When you have a talent like Bryan Anger, who has been a little inconsistent (in every game, depite his good punts, he shanks one or two punts) About a quarter or a third of his punts are rugby style, which he does OK, but why make him practice two types of punts, when he is having trouble with his main punting style? He should have been given one type of punt to practice and use, not two. Maybe then he would improved to the point where he would have shanked far fewer punts this year. Another example of too much coaching by Tedford and his staff.

I agree. Coach up his punt protection so he doesn't have to rush his punts or roll out and rugby kick it to get it out quickly. I don't know what the heck Genyk has been doing but I'm not sure I like it.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">SFCityBear;662427 said:</div><hr>When you have a talent like Bryan Anger, [COLOR="Red"]who has been a little inconsistent (in every game, depite his good punts, he shanks one or two punts) [/COLOR] About a quarter or a third of his punts are rugby style, which he does OK, but why make him practice two types of punts, when he is having trouble with his main punting style? He should have been given one type of punt to practice and use, not two. Maybe then he would improved to the point where he would have shanked far fewer punts this year. Another example of too much coaching by Tedford and his staff.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Look at the data you are using as an example- one or two shanks per game? What games?

<blockquote><div class="name-said">hiandfar;662458 said:</div><hr>Look at the data you are using as an example- one or two shanks per game? What games?<hr></blockquote><br /><br />I have not seen any data kept on shanks, but my personal recollection is that this season every single game I saw, which were the games at ATT plus the Big Game and the Bowl game, he shanked at least one punt off the side of his foot. Darn near every game I saw last season as well.

<blockquote><div class="name-said">FingeroftheBear;662476 said:</div><hr>Anger shanked a few last season, didn't see any this season. The thing is, his shanked punts still traveled 35-40 yards, but with little hang time. After booming a few 60 and 70 yarders with 5 sec+ hang time, a weak 40 yarder can look like a shanked punt.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Thank You :beer:

<blockquote><div class="name-said">SFCityBear;662461 said:</div><hr>I have not seen any data kept on shanks, but my personal recollection is that this season every single game I saw, which were the games at ATT plus the Big Game and the Bowl game, he shanked at least one punt off the side of his foot. Darn near every game I saw last season as well.<hr></blockquote><br /><br />I know I was at 51 straight games, including all this season home and away, and there were 2 "shanks". No more need to reply, you've proven yourself. :gobears:

<blockquote><div class="name-said">hiandfar;662593 said:</div><hr>I know I was at 51 straight games, including all this season home and away, and there were 2 "shanks". No more need to reply, you've proven yourself. :gobears:<hr></blockquote><br /><br />Well, maybe it's a case of definition. I figure when a kicker with a leg as strong as Anger's hits one off the side of his foot, that either travels 30-35 yards and stays in bounds, or crosses a sideline about 30-35 yards from the line of scrimmage, then I call that a shank. What would you call it?<br /><br />Anger hit another one of those in the Holiday Bowl, in case you missed it. The TV announcers both called it a shank. <br /><br />All the guys I go to the games with have seen the same thing over the last two years. We would all rather see Anger hit three 45 yard punts with hang time, than hit two 60 yarders, followed by a 35 yarder.<br /><br />I did not post this to criticize Anger in any way. I'm criticizing Tedford. I just think having a kid practice both a punt and a rugby kick will not help him to perfect the standard punt, as much as having him practice only the standard punt.<br /><br />There are plenty of Cal fans who see these games through blue and gold glasses, and can't stand to read anything critical of a coach or a player. You probably felt these punts were planned 30-35 yarders and not shanks at all. Maybe that is why you missed seeing some of Anger's shanks.

If our next punter isn't that good I say go for the rugby style. With Anger though I thought it was a stupid coaching move. The guy is an NFL quality punter. Don't screw him up by making him alter his punting motion. Dumb, dumb, dumb. One more reason I think Genyk should be shown the door. The next special teams coach needs to be forceful enough to demand enough practice time from Tedford to shore up our special teams. We'll see how that goes.

They make no sense, sure it gives the coverage team some time but it gives great field position to the other team. It is a dumb thing to do especially with a guy like Anger.

Seems to me he shanked one in San Diego.

The blocked punts resulted from the "matador" blocks by a few unnamed guys on the ST. Correct it or replace them.

He probably won't be. I only saw our back-up during warm-ups for the UW game and the difference in distance and height between the 2 was remarkable. Anger outdistanced him by 10-15 yards per kick with much greater loft. On many kicks the balls were in the air at the same time so it was easy to see the advantage Anger had. As for the rugby kick, there may be situations where it makes sense (such as inside the 50 or a short yardage situation where you want to give the punter the option to run) but, with someone of Anger's ability, I'd use it very sparingly.

I noticed he shanked regular punts but the rugby ones were fine. However on some of the ring by ones it looked like he was about to be run down

My bigger contention with the punting unit is the formation and personnel we use. Already there is the long snapper and punter out there. They aren't necessarily the best tacklers. Then, when you add into the three big guys as personnel protectors, there are suddenly only 6 guys with decent wheels to get down and cover a punt. I don't think that's a great strategy as opponents put so much speed down there. <br /><br />While we've gone to rugby style kicks, opponents are now moving their returners up the sideline further so they catch the ball in the air and remove any chance for the good roll that rugby kicks can provide. <br /><br />Putting the big linemen as personal protectors also effectively eliminates the ability to run a decent fake. But then again, that hasn't been an integral part of the ST portfolio.

Actually I thought the rugby punts were used well strategically. Usually they were used so that he could hold the ball a little longer so that special teams could get down field. IMO they used it in cases where they wanted to be sure to limit any big play on the return.

Maybe it is the only thing mr tedord has learned from watching Coach Clark and our rugby team. Certainly not the art of being a good coach.