There's a shocker...Marty likes the San Diego personnel. File this one with "water is wet" and "the Earth is round". Scifres is "this generation's Ray Guy"? Scifres is great, but has he never heard of Shane Lechler?
Marty had a lousy record in the playoffs, like epic bad (5-13). If he's picking the Chargers I'm happy because he doesn't understand the playoffs at all.
Lechler is great but he generally has more gaudy stats since the Raiders punt about twice as often as the Chargers. Scifres has pinned teams inside the 20 on nearly 50% of his punts and has only had 2 touchbacks all season. Lechler does so on about 33% of his punts but has had 12 touchbacks this year. Scifres career net average is about half a yard more as well.
Given the better position from which Scifres is kicking, it's no surprise that his net average would be boosted. Net average is also a team effort, which is why you won't find it in the individual record book of the NFL. Scifre's a placement specialist. Lechler has the leg, evidenced by the fact that he has the highest career punting average in NFL history. It's probably best to say that each player suits his team's needs better than the other would. Lechler plays for a team that relies on his leg to get them out of incredibly poor field position; Scifres plays for a team that relies on his placement to maintain the FP that the offense has won.
Lechler punts more because Raiders offense sucks. He doesn't punt as much from the mid field or close to it as Scifres does. Scifres is really good, but he is a close second to Lechler. Lechler can punt it high and long and give the coverage team enough time so that the PR calls for fair catch. Have u seen who set the record for net punting avg.?
When WE were the overachievers last year sneaking into playoffs with an 8-8 record (admittedly a fortunate occurrence for being in a crappy conference), we hosted the Colts for our wild-card game. Mike "Sci-Fi" Scifres was actually our game-ball winner. He had six punts inside the 20, with four of them inside the 10, three inside the five. These punts weren't chip shots from Colt territory, either: the average punt carried over 50 yards, with the average starting point the nine yard line. Only one of the punts required excellent play to keep the ball from going into the EZ. This is another key stat that the Jets will have to contend with. If your defense can keep us from advancing, then Sci will just give you a long field.
there are very tangible reasons -- the two kickers in particular -- why norv decided to introduce special teams for the first time in pre-game ceremonies of their last regular season game. it's understandable why non-charger fans don't know or even care about SD's kickers, but as we all should know, special teams play is equally important as offense/defense are in determining the outcome of the game (i.e., jets/chargers 2004 playoffs). it wouldn't be surprising if sunday's game again came down to a field goal attempt. what marty and any objective observer have been saying all along is only stating the obvious. comparing both teams collectively, the chargers are superior to the jets and SHOULD win the game. from evaluating both teams this year, i'll also add that the jets have far less margin for error than do the chargers. in my opinion, the final score will reflect either a close, 17-14 pick 'em or the chargers winning by at least 10. the jets will need to elevate their play even higher than last week's impressive win to have a chance. sure, it can be done, but the odds say they probably won't. those are odds that namath would take any day. here's to a great, injury-free game on sunday.
anddddddd how come Shotty Sr. never did shit in the postseason with the chargers? back when LT was all-world? hmmm i'm glad jersey passed medical marijuana...i've always heard the shit they smoke in cali was amazing but soon ill get to see for myself.
I'll settle for this. Schotty Jnr, time to stick that playbook up dads ass Remember this > http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=250108024
Are you kidding? We'd kill for either one. We love Feely, but Kaeding is perhaps the best kicker in the game today and Scifres is Top 2. In fact, for a team like ours that emphasizes field position and defense, getting all of those punts dropped inside the 20 would be a HUGE boost. Just look at what it did for us last Saturday.
So a guy who has had nothing but epic fail thinks the Chargers are going to win... I wonder if it's really a jinx to AJ Smith....
My point was that I think most of the fans in the league know Kaeding by now and Scifres. BTW, I've always been impressed that the front office replaced Mate the way they did with Scifres. Didn't lose a step. Carney was no slouch kicking either. Take it from a team that has had inconsistency at one or both position for years.
Kaeding will inexplicably have a terrible game choking in the final minute of the game to seal the win for the green and white.
