The B.J. Sander era is officially over.
Shall we drink to that?
I went today to his official Packers team page as I sat to write this. The most beautiful thing appeared.
“Sorry, the Page You Requested Was Not Found.”
Your final totals. 64 punts over two seasons, with an anemic average of 39.2. His long, 53 yards. And I bet that was with roll.
I want every Packers fan to know those numbers, and to recite those numbers every time Mike Sherman’s name comes up. Spit those letters out like they were dipped in turpentine.
Bee-Jay-F’ing-Sander.
Nice third-round pick on a punter. Even the stupidest, short-bus-riding-newbie in a fantasy league wouldn’t pick a punter in the third round. But the Packers did under Sherman’s double-duty as coach and GM.
I just wonder what the discussion – if there was any discussion – sounded like when they were debating that pick. How many times has a punter won a SINGLE game for a football team?
Oh sure, maybe they helped a team win a game. But only if that guy had one of the most spectacular punting days in his entire life would that be true. And we’d have to be talking rocket ship 70-yarders out of his own end zone, soft-landing coffin corner jobs that pin the other team at the 1. Stuff like that.
Maybe even a fake punt, turned first down pass.
Then, maybe – just maybe – you could say: “Boy, I am sure glad we grabbed that punter in the third round. He is fabulous! Look at how the other team just FEARS our punter!”
Oh wait a minute, this just in. The Pack didn’t just waste a third-rounder on this guy, they actually traded more picks just to move UP in order to take him.
I don’t care if a guy is the gay lovechild of Reggie Roby and Ray Guy. I’m not picking a punter with anything higher than a seventh rounder. And even then, he better kick the ball so damn high and so damn far, that angels sing lightly in the heavens behind it.
The Oakland Raiders took kicker Sebastian Janikowski with a late first round pick. He’s been OK, but hardly great. He was supposed to have a legendarily strong leg. That’s why the Raiders wasted a #1 on him – on the fifth time in football history a kicker went in the first round. Funny thing is, Janikowski has only seven career makes over 50 yards in 6 NFL seasons. And his long is just 55.
How idiotic can you be?
Well, the Packers said: “Watch this!”
And thus you got B.J. Sander.
Hell, you could have thrown a dart at the names in the third round, and ended up with somebody better. TE Chris Cooley, QB Matt Schaub, and DT Darnell Dockett all came in the 3rd round that year.
Oh, but look at the scouting report they had on this kid B.J. Sander. After you read about his “touch-to-toe” mechanics, how could you pass on him?
"Two-step left-footed punter with very good touch-to-toe mechanics (1.22-second average) ... Gets very good hang time (4.88-second average) on his punts and does a very nice job of angling his kicks towards the sidelines on pooch punts ... Has the leaping ability to field the high snaps ... Has good athletic skills, strength and speed for his position ... Good worker in the weight room ... Has above-average leg explosion and strength ... Drops the ball and strikes it with good force, showing consistency in his get-off ... Has good hands and will not come across his body on his attempts."
As Gilda Radner would say: “Oops. Never mind.”
Do you remember when I was mocked for saying that with about a year of hands-on training, I could become at least an “average” play caller in the NFL. Note, I never said I could be a coach or coordinator – just play caller.
You give me the offense, let me work side by side with the team for a year, and then come Sunday, put me in the booth and let me call “X-scat, tango-40, double-zoom, flush” on 3rd and 8.
I wouldn’t be as bad as some guys doing it now. Neither would you.
Of course, people ridiculed me for saying this. The NFL is just “soooo complicated” and such, and you need YEARS of experience. Blah, blah, blah.
At least I know this much. I would not have delivered you guys B.J. Sander. If football people were really as smart as we in the media make them out to be, this kind of thing would never happen.
Two seasons, 64 punts, and a long of 53. Good night, B.J.
Shall we drink to that?
I went today to his official Packers team page as I sat to write this. The most beautiful thing appeared.
“Sorry, the Page You Requested Was Not Found.”
