I agree that Ryan had consistency problems too BUT he also had a HUGE leg and had made progress from year to year. You also have to consider that he got killed in that windy chicago game last year and that didn’t help his stats any.

I seriously think downing it inside the 20/directional punting was being HIGHLY overrated by this staff.

Do I want a guy that can do that. Yes I do but its just gravy. That’s it. I mean we’re talking about a team having to go 80 yards to score instead of 90. However if the punter has a shitty leg I don’t care if he can directional punt because it doesn’t matter. If we are punting from our EZ I want the ball going across the 50 not getting caught at our 40.

You need a punter with a big leg to get you out of holes and help swing field position which takes pressure off your D. That is FAR more important that being able to kick the ball in the coffin corner IMO. I want both but I’ll take the guy with a bigger leg any day of the week and twice on Sunday’s.

Another Thompson move that I can’t fault him for making was the decision to change punters. Ryan’s two problems were inconsistency, and inability to down kicks inside the ten. It seemed like time and time again last year he would kick from around midfield and boom it into the endzone. Great for his gross yardage average, terrible for the team. I think Thompson recognized this offense could move the ball and thought we would need shorter directional kicks from around midfield far more often than we would need booming kicks from deep in our territory. The Frost experiment has failed, miserably, but I’ll bet we can find someone at least as good as Ryan before next season.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081202/PKR01/81202171/1058&located=RSS

The two having a tryout today are: another Redskin castoff that hasn’t performed well, and a competent, but troubled Patriots release.

Other possibilities include Scott Player. He has experience and pro-bowl credentials, but is almost forty.

I will say whoever the new guy is, he’s not going to have to do to much to be an improvement over Frost.

He hasn’t been helped by all the injuries which have created some flux in his units but in my opinion it is a failure in coaching to have the same errors week after week.

I guess to some extent its kind of a chicken/egg thing. Where does the real problem lie? I don’t have the answer.

The nature of most of the losses this year make this such an annoying issue. When losses are less than a touchdown, sometimes the smallest contribution is the difference. We need to clean up the field position problem promptly. It should be interesting to find out who is going to be punting on Sunday.