The Crawshank Redemption. Coming to a stadium theater near you.
The NFL has long been accused of being scripted, and Sean Payton seems determined to write a sequel to the Hollywood classic. Except that the leading actor is not a banker, but a punter.
Jeremy Crawshaw needs saving. Or the Broncos will punt on winning their first AFC West title since 2015.
Losing fingernails over special teams is commonplace in the NFL. It often relates to the kicker because his impact is measured in points. With punters, it traces to hidden yardage.
Consider this scenario, preferably with Tums within arm’s reach:
The Broncos lead the Chargers 22-20 in Week 3. They go three-and-out in their two-minute offense and need Crawshaw to blast the football in a way that made him the only college punter with a draftable grade in April. Instead, he clanks a 35-yarder with 3.4 seconds of hang time. One completion later, the Chargers are in field goal range and walk off the Broncos.
Their consolation prize? A cagematch against the Bengals the following Monday night. Just like that, a division title is hanging in the balance before the calendar flips to October.
Writing about punters doesn’t exactly goose Search Engine Optimization, or move the talk show needle. But Crawshaw’s performance is now officially an issue until it is not.
Of the 37 punters in the preseason, Crawshaw graded as 35th by Pro Football Focus. The deeper you dig, the worse it gets: 32nd in yards per punt, 36th in yards per return and 35th in hang time.
This is not what the Broncos had in mind when they lost Riley Dixon in free agency, moved on from seat warmer Matt Haak, and failed to sign the Cowboys’ Bryan Anger.
Lest we forget, Payton has reframed expectations. He believes the Broncos are capable of winning the Super Bowl. Smart money says they should improve on last season’s 10-7 record and deliver a playoff victory.
That demands playing their best against better teams. Despite their summer bravado, the Broncos continue operating in a narrow channel. They are relevant. But let’s be real: They are not a power. They went 1-6 in one-score games last season. They punted 41 times in those contests, compared to 32 for their opponents.
The point? The Broncos don’t have the luxury of carrying a slumping punter.
There is no other way to describe Crawshaw’s preseason. Yes, it was a small sample size. No, that doesn’t make it any easier to reconcile.
Crawshaw punted six times. There was one great one: A 61-yarder with a 41-yard net and 4.91-second hang time in the second half against the Cardinals. One that was fine: His first against the 49ers was fielded at the 15-yard line and featured a 4.3-second hang time. And four that were underwhelming to awful: A mix that included low liners that compromised the coverage team.
Good punters hit it fat once every few weeks. Not every half. Crawshaw is 2 for 6. Oddly, it is the inverse of what he does in practice. He will drill six straight before a misfire, a percentage more fitting of the job description.
Are the bright lights causing the yips? He played at Florida, so that should not be the case. But the game statistics are alarming.
Crawshaw’s struggles were first brought up a couple of weeks ago, and Payton explained that Crawshaw was working through things like all rookies and “has a bright future.” Payton has traveled this path before with Thomas Morstead. He drafted him in the fifth round in 2009 and, despite Morstead’s uneven rookie performance, the Saints won the Super Bowl, the first of Morstead’s 12 seasons in New Orleans.
On Tuesday, Payton said he plans to stop practices and give Crawshaw an attempt outside of the normal punt period. The way Payton sees it, the first punt is the problem. By doing this, he is acknowledging what our eyes are telling us. That we should be worried.
“The reality of it is, you get an at-bat. You don’t get four at-bats, five at-bats,” Payton said. “So, trying to create those singular events for him I think will help.”
Punting is like golfing. Not just because the leg swings like a club. But because it can get in your head.
“A lot of it just comes down to technique. The best thing about Jeremy is that he’s a self-corrector. I really like where he is at. I’m really, really happy we have him,” special teams coach Darren Rizzi said. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The talent’s there. It’s just the consistency. We have to find his happy home there.”
The Broncos believe in Crawshaw’s ability. The idea is for him to become their Morstead. And that would be something since Crawshaw represents Denver’s sixth punter over the past decade, including two tours by Dixon.
The bar is low. There have not been a lot of great Broncos punters once you get past Tom Rouen, Britton Colquitt and Mike Horan. Crawshaw has a better leg than all of them. But the booming fireworks are worthless if too many bottle rockets end up in your neighbor’s yard.
The season offers a chance at redemption. And it better happen quickly or the Broncos need to tell him to go punt rocks.
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