Bangarang Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 The long average is not a true indicator of how good a punter is. He could be punting 50-60 yarders, but if he is kicking them into the endzone all the time he's not doing a very good job. I think Powell has pretty much been a disaster this season and at points yesterday I thought he might cost us the game. You do realize our punting is 14th in the league in net average right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bear32 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 how about (Drew Butler) the guy who beat out Moorman in Pittsburgh this year but was later cut to make room for ex NE punter Zoltan Mesko? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhg Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 You do realize our punting is 14th in the league in net average right? My bad. Was thinking how many inside the 20 does he have and was surprised he has 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Carpenter is on an SI writers all-pro team(in MMQB article) through the first quarter of the season...Powell might not get the chance to get his job back this year and might have to wait til camp next year to compete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffaloboyinATL Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 (edited) Look, I was frustrated with the shank yesterday too but he did have some booming punts that backed up the return man too. Needs to work on angling out inside the 10 on shorter kicks, but then again, not many punters do that well anymore. Al in all, Powell is better than he is getting credit for. Edited September 30, 2013 by buffaloboyinATL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Look, I was frustrated with the shank yesterday too but he did have some booming punts that backed up the return man too. Needs to work on angling out inside the 10 on shorter kicks, but then again, not many punters do that we'll anymore. Al in all, Powell is better than he is getting credit for. Yes, thank you. Guy has had a great season (might have single-handedly kept us in the NE game), shanks 2 punts now all of a sudden fans are (literally) calling for his job... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Caveman Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Yeah, I'm surprised Hopkins hasn't been IR'd. I think it has more to do with Carpenter's history of being awesome and then terrible in the same season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rdnlng Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 i was asking this question myself yesterday. As good as Hopkins may be. We really have no idea if he can get it done inside the swirling winds of The Ralph. I feel like either we keep them both and slowly work Hopkins onto the field starting with knockoffs. Or we just put him on IR and keep Carpenter since he has been spectacular so far. And I love his Stevie Christie style hair cut. What? Gucci, Rolex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSJayDee Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I agree that Carpenter has been top notch. Great 55 yd FG; only 1 miss. KOs have been good, too. ~50% TB & of those returned a good %age are stopped (well) b4 the 20. Hopkins was thought to be (among the) best kickers coming out this yr & I've seen nothing to dispel that. I feel it'd be a shame to give up on him, but then again, Carpenter has performed about as well as one can hope. Personally, ideally I'd like to keep Hopkins on the active roster & let them fight it out next yr in training camp (I assume Carpenter has a 1 yr deal, but one should be able to resign him; if not NBD, no worse off.) Failing that, IR Hopkins now while he still qualifies (you can't IR a healthy player & IDK if I'd like to risk getting him on Practice Squad) As for Powell, he's not good. Top notch leg strength, but his "touch" punting is sub-std. "Inside the 20", you should end up inside the 10 most times & inside the 5 some. Inside the 10 seems a rarity for him, seemingly occurring less than TBs. Being a young punter, I'm hoping he will develop those skills in time. As for his consistency, I don't really see that being an issue. No punter always booms it & never shanks it. His main deficiency is when he/we has an opportunity to pin a team close to their goal line, he seldom does it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 (edited) Powell has had some bad moments, but he has a lot of good moments too. I think Powell does a good enough job, so this talk of cutting him is way too premature. As for Carpenter, he has done a lot better than I thought and as much as I would like to see Hopkins, I think having Carpenter continuing to play would be most beneficial. Having said that I would not want to lose Hopkins either. Edited September 30, 2013 by Mark Vader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountryCletus Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Carpenter/Hopkins are both fine but POWELL is a DISASTER. Worst punter in the league. Powell did have a couple weak punts, but he has a huge leg... If you noticed, his poor punts came on directional punts. He has a huge leg, and with work, will start to nail these directional punts... He has gotten noticably better at stopping the ball prior to the goal line.... Have faith... Brian didn't burst onto the scene as a stud punter in his first or second year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tintonfallsbillsfan Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Powell's biggest problem is he doesn't have the ability to get the ball inside the twenty. almost everything goes into the end zone. Is he under orders not to kick it out of bound when he is kicking near mid field Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kipers Hair Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I noticed Peter King had him as his 1st QTR All Pro Kicker.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurlyBurly51 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 How do you get that? Powell is 13th is punt average right now. PTR Powell has had a shank or two, but other than that he's been VERY solid this season. Audition punters? Yeah, no. Yes, thank you. Guy has had a great season (might have single-handedly kept us in the NE game), shanks 2 punts now all of a sudden fans are (literally) calling for his job... The only thing consistent about Powell is his history of inconsistency, and coming up lame when you need him the most. Yesterday wasn't the first (or second, or third) time he shanked when we really needed him to shift field position. And his average looks better than it should. Damn statistics. Yesterday for instance he was punting from midfield and boomed it right into the end zone. Are you telling me an NFL punter with half the field to work with can't place it in the field of play to at least give the coverage guys a semblance of a chance? Yeah, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 The only thing consistent about Powell is his history of inconsistency, and coming up lame when you need him the most. Yesterday wasn't the first (or second, or third) time he shanked when we really needed him to shift field position. And his average looks better than it should. Damn statistics. Yesterday for instance he was punting from midfield and boomed it right into the end zone. Are you telling me an NFL punter with half the field to work with can't place it in the field of play to at least give the coverage guys a semblance of a chance? Yeah, no. You must have missed Moorman's last 2.25 seasons in Buffalo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanC883 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Powell has had a shank or two, but other than that he's been VERY solid this season. Audition punters? Yeah, no. This is true. His shanks appear to come when he attempts to do a "directional" punt. He should be told not to do directional punts, only to boot it far when needed, or to kick it inside the 20 (anywhere) when necessary. He did have one nice punt that landed at about the 10 yesterday. At this point I'd keep Carpenter. He got beat out in Miami by someone (Sturgis) who is doing a very good job kicking. Carpenter is still a top NFL kicker in my opinion, and, as others have said, the mullet is pretty sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cage Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Powell - not a good showing. the 29 yarder? Need to work on that, I anticipate field position being huge this week Carpenter - aside from the missed 42 yarder against the Panthers he has been very good. Kickoffs also. Do we really go back to Hopkins when he is ready? I don't understand why Hopkins hasn't been IR'ed yet in order to clear that space and sign a player to cover our injury issues?? Our whole inactive list for games is injury ridden, why keep a 3rd K on the active roster? Let him compete for the job next year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HurlyBurly51 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 You must have missed Moorman's last 2.25 seasons in Buffalo... Yeah, no I didn't. Tell me what that has to do with Powell's shanks in the clutch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpberr Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I'd IR Hopkins. Carpenter has been as nice a surprise as finding a $20 bill on the ground. As for Powell, no more directional kicks. Just kick that ball as far as you can and it'll be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Just IR Hopkins and get it over with. He can battle Carpenter next training camp for his job back. Powell hasn't punted well since pre-season when his competition was cut. He is very inconsistent and rarely seems to hit a good punt when you need one. Don't know if anyone better is out there but he doesn't look like a long term answer right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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