Anyone encouraged by our new kicker?

[BullyPulpit]

On that punt by Teachey that got returned I turned to the gentlement sitting next to me at the game and said, look, they have it figured out, they put a guy right where Teachey lands it, and sure enough, he catches it on the fly and runs up field. This could turn into a problem for us if teams begin to stagger the return guys in position to field it in the air or off the first bounce.

no, because the first team we tried it against moved the returner to the right of the field (facing in USF's direction) where the kick had landed twice before or so and then teachey kicked it way to the left and over 40 yards on the bounce.

I know, but what I am saying is that teams could put one man deep down the middle, and one short to the right and one short to the left. With the way USF lines up with 3 guys blocking immediately in front of Teachey, this is a possibility.

[USFan]

What gets me is Teachey has a good leg and frequently puts it into the endzone on kickoffs, why can't he just put good leg into it like he does kickoffs and just boom the punt out of there.

I used to be a kicker.  Kicking and punting are two completely different techniques.  Punting is straight up and down and kicking uses a swing kick (like kicking a soccer ball, hence soccer style kicking).  Also, your kicking foot is positioned at different angles depending if you are kicking or punting.

There are a lot of kickers and punters that can't do both because of groin problems.  When you are kicking/punting, you are really using a lot of power to kick it, which creates a lot of strain on your groin.  You would normally like to limit yourself to 25 – 30 live simulated kicks at full power during a short period of time (and no more that 40 – 45 in one day).  When you are seeing a kicker kick in to the practice net (on the sideline), they are normally using 50 to 60 percent of their full power and normally end with a real hard one right before they go onto the field.

That's why you normally have one punter and one kicker in the NFL.  Actually, they are all like that.

If you look at Teachey, he's punting like if he were kicking the ball and not "punting" it... He’s kicking to the side like a rugby kick or like a goalkeeper in soccer.

[Brad]

Alvarado has also punted for us this season...so, he's done both.  Clearly he's more valuable to us as a PK.  Have Teachey keep on punting if Alvarado can not do both.

[Jake_Ryan]

I would have liked to see Petrov or Alvarado punt that last one for us when the game was out of reach.  It would have been a good time to get them some experience when nothing was on the line.

[BULLfreak]

Why hasnt Teachey gotten a shot a the FG kicking Job he sure has one heck of a leg

[jg]

I just wonder why he hasnt been in sooner if he is the answer, but hopefully he's better.  

I like the punting.  It's averaging 40 yards a punt.  If he could just cut the 1 bad punt a game out (one for 27 or 28 I think) we'd be very well off I think.  The bouncing ball makes it really hard to return and the angled punting makes it likely the ball will go out of bounds before the returner can get it anyway (just need to keep it inbounds until it's gone 40+ yards).

good question

[Bulls 1]

Why hasnt Teachey gotten a shot a the FG kicking Job he sure has one heck of a leg

I spoke to him in Charlotte last year and he said "I have a strong leg but I can’t hit the broad side of a barn†Nice kid, comes from a farming family in Bradenton.

[bullsmania]

Yes, I am encouraged.  I was talking with our road trip group yesterday and we were talking about everything possibly coming together.  We made the same observations about the running game, the passing game and now, hopefully the FG/PAT unit.  Hopefully punting will never cost us a game like a FG would.  

[windbane]

punting is pretty good.

[WWMJD]

I would have liked to see Petrov or Alvarado punt that last one for us when the game was out of reach.  It would have been a good time to get them some experience when nothing was on the line.

Petrov didn't make the trip and I think since Leavitt made the choice to go with Alvarado at kicker he decided to stick with Teachey punting it at the end there.