Originally Posted by ThunderbirdJet
Nope…. touchbacks are in fact meaningless, in and of itself. It’s about field position. Gauging a kicker’s performance based on touchbacks is…. short sighted, and something that casual football fans do often. The ONLY thing that matters on kickoffs is where the recieving team starts with a 1st and ten. Touchbacks can, and will contribute to good filed position, but it’s over rated.
Rackers led the NFL in touchbacks last year. 22 out of 61 KO’s went for touchbacks. The problem is, Rackers outkicks his coverage when he doesn’t send those low line drive kicks out of the end zone. Of the KO’s that did not go for TB’s, 2 were returned for TD’s. Of those, the opposition averaged almost 32 yards per return.
None of Nugent’s KO’s were returned for TD’s. The average return was only 20 yards. What is also over looked by the casual football fan, like TX, is that shorter kicks, with long hang times can create turnovers. When the returner has players flying past him as he catches the ball, and often will have some trouble getting the handle, makes kicks that don’t reach the end zone potential game turning plays.
While Racker’s stats are impressive, he is at the same time a liabilty. Nugent even had more KO’s than Rackers…. but Only Rackers KO’s were returned to the house. Keep reading TX, you might learn something along the way. Doubtful, but still, a remote possibilty.
