Hoping to get a leg up on punting job
Sander fights to show he is ready for a shot
By LORI NICKEL
[email protected]
Posted: Aug. 18, 2006
After being drafted in the third round in 2004, losing his job in training camp that year, getting sent off to NFL Europe and weathering a miserable 2005 season, now the 26-year-old is in a heated battle to retain his job as the Packers' punter.
His competition is an inexperienced punter out of the Canadian Football League, Jon Ryan, who was the better of the two a week ago in the first exhibition game in San Diego.
Special teams coordinator Mike Stock has said this kicking battle could come down to the bitter end, but was convinced this summer that someone would distinguish himself and emerge.
But when asked if either Sander or Ryan had established a lead, if ever so slight, in the punting battle, general manager Ted Thompson, not surprisingly, wouldn't show his hand.
"I don't know . . ." Thompson said. "Well, I guess I know. . . . I'm just not going to say. We're still in competition. The race isn't over until it's over. It's (as) Yogi Berra (always said)."
Sander gets another chance tonight in the second exhibition game against Atlanta at Lambeau Field to show that he's not only more consistent than he was a year ago but that he's also more than mediocre.
This kind of continuing turmoil - being drafted so high, being benched as a rookie - could pick apart anyone's confidence, and maybe Sander is putting up an Oscar-worthy performance. But as usual, he doesn't act insecure, doesn't snap at critical questions about his performance and generally goes about his job as a pro.
We don't know much about Sander publicly after two years here, but we do know that he came to terms a long time ago with the scrutiny and extreme expectations bestowed upon him for being chosen, by former coach and GM Mike Sherman, so unusually high in the draft.
So three weeks into his third National Football League season, once again, Sander finds himself defending his punts, defining his duties and deflecting the critics as he fights for his job.
"At this point, from what I have been told, it's an open competition," Sander said matter-of-factly. "I can't concern myself with what (Ryan's) doing. As long as I go out there and do what I am capable of doing, I'll let the guys upstairs make the decision. As long as I'm happy here with the way things are going, if I'm not punting here, I'll be somewhere."
Last season, Sander's first on the active roster, and his statistics reflected his play: overall not so hot. His 39.2-yard gross average per punt was 30th in the NFL. Seventeen other punters averaged at least 43 yards. But that statistic isn't always fair to Packers punters who kick through three seasons: summer, fall and "March of the Penguins" kind of cold.
The statistics support that. In the first eight games of the year, Sander averaged 42.3 gross yards, 38.9 net and 4.26 seconds in hang time; in his final six - all outdoor games - before he injured his kicking knee, those numbers dropped to 36.3, 29.3 and 3.97.
So weather can kill an average. But there was no excusing the shanked punts other than that he was young, and this training camp, that's where he has improved the most.
"Yes," director of pro personnel Reggie McKenzie said. "I think in his consistency. He had a lot more shanks this time last year. This year we're getting more consistency from him."
Sander's other strength is, and always has been, high hang times. With 64 punts last season, his average hang time was 4.11 seconds, the best in Green Bay in four seasons.
At San Diego, Sander averaged 4.04; Ryan averaged 3.80 in Canada. A better hang time allows Sander's teammates to get down the field and defend the returner.
"You're giving your guys a chance to get down there and make him fair-catch the ball, and if he muffs it, give us a chance to recover it," Sander said.
That, in turn, leads to a better net average, the most important statistic in punting. Sander achieved a 33.9 net average last season, again not impressive. However, last year the frequently injured Packers were shuffling out new faces on special teams almost every week.
This year, Sander thinks it's fair to be measured by the net.
"As far as I am concerned, the gross average, yeah, (big numbers), that's great," he said. "But the net really reflects how you're doing. That's the big thing for me."
Although Sander might be leading Ryan in consistency and hang time, Ryan has shown a bigger leg. But Sander does not think that adding distance to his punts would help the special teams coverage unit. In fact, that might be what got him in trouble last year. He tried to blast the ball and that's when he'd get a lot of shanks.
"You can add distance by hitting more of a line drive, as opposed to more hang time," Sander said. "I'd rather have the ball hang up in the air 40 to 45 yards, with a 4.5, make that guy make a decision: 'All right, am I going to catch this and get blown up or am I going to fair catch it?' "
Sander thinks he has punted well in training camp and that his progress wasn't reflected last week at San Diego (three punts, 36.7 gross, 33.7 net).
"I'm very happy with how camp has gone so far," Sander said. "I would have liked to have punted a little bit better in the game, but I was working specifically on going right that game. I just wanted to work on that in a game situation. I've struggled with going right in practice so I wanted to work on it in a game.
"I've worked on it again this week in practice and I am a lot more comfortable with it. Overall, I was happy with the way things went, but the result wasn't what I wanted it to be."
