Not to be outdone by their place-kicking counterparts, the NFL’s punters also got into the record-shattering act in 2011. As a whole, the league’s average per punt soared to new heights this past season, topping out at an even 45 yards per boot.
Amazingly, that average was nearly a full yard better than the standard of 44.1 established two years earlier in 2009. Those two marks are the only single-season averages to eclipse 44 yards in 72 years of tracking NFL punting stats.
Of the top-18 individual single-season gross punting averages compiled in NFL history, nearly half (five) of them occurred in 2011.
49ers All-Pro Andy Lee led the way with his 50.9-yard average – which goes down as the third-best all-time seasonal mark – and he was followed closely by the Raiders’ Shane Lechler (fourth all-time at 50.8), the Miami Dolphins’ Brandon Fields (tied for 10th at 48.8), the New Orleans Saints’ Thomas Morstead (14th at 48.3) and the Buffalo Bills’ Brian Moorman (15th at 48.2).
Interestingly, Hall-of-Famer Sammy Baugh’s all-time single-season standard of 51.4, established way back in 1940, somehow withstood the onslaught.
Any way you configure the numbers, NFL place-kickers and punters are succeeding at their quirky crafts like never before, and these pronounced statistical trends show no sign of abating.
The bell curves are most definitely trending upward, but all the while, though, the reasons behind this boom aren’t entirely apparent. Do the modern-day kickers and punters possess superior strength and conditioning? Are they receiving better coaching? Or is it just a natural evolution of the pro game?
While pondering these questions, why not just applaud the special-teams show – even if it continues to play out in the shadows.
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