Lions punter Jack Fox was named to the Pro Bowl this week, and deservingly so. He’s second in the NFL with a gross punt yardage of 51.0 yards, which ranks in the ten best all-time seasons for a punter. His net yards per punt is 45.8, far and away the best in the NFL.
However, Fox has only punted 43 times in 16 games. That’s the fewest of any full-time punter. Fox didn’t punt in the Lions’ Week 17 win in San Francisco, the second game this season where his punting services were not needed. With just 12 punting attempts in the last six games for Fox, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp was asked if he worried about a lack of activity hurting Fox’s punting prowess.
Fipp noted that it was probably a better question for Fox himself before delivering a trademark amusingly meandering answer,
It’s like, ‘Man, you haven’t gotten a lot of kicks here or punts.’ Or in a game and then all of a sudden, it comes up, inevitably, late in the game, maybe, and it’s – the game’s on the line and they’re crucial situations, but I know this, every time we’ve called his number, he’s ready to play, and I really say this time of year is Fox time of year, man. This guy’s a clutch player who plays big in big games and I feel like we’re going to need him this week. These guys do a good job on defense obviously, so we’re counting on every phase of this game being really important, including that one.”
It’s a nice problem to have for the Lions–having a Pro Bowl punter that they don’t need to rely upon very often.