We need a REAL PUNTER!!

[Vince Lombardi]

Might as well give Mortell a chance. He can't be any worse than Schum.

 

[Forget Favre]

It's not that we need a new punter.
We need our golden boy with the million dollar arm to throw it more often.
And never give up on 4th downs. Go for the three or the next first down. Why give the other team the ball?

 

[Deleted member 6794]

It's not that we need a new punter.
We need our golden boy with the million dollar arm to throw it more often.

The Packers don't need to throw the ball more often but with better efficiency. Actually the offense should have ran the ball more often yesterday.

 

[El Guapo]

Shum didn't help us out last night, but he was hardly the reason for our field position disadvantage. It was our inability to move the ball. The Vikings moved down the field on the opening drive and punted from the 42. We fair caught it on the 10 going 3-and-out. The Vikings went 3-and-out ending at the 49. Luckily Montgomery blocked the punt, giving us great field position that led to a TD. Then we started at the 10, 25 (touchback), 24, 25 (TB), HALF, 24, 14, 25 (TB), 15, and 9.

We often started deep in our own endzone and failed to get it out before punting.

I was always in favor of Mortell and still am, if a change is to be made.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Shum didn't help us out last night, but he was hardly the reason for our field position disadvantage. It was our inability to move the ball. The Vikings moved down the field on the opening drive and punted from the 42. We fair caught it on the 10 going 3-and-out. The Vikings went 3-and-out ending at the 49. Luckily Montgomery blocked the punt, giving us great field position that led to a TD. Then we started at the 10, 25 (touchback), 24, 25 (TB), HALF, 24, 14, 25 (TB), 15, and 9.

While it's true that Schum punts weren't the primary reason for the Packers disadvantage in field position to woukd be amazing to have a punter capable of occasionally tilt it.

 

[El Guapo]

I was always in favor of Mortell and still am, if a change is to be made.

That's why I made this my last statement.

 

[Arthur Squires]

Any suggestions?

Kidnap Marquette King from the Raiders and convince him to play for us under a different name!! Imagine if we had a punter like King that pins down the opponent constantly with their back to their own goal line. We need to hold open tryout to find the vince papalli of punters...smh haha

 

[Curly Calhoun]

Kidnap Marquette King from the Raiders and convince him to play for us under a different name!! Imagine if we had a punter like King that pins down the opponent constantly with their back to their own goal line. We need to hold open tryout to find the vince papalli of punters...smh haha

I like King too. Andy Lee is another one.

Unfortunately, those guys aren't available.

 

[Arthur Squires]

I like King too. Andy Lee is another one.

Unfortunately, those guys aren't available.

Mortell should have made the roster imo. The preseason games I watched he showed to be able to do his job punt ball 50 yds down field!!! I can't remember him shanking any 35yd punts. It sucks when your punter can't get the ball across midfield then the opponent offense picks up 15 yds and kicks FG smh

 

[TeamTundra]

If you followed training camp practice reports you would know that Mortell's
hang time was poor. It was constantly lower than Masthay's and would have
produced more return yards against our special teams. I'm not saying Schum
is the answer, but don't believe Mortell would have been an upgrade.

 

[El Guapo]

That's a valid point, but when you get into the season what really matters is what you do in the games. Maybe Mortell is the type of gamer that doesn't practice well, but the fact remains that he did relatively well in his preseason opportunities. He would be an improvement over Schum at this point.

 

[Pucky]

I know alot of people think that the punter isn't important. But the way the punter can change field position is tremendous relief on the defense. Masthay and now no better. The way our punt game is looking now it could very well put us in position to lose games because of the short field we consistently give opponents!

We have so many things that need to be fixed, to me, punting is at the lower end of the list.

 

[sschind]

We have so many things that need to be fixed, to me, punting is at the lower end of the list.

Apparently it is with Ted as well which explains why we have suffered for so long in the punting department. The thing is its not a difficult fix. Well it is in that great punters aren't just sitting around waiting for calls but punters are just sitting around. Bring in some guys and see what they can do. If Schum doesn't get any better this week I'm guessing we see someone over the bye week. There is the issue of holding for Crosby but how many snaps does the worst holder in the league mess up per year. I'm guessing very few. I know it only takes one to lose a game but I'd be willing to risk it for a few more yards and a little more consistency.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I like King too. Andy Lee is another one.

Unfortunately, those guys aren't available.

Well, Andy Lee would have been available just several weeks ago as the Panthers traded for him.

