Tag: punts

WATCH: New Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney fielding punts in practice

The newest member of the #Chiefs was spotted working on punt returns during his first practice with the team.

Kansas City Chiefs WR Kadarius Toney got his first practice in with his team on Wednesday. In the brief portion of practice open to the media, Toney was spotted working with Dave Toub’s return specialists, fielding punts in practice. FOX 4 Kansas City’s Rob Collins shared a brief clip of Toney in action.

On Monday, Chiefs HC Andy Reid spoke about Toney’s experience on special teams, noting that it could be something they explore going forward.

“Yeah again, he’s had experience with that in college, he was actually very good in college at that,” Reid said on Monday. “Not as much in the NFL as college, but we know he has that potential and we’ll just see where that goes, Herbie (Teope), as we go forward here.”

It looks like the team is beginning that exploration early in the practice week, but those drills are also pretty common for every player during pregame warmups. It’s unclear how serious the Chiefs are about using him on special teams, but they’ve yet to find an answer at punt returner with rookie WR Skyy Moore having some miscues there so far this season.

Toney was asked whether he liked returning punts ahead of practice. He seems more than willing to do that job if the team wants him to.

“Yeah, yeah, I like returning (punts), but like I said, whatever my role is, that’s what I’m open to doing,” Toney said on Wednesday. “I can’t really say this or that, whatever, but whatever is available, I’m going to take advantage.”

Having an open mind as far as his role will only help him see the field sooner than later in Kansas City.

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College Football Week 4 betting trends: Iowa-Rutgers Punt-A-thon, Oregon State getting love over USC and more

We asked oddsmakers for a line on the total punts in Rutgers-Iowa. The over feels safe.

Week 4 of the college football season has given us plenty to get excited about.

Among the primetime games scheduled for Saturday, a number of conference matchups should have the nation’s intrigue. No. 3 Ohio State vs. Wisconsin, Kansas State vs. No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 23 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Arkansas may be the highlights, but they aren’t the main attraction.

Not for bettors, at least, and not when Iowa and Rutgers are on FS1 at 7 p.m. ET live from New Jersey.

That’s right, two of the worst offenses in the country has already attracted a ton of action. Of the 6000 (and counting) bets tracked by Action Network on Iowa-Rutgers, 88 percent of bets placed on the point total have Under 34.5 along with 85 percent of the money. Another 68 percent of bets on the spread have Rutgers (+7.5) with 63 percent of the money.

Meanwhile, Iowa is scoring just 13.7 points per game and has a team total points line of 20.5 at Tipico Sportsbook.

This is Puntmageddon on national television and we cannot wait. The Hawkeyes have punted 23 times in three games this season. Rutgers has punted 12 times over the same span.

It’s enough to make you wonder: just how many punts will take place in Piscataway this weekend? We checked with oddsmakers at Tipico to find out where the punt total line would be set. While not an official offering, Tipico told BetFTW the line is set at 9.5 combined punts with the over as a slight favorite at -120.

Big Ten football!

Let’s check out some other trends around the sport as Week 4 kicks off.

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Packers need a new JUGS machine after ‘ridiculous’ day of simulated punts

Packers punt returners were having a hell of a time catching punts from the JUGS machine on Tuesday. Now we know why.

All the issues catching punts during Tuesday’s practice in Green Bay had an explanation: A faulty JUGS machine.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur expressed his frustration with the important piece of practice equipment – which can be used to shoot footballs in the air to simulate a punt return situation – after being asked about the problems catching punts on Wednesday.

“We’re in the market for a new JUGS machine,” LaFleur said. “So if anyone has one out there, they want to donate, or put whatever price you want on it, I don’t care. We have to get a new JUGS machine. I’ve never seen anything like that. That thing was ridiculous.”

All five punt returners were having issues catching the football during a special teams period. When rookie Romeo Doubs finally made a catch of a wayward punt, the crowd at Ray Nitschke Field cheered.

LaFleur blamed the way the JUGS machine was tossing the footballs.

“It was awful. You couldn’t get a ball to turn over. It was damn near impossible to catch. That was not the finest hour for our equipment staff,” LaFleur said.

The machine retails at almost $4,000. It is marketed as delivering “perfect passes, punts and kickoffs to any precise spot on your field. Your players can practice catching perfect spirals or end-over-end ‘kicks’ at any speed or distance you choose from 5 yards to 80 yards.”

Getting a new one shouldn’t be a problem for a franchise with over $500 million in the reserve fund.

The Packers are still attempting to find a punt returner for the 2022 season. Doubs, Amari Rodgers, Randall Cobb, Rico Gafford and Ishmael Hyman are the top five candidates at this point in training camp. But it might be tough to properly evaluate the returners until the Packers can find a functioning JUGS machine capable of sending out the right kind of simulated punts during training camp practices.

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Packers had no punts, no penalties in win over Titans

For the first time in the franchise’s history, the Packers didn’t have a penalty or a punt in a game.

The Green Bay Packers accomplished something on Sunday night that had never been done in the franchise’s long history.

According to Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com and communications manager Tom Fanning, the Packers did not commit a penalty or punt the football during Sunday’s 40-14 win over the Tennessee Titans, marking the first time the team has avoided both in the same game in franchise history, or at least since Elias Sports Bureau began tracking penalties in 1941.

