 10:34 AM.

(8)

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/n...ory?id=5939878

NY Giants punter Matt Dodge has done exactly the opposite of his namesake; he's stood up in the heat brought on by the wild finish that saw the Philadelphia Eagles mount a historic 4th quarter comeback over the Giants.

Who knew that a shanked punt was worth 28 points in the final eight minutes of a football game?

That's the weight that has been put on Matt Dodge. And he's standing up and taking it...all of it.

A man whose job it is to kick a ball to a player, whose job is to return the ball, did just that.

Obviously, Giants head coach Tom Coughlin was distraut after the final play. His team melted down, and he melted down.

With the entire nation and world watching, he berated punter Matt Dodge and put the weight of the entire loss on the punter's shoulders ... and the world took the bait.

The media took the bait and the people have followed.

Everyone has forgotten about the countless mistakes made on every offensive or defensive play throughout the game -- especially in the final quarter -- that could have made a difference.

And we've all forgotten about the other ten guys whose job it is to cover the punt.

If we're going to start giving punter's blame for this type of meltdown, then we need to start giving them MVP trophies.

I can see the headline now:

"Matt Dodge named NFL Player of the Week after 48.2 net punt yard average leads Giants to 400 rushing yards and a 49-3 victory over the Bengals"

Sure, Dodge failed his assigment which was to punt the ball out of bounds. But that's all he did. He forced the other ten guys in coverage to execute their jobs. They didn't. Just like the Giants didn't in the entire 4th quarter.

If the Giants tackle DeSean Jackson and force overtime, does Coughlin and the rest of the world get up in arms about it?

No way.

And that's the issue. The reactive nature of evaluating athletes, plays, coaches, teams on the most recent outcome.

It wasn't that Matt Dodge shanked the punt, it was that the shanked punt resulted in a touchdown. And more importantly, it was that Matt Dodge made the final "visible" mistake of the game.

Not the most important. The last, most visible screw up.

The media or average person has no idea what mistakes were made in every basic play throughout the game or the 4th quarter by the Eagles or Giants. They can't focus on that. It's beyond comprehension.

But people love to react. They want to let things out. They need to blame something and they need to do it now!

And Tom Coughlin knows that. He knows that people can focus on one man kicking a ball. He realizes that people understand that when he berates on a player on national television after a game that it transfers all the blame from him as the coach to the punter.

Ya, I said the punter.

Comments

# 1 Eski33 @ Dec 21

Could not have said it better myself. I agree that the punter did not lose the game however he is paid a hell of a lot of money to provide field position. Punting out of bounds cannot be that challenging for a professional.

# 2 matt314hew @ Dec 22

I agree with you.. Let's say he punted the ball out of bounds. The eagles have 13 seconds or so.. They can try one play to set up a FG to win the game. But on that play, they get a TD out of it. Who is to blame?

Also, what if Jackson fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Giants, who then kicked a game winning field goal. Would Dodge get the credit for not kicking it out of bounds? No. It would have gone to the guy who stripped the ball and to the Kicker for making the kick.

Coughlin needed someone to blame and it was the punter who took the blame.

# 3 rudeworld @ Dec 22

their are only a few kicker/punters in the league that are actually worthy of staying on a team week in and week out.. if they got rid of Dodge they would have replaced him with..?? the only reason I thought he was gone Dodge has been pretty much terrible all season...Go Jets!

# 4 wallofhate @ Dec 22

I agree with you totally but the problem is regardless how much the Giants blew the lead it was still tied when hey punted the ball away!!! Its a little joke in football 2 people you should never really hear or know thierry names is the long snapper or punter! Chances are if you know their names something bad has happened lol. These 2 positions cannot win you any games but the sure as hell can lose you 1! If hey followed orders from the coach hey would have been off the hook the game finally result would not have had his names mentioned. So he desrves as much blame as a player who fumbles or a quarterback throwing a pick 6. All hey had to do is kick it out of bounds like hey was told.

# 5 jmik58 @ Dec 23

As a former long-snapper, I know the pressure of keeping your name "hidden". lol

I can't compare it to a fumble or any costly mistake like that though. He didn't make a turnover mistake, he made an execution mistake. Matt Dodge still did his "job", he just executed it poorly under the circumstances.

Giving up a turnover is catastrophic. Punting to a return man is not. If that return man takes it to the house then it was the product of poor execution by the entire punt squad, but not catastrophic like a turnover. You can't focus on the touchdown to judge the play or you get confused.

# 6 Tickkid @ Dec 25

Very Very well written. It was absurd for Coughlin to come out there and chew his punter and ONLY his punter out for that play. This is excellent.