Mortell should have made the roster imo. The preseason games I watched he showed to be able to do his job punt ball 50 yds down field!!! I can't remember him shanking any 35yd punts. It sucks when your punter can't get the ball across midfield then the opponent offense picks up 15 yds and kicks FG smh

In addition to poor hang time Mortell shanked several punts during training camp practices. That most likely resulted in him not aking the team.

 

[Mondio]

That's a valid point, but when you get into the season what really matters is what you do in the games. Maybe Mortell is the type of gamer that doesn't practice well, but the fact remains that he did relatively well in his preseason opportunities. He would be an improvement over Schum at this point.

i'm not sure he would be though. Most of his good punts in the preseason were because teams were lined up in a bad spot to field the punt. They expected it to go a certain distance and it went further, and flatter/faster than they accounted for, so it wasn't fielded and most had a good roll too. That makes for great stats, but you do that for 2-3 games and now teams line up knowing how you're going to punt. Suddenly that far, low kick is caught on a run up before our coverage is there and those usually don't end well for the punting team.

I would have been ok giving him a chance too, as Masthay didn't deserve the job either, but I wasn't as sold on him as others either. He could still be brought back in at some point too.

 

[Matt39]

We are at the quarter pole for most teams so it's a good time to take a measure of where we stand...and it doesn't look to good. Yes the Packers have only had 3 games however Schum's numbers so far are almost IDENTICAL to his numbers from last year, considering the inclement weather that team team is likely to face his numbers aren't likely to vastly improved, in summary I think it's a fair look.

Green Bay gross average rank 29th: just 41.8, 2.1 yards less than 2015
net punting ranks 26th: 39.1, (2015 41.7)

9 teams average over 49 yards gross, none of them are "out-kicking the coverage" as they are all well above GB in net ave as well. The top 20 teams average 45 yard or more. It's clear we lack a weapon to tilt the field. Unfortunately it appears we will have to wait until the off-season to address the issue as there isn't a clear upgrade available on the street.

 

[Sky King]

Masthay was awesome late in the season way back when. It's too bad that he went into mental clutch failure somewhere along the way. He was pretty very good kicking in the cold for a while. So far, the early returns don't favor Schum meeting or exceeding the "old" Masthay. The Packers have not seemed to have much success finding, developing and retaining a good punter.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Bottom line for me.....Masthay basically sucked for 2 straight years and after last season, it was painfully obvious, a change was finally needed. What I didn't expect was for the Packers to repeat 2015 and bring Masthay back AND once again only have one UDFA to compete with. We all know the results.

If Jacob Schum has a Masthay like season, which so far he has, then I would hope the Packers would get serious about the position. Use a late round pick like the Broncos did this year (Round: 7 / Pick: 228) on Riley Dixon and pick one of the best college punters available. But don't keep thinking and acting like the position only needs a below average guy to fill it. Because when you do that, you have a punter that most of the times hurts you on the field, not helps you.

 

[OldSchool101]

It's good to kick these ideas around

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

It's good to kick these ideas around

So that the Packer organization can....punt on any new ideas?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

My feeling has always been the same, if you think you can fill a starting position (punter) with an UDFA and want to keep your 6th and 7th round picks for guys who historically don't end up contributing much to a team, then you aren't placing enough importance on the position of Punter.

Yeah I know....BJ Sanders, Donald Driver and Mark Tauscher. Exceptions to the rule IMO.

If you (TT) don't want to spend a draft pick on a punter, then get aggressive in the FA market and sign a proven vet punter, who for a million or more can turn a game for you. Wait....did I use "TT " and "aggressive in the FA market" in the same sentence?

 

[OldSchool101]

My feeling has always been the same, if you think you can fill a starting position (punter) with an UDFA and want to keep your 6th and 7th round picks for guys who may never end up doing much for the team, then you aren't placing enough importance on the position of Punter.

Yeah I know....BJ Sanders, Donald Driver and Mark Tauscher. Exceptions to the rule IMO.

If you (TT) don't want to spend a draft pick on a punter, then get aggressive in the FA market and sign a proven good one, who for a million or more can turn a game for you. Wait....did I use "TT " and "aggressive in the FA market" in the same sentence?

In the dictionary under examples for "antithesis" is 1. Of or relating to Ted Thompson and Free Agency.

 

[OldSchool101]

So that the Packer organization can....punt on any new ideas?

This guy couldn't get inside the 10 if he punted twice in a row!
It would've been better to see Mr Mortells dad rooting his son on by flickering the game clock lights.

 

[rodell330]

Guarantee he sucks even worse come winter on the frozen tundra haha. Just wait for it.

 

[PFanCan]

So that the Packer organization can....punt on any new ideas?

I believe that puns are against this site's TOS. So, be careful or you are likely to get booted.