Broncos unhappy with Brett Kern?

It’s hard to believe they’d replace him already, I thought he played very well apart from the shank.. but do great punters like Scifres and Lechler never shank a punt?

The CSG also reported the Broncos worked out a guard… any clue on that? Hochstein’s disappointing performance?

But isn’t MHR Radio on Tues nights? Did I miss something?

Either way, I never grow attached to any punter, they seem to swap out more than the drummer for Spinal Tap. Not during the regular season, but eh.

That shank could have been very costly. At least the center didn’t hike the ball to one of the blockers though!

But, to me the punting battle was close. However, I wouldn’t throw in the towel so soon. I would think the coaching staff is a little bit more decisive than this.

Critical mistakes like last week are unacceptable. This weeks game will be critical for him.

They were responsible for killed drives that kept our D on the field way too much. 32% dropped passes! Unexceptable.

Didn’t he also have another real stinker that ended up OK with a long bounce and roll?

Maybe my standards are too high, but I thought he was shaky. Not terrible, but a little shaky.

Add in that I thought Colquitt looked very good in the preseason (particularly with pinning the opponent), and I can understand taking another look.

While 8 punts is alot, you need only look at the punting stats from Week 1 to see why the Broncos might be kicking the tires on some available punters.

This past Sunday, two other punters – Donnie Jones(Rams) and Andy Lee(49’ers) – also had 8 punts. The difference in average is astounding. Lee averaged 49.1 yards(42.3 net) while Jones was even better – 50.8 yards(44.8 net). As stated above, Kern averaged 42.5 yards(36.4 net). That is 6 yards per kick, or about 50 yards of field position in a game.

One off the side of his foot, one shank. 25% is a lot at this level – I can see why they’re nervous

…not having anything to question McD about. Kern stinks, and Colquitt should have won the job outright. Better late than never.

The only problem with Colquitt is, he has a lot of Vanderjagt in him. He thinks he’s more than a kicker, and is a frat boy d-bag. I could care less, however, if the results are there.

at denverbroncos.com if you guys are interested. Not started yet but about to.

I worked in a small metal fabricating shop many years ago while in college. We were making bumpers for trucks. We would start with a flat piece of steel and them bring down a press. I made one mistake because I wasn’t paying attention and ruined a piece of steel. I was fired. Moral of the Story? YOU CAN’T MAKE MISTAKES!

Colquitt was impressive in camp. Plus he can also kick field goals. The NFL is a business, punters are relatively inexpensive, and YOU CAN’T MAKE MISTAKES!

…loves Cribbs’ chances against Kern.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/1253089850175500.xml&coll=2

I hadn’t even really factored that. If you were even flirting with a change at Punter, Joshua Cribbs coming to town expedites the process.

the guy can establish a strong rapport with Prater. Personally if Prater keeps kicking the way he did on sunday, and bringing in a replacement for Kern (having someone else hold kicks) could be problematic.

Most were low with little or no hang time. Worse, they weren’t turning over: the long one was actually a nice tight spiral. It was like Cosby was catching passes rather than fielding punts. The reason there was no disaster of a return like Hester’s was good coverage and Cosby’s inexperience. The Broncos definitely lost the punting game.

outkicked coverage a few times, and on short punts. and we cant say the sample size was too small to get a bearing on how effective he may be, with 87 opportunities to show he should be the guy with so critical a task. good coverage is useless if a guy can fair catch for the same yardage as a 20 yard runback.

If you singley do a critically important thing, you must be perfect, everytime.

When Lonie Paxton was brought in, broncobear mentioned: “He hasn’t missed a snap in years.” Proven just how important given this weeks’ poor showing by the Cincy LS.

Also, if you are one of a few, don’t screw up too often, such as when Brandstater was drafted, I bet Orton and Simms probably took notice.

How many of those 8 punts were pinned inside the 20? I mean if he is punting from the 50, of course his average will be low. Someone help me on this because I honestly don’t know.

And before you ask, yes I watched the game. I just don’t remember. You have to understand. I was forced to go to the bar AGAIN, and consume mass quantities of beer and Jager and wings, AGAIN! I live on the East Coast dude so most weeks I fall victim to the East Coast programming. It’s not my fault!!! The bar made me get hammered.

He was good with the coffin corner kick and place kicked a couple of times. I have wondered why they didn’t pull the trigger on Kerns maybe more experience, I don’t know.

The Answer is JOSHUA CRIBBS. The Punt returner for the Cleveland Browns that some people belief is a better returner than Devin Hester. Two ways to neutralize a great returner; (1) great hang time on punts – even with the possibility of a shorter net kick which will lead to a fair catch or immediate tackle, (2) Directional “Coffin Corner” kicks that actually go out of bounds – hence no return. BQ is outstanding at both these – KERN is NOT

I was a little surprised — although I probably shouldn’t have been — that Kern won out over Colquitt. Looking at the situation on talent & ability alone, Colquitt won the job. Both, however, are good punters, so either should have been more than adequate.

Kern’s 2nd shank in as many games did get me thinking, and the (apparent) decision to re-valuate that position parallels my own thinking.

Punters shouldn’t shank kicks, period. They don’t have to be perfect but they should be close. And I realize that I open myself to the charge of inconsistency since I advocating keeping Prater even though he struggled. Prater was clearly experiencing a physical problem late last year that was evident on his kickoffs, but his accuracy was comparable to some of the best kickers when one takes out that bad stretch, and his leg strength is elite, which is important to consider for long field goals and kickoffs.

I’m not bailing on Kern just yet but he’s punted on poorly on a number of punts lately (as I recall) — not just two. Colquitt showed some extraordinary punting ablilty, and it goes beyond what’s measured in total yardage and net yardage. As others have noted, he’s far better at directional (and from my casual observations) punting and placing the ball out inside the 20. I have to say I’d prefer Colquitt at this point. He adds a lot more to the team, and is a true weapon. The character concerns haven’t gone away, since 3 DUIs (or alcohol violations?) is excessive, but sometimes you have to give people a chance and hope for the best.

BTW — Bret Kern and his wife had a baby on the 8th of this month, Bryce Kern. Just something to think about.

One more comment — the return in the Chicago game happened after a Kern punt, to my recollection.

I think that McD and friends wants consistency out of the punting game. 1 shank is bad, but two in two games is a trend. Its hard to play field position football if suddenly 20 yards is given away on 4th down before anyone even has to tackle the punt receiver. I think its part of the focus on special teams…. all aspects of the special tams.

the pressure, we should find someone else. HEY he wears #1, Elam could handle the pressure.