Totally disagree. The guy is a stud at giving us great field position after every punt.

Hartley on the other hand is a complete surprise...I actually thought he'd be one of the first to get cut. I like Kasay soooo much better.

No, they moved the kick-off up 5 yards, so the distance to the endzone is approximately 5 yards shorter.

You're an engineer aren't you?

I was, and the striping on an NFL field isn't lazer like precise. A simple micrometer would easily show that its not exactly 5 yards. I'd estimate at least a 1 inch bandwidth of accuracy from sideline to sideline.

It is possible, and quite likely, that at some point along that line it does measure exactly 5 yards.

I doubt teams are scared of the 3 extra yards they have to go. Thats barely over 1/2 of a single play in todays NFL.

Punter is worth every penny. End of comment.

BUT the kicker - Fartley - uh NO!

He gave us a lot better than an extra 3 yards. His distance and hang time had him on pace to break the record for net average in a season, and I believe he did break the record. He gave the defense great field position countless times. It isn't his fault if our defense gave up 95 yard drives.

And he bailed the offense out of some tight spots quite a bit, also. That is very valuable. You can't put the blame on him just because his team didn't capitalize on the field position every time. Do I think people should make millions for kicking a ball? No. But this is professional sports, if you want to keep the best players you have to pay them. If the Saints had let Morstead test the waters, somebody else would have paid him what he wanted.

Morstead net average =44.8
NFL net average = 41.4

He gave us an extra 3.4 yards (my bad, I rounded down).

Thats actually 2/3 of ONE single offensive snap. (I should have been more precise)

To average 3 more yards than the overall league average is very significant. You are talking about the average for an entire season. This means he is bombing footballs with regularity to make up for times when he might be kicking a ball 30 yards because he's trying to pin the other team while kicking past mid field. You know, the pooch punt? This is why I specifically pointed out hang time as well as distance.

And by the way, net average does not take into account the amount of return yards, or lack thereof.

You have bad teams with punters just bombing it as far as they can, and then you have teams with good offenses, whose punters have to use more precision in the form of corner kicks and hang time. And when good punters punt from long distances, they are able to angle it where there isn't a big return, AND still get good hang time as well.

If a running back averages 5 yards per carry and another averages 4, that's only a 1 yard difference on the field, at face value. But over the course of an entire year it adds up to a significant amount of yards, and means that the player averaging 5 yards is making more big plays. See my point?