Punter JK Scott has previously punted at least once in every game this season. He does have only 44 punts in 15 games, equaling the number of touchdown passes thrown by Aaron Rodgers this season.

Against the Titans, the Packers had 10 offensive possessions. Six ended in touchdowns, one ended in an interception, one ended in a turnover on downs, one ended the first half, and one ended the second half.

The last time the Packers didn’t punt in a game was during a loss to the Detroit Lions on Oct. 7, 2018.

On the penalty front, the Packers had committed at least two flagged infractions in every game this season before Sunday night. The team hasn’t had a penalty-free game since Dec. 25, 2011.

Sunday night was a clean game overall. The Titans only committed three penalties for 15 yards, although one – a hands to the face penalty – extended a Packers scoring drive, and another – an offsides penalty – negated a blocked field goal.

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Chiefs vs. Broncos preview: 5 things to watch for in Week 13

Keep an eye on these five things as the Kansas City Chiefs hit the road to play the Denver Broncos in Week 13.

The Kansas City Chiefs will be back in Arrowhead Stadium as they host the Denver Broncos on Sunday night. Kansas City is coming off a big win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and will be looking to continue their winning streak in a nationally-televised game. A win for the Chiefs will also clinch them a playoff spot, so Kansas City should have plenty of motivation to beat one of their division rivals.

Here are five things to watch as the Chiefs face the Broncos:

Chiefs’ Tyreek Hill could return punts in Week 11 vs. Raiders

Hill could return to a familiar role for the Chiefs in Week 11.

Kansas City Chiefs fans could see a familiar look when the team lines up to return punts against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11.

Mecole Hardman’s status for Week 11 is in question, as he remains on the reserve/COVID-19 list. That means the Chiefs will likely turn to a new punt returner. When asked about the players he might turn to in Hardman’s absence, Chiefs ST coordinator Dave Toub listed WR Tyreek Hill at the top of the list.

“Tyreek (Hill) is obviously a pretty good option for us,” Toub told reporters. “We would use that option if we needed it. Like I’ve said before, we have other guys. You know Demarcus (Robinson), he can do it. (Rashad) Fenton can play it. We have a number of guys who can do it. Pringle could play. So you never know which way we would go there, but obviously, Tyreek would probably be the No. 1 option.”

Hill started off his career in Kansas City as a punt returner and worked his way up to the role that you see him in today. He hasn’t really played much punt returner over the past two seasons, with just two returns for no yards in each of the past two years. In each of his first three seasons in the NFL, Hill returned a total of 84 punts for 1,009 yards and four touchdowns.

Hill was considered among one of the most explosive return specialists in the league during that span. In fact, Hill’s first career punt return touchdown came against the Raiders on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 14 of the 2016 NFL season. He returned the punt for 78 yards in the second quarter to give the Chiefs a 21-3 lead in the game.

Now, we could see Hill return to this familiar role, while also balancing his role on the offense. There is a lot of confidence among the coaching staff that he’ll be able to manage both if necessary.

“I know this, Tyreek has done it in the past,” Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy said. “He knows the challenges that he’ll be facing and I’m actually kind of excited. What better opportunity for him to steal another moment of getting the ball and doing what he does. Hell, I’m gonna get my popcorn as well.”

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Texas Football: Five areas of improvement on offense for Saturday

The Texas Longhorns have plenty of areas of improvement across the board. Longhorns Wire highlights five areas on the offensive side.

When your football team is losing football games, it is all bad right? Every glaring detail becomes magnified but for good reason. When a team as talented as the Texas Longhorns start losing games, then the finger pointing begins. This team is talented but there isn’t just one area of emphasis that needs to be fixed.

To quote Shrek “it has layers.”

On the offensive side of the ball it starts with quarterback Sam Ehlinger. He has been the savior at times, see Texas Tech for example. He has also been the guy that shoulders the blame due to how the game ended, see Oklahoma. It isn’t fair for him to carry all of it around with him. There are several issues on the offensive side of the ball.

Here are five areas the Longhorns need to improve on against Baylor.

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Rams punter Johnny Hekker calls for boycott of NFL RedZone in perfect tweet

RedZone promised not to show punts. Hekker took offense, as he should.

Johnny Hekker is one of the great punters in NFL history already, and he’s still in the prime of his career. The 30-year-old footsmith has already earned NFL first team All Pro honors four times, and is a four-time Pro Bowler.

He’s so good that he’s actually made Rams punts — something usually to ignore, or perhaps use as an excuse to run to the restroom — must-watch TV. He’s so good that we’ve blogged about him multiple times. A punter!

In any event, Hekker is on a solitary crusade to make punting cool and appreciated, which is why a tweet from NFL RedZone host Andrew Siciliano rankled him so much on Sunday.

Siciliano implored people to tune in to his show with his tweet, then included a GIF that promised “we don’t show punts.”

Hekker responded the only appropriate way:

Siciliano, to his credit, said they would make an exception, possibly, for Hekker.

I’ll be tuning in today, and I better see a Hekker punt or two. If not, I will be forced to listen to Johnny, and walk away from RedZone. I love punts.

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