Connor Barth Happy With New Holder
December 3rd, 2009
An overlooked but potentially equally important responsibility a punter often has is holding for place kicks.
If a punter averages 55 yards a punt but bobbles snaps on field goals right and left, the guy will be run out of town in short order.
When Bucs punter Dirk Johnson was hurt on his Garo Yepremian-like fake punt attempt last Sunday and placed on injured reserve this week, the Bucs also lost their holder for place kicks.
Fortunately, the Bucs new punter Sam Paulescu can also hold for place kicks reports good guy “Backwards Hat,” better known as Rick Brown of the Lakeland Ledger.
Look for Paulescu to hold on field-goal attempts for kicker Connor Barth. The two actually have been paired before. When Barth went to New England for a try out, Paulescu was his holder.
“I trust him,” said Barth, although he did not get the job during that work out. “He’s been in the league. He has experience holding. He’ll get the job done.”
Joe believes this may be the first time he has written more than a few sentences about punting: Just kick the ball out of bounds. A return man cannot return a punt when it’s kicked out of bounds.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:04 am
Why isn’t Josh Johnson holding? I understand last year having the punter hold because we changed quarterbacks so much, but now that we have a career backup let’s let him hold. That used to be the norm in the NFL.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Geno, I agree. Using a QB as the holder would give a lot more credibility to fake opportunities — especially JJ, who is a running threat. Can someone explain why teams have gotten away from using QB’s to hold? Are they afraid they are going to be hurt? Come on, they’re not that fragile. The game would sure be a lot more exciting with more fake FG attempts.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am
Geno:
That used to be the common practice among NFL teams. No longer.
Joe’s guess is that the punter and kicker work with each other so much, that coaches prefer punters hold. In practices, backup quarterbacks are usually doing their own thing while the kickers work to the side with each other.