Your final totals. 64 punts over two seasons, with an anemic average of 39.2. His long, 53 yards. And I bet that was with roll.
I want every Packers fan to know those numbers, and to recite those numbers every time Mike Sherman’s name comes up. Spit those letters out like they were dipped in turpentine.
Bee-Jay-F’ing-Sander.
Nice third-round pick on a punter. Even the stupidest, short-bus-riding-newbie in a fantasy league wouldn’t pick a punter in the third round. But the Packers did under Sherman’s double-duty as coach and GM.
I just wonder what the discussion – if there was any discussion – sounded like when they were debating that pick. How many times has a punter won a SINGLE game for a football team?
Oh sure, maybe they helped a team win a game. But only if that guy had one of the most spectacular punting days in his entire life would that be true. And we’d have to be talking rocket ship 70-yarders out of his own end zone, soft-landing coffin corner jobs that pin the other team at the 1. Stuff like that.
Maybe even a fake punt, turned first down pass.
Then, maybe – just maybe – you could say: “Boy, I am sure glad we grabbed that punter in the third round. He is fabulous! Look at how the other team just FEARS our punter!”
Oh wait a minute, this just in. The Pack didn’t just waste a third-rounder on this guy, they actually traded more picks just to move UP in order to take him.
I don’t care if a guy is the gay lovechild of Reggie Roby and Ray Guy. I’m not picking a punter with anything higher than a seventh rounder. And even then, he better kick the ball so damn high and so damn far, that angels sing lightly in the heavens behind it.
The Oakland Raiders took kicker Sebastian Janikowski with a late first round pick. He’s been OK, but hardly great. He was supposed to have a legendarily strong leg. That’s why the Raiders wasted a #1 on him – on the fifth time in football history a kicker went in the first round. Funny thing is, Janikowski has only seven career makes over 50 yards in 6 NFL seasons. And his long is just 55.
How idiotic can you be?
Well, the Packers said: “Watch this!”
And thus you got B.J. Sander.
Hell, you could have thrown a dart at the names in the third round, and ended up with somebody better. TE Chris Cooley, QB Matt Schaub, and DT Darnell Dockett all came in the 3rd round that year.
Oh, but look at the scouting report they had on this kid B.J. Sander. After you read about his “touch-to-toe” mechanics, how could you pass on him?
"Two-step left-footed punter with very good touch-to-toe mechanics (1.22-second average) ... Gets very good hang time (4.88-second average) on his punts and does a very nice job of angling his kicks towards the sidelines on pooch punts ... Has the leaping ability to field the high snaps ... Has good athletic skills, strength and speed for his position ... Good worker in the weight room ... Has above-average leg explosion and strength ... Drops the ball and strikes it with good force, showing consistency in his get-off ... Has good hands and will not come across his body on his attempts."
As Gilda Radner would say: “Oops. Never mind.”
Do you remember when I was mocked for saying that with about a year of hands-on training, I could become at least an “average” play caller in the NFL. Note, I never said I could be a coach or coordinator – just play caller.
You give me the offense, let me work side by side with the team for a year, and then come Sunday, put me in the booth and let me call “X-scat, tango-40, double-zoom, flush” on 3rd and 8.
I wouldn’t be as bad as some guys doing it now. Neither would you.
Of course, people ridiculed me for saying this. The NFL is just “soooo complicated” and such, and you need YEARS of experience. Blah, blah, blah.
At least I know this much. I would not have delivered you guys B.J. Sander. If football people were really as smart as we in the media make them out to be, this kind of thing would never happen.
Two seasons, 64 punts, and a long of 53. Good night, B.J.
Steve is a native Washingtonian and has worked in sports talk radio for the last 11 years. He worked at WTEM in 1993 anchoring Team Tickers before he took a full time job with national radio network One-on-One Sports.
A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Steve has worked for WFNZ in Charlotte where his afternoon show was named "Best Radio Show." Steve continues to serve as a sports personality for WLZR in Milwaukee and does fill-in hosting for Fox Sports Radio.
