I've always held that punters are a much more important component of a team's success than most people think. On a single play, and single-handedly (or single-footedly), a punter can cost a team twenty or thirty yards or gain his team twenty or thirty yards. If it's a game of field position, who has more control over that than your punter? On a punt, the center has to make a good snap, but the blockers have to hold the line for only a few seconds. The rest is on the punter. On a regular play from scrimmage, the blockers have to try to create specific holes for runners, or get downfield - a runner's success is much more dependent upon them. A quarterback can be brilliant and thread the needle, but he relies on his receiver to make the catch. The receiver relies on the QB to make a good throw. But if a punter gets a standard couple of seconds, it's all him.

So I like this Ravens' punter, and the fact that somebody in Baltimore understands the importance of the kicking game. Imagine how forward-thinking it is to try to use a punt as a way to generate a turnover. That's smart. Or that you could line-drive one past the returner so your guys can chase it down and down it sixty or seventy yards downfield.