Patler
10-06-2024, 01:45 AM
I think GB found a good one!
It wasn’t enough for Daniel Whelan to simply smoke the football off his right foot. As he trotted onto the field late in Sunday’s first half, the Green Bay Packers punter checked the flags at Lambeau Field.
“A little Green Bay wind,” Whelan muttered to himself.
Then Whelan looked across the field. The Minnesota Vikings were changing things in their return game, bringing receiver Jalen Nailor onto the field to return a punt, something he’d never done in three NFL seasons.
New returner. Swirling wind.
It wasn’t a coincidence Nailor muffed his first NFL punt.
“I saw that they had their main returner out,” Whelan said. “So I was like, ‘If I hit it high enough, sun is in his eyes, so I might make it hard to catch.’ I just need to hit it.”
Hitting it hasn’t been a problem for Whelan this season. His specialty is booming the football high, the way he did to Nailor last week, making the Vikings returner drift back 10 yards and slightly to his left before the football passed through his hands. The 4.85-second hangtime Whelan put on that punt made it a midair adventure, directly resulting in a Vikings turnover, and a Packers touchdown two plays later.
It wasn’t enough for Daniel Whelan to simply smoke the football off his right foot. As he trotted onto the field late in Sunday’s first half, the Green Bay Packers punter checked the flags at Lambeau Field.
“A little Green Bay wind,” Whelan muttered to himself.
Then Whelan looked across the field. The Minnesota Vikings were changing things in their return game, bringing receiver Jalen Nailor onto the field to return a punt, something he’d never done in three NFL seasons.
New returner. Swirling wind.
It wasn’t a coincidence Nailor muffed his first NFL punt.
“I saw that they had their main returner out,” Whelan said. “So I was like, ‘If I hit it high enough, sun is in his eyes, so I might make it hard to catch.’ I just need to hit it.”
Hitting it hasn’t been a problem for Whelan this season. His specialty is booming the football high, the way he did to Nailor last week, making the Vikings returner drift back 10 yards and slightly to his left before the football passed through his hands. The 4.85-second hangtime Whelan put on that punt made it a midair adventure, directly resulting in a Vikings turnover, and a Packers touchdown two plays later.