Vote for Jon Ryan

[HarveyWallbangers]

Vote for Jon. It's a nice story about his Dad. Somebody sticky this. The Hasselbeck story is about Brett. I like the Ryan story the best though.

http://superad.nfl.com/


The face of the Super Bowl?

The NFL wants you to vote on which player will appear in its Super Bowl commercial.

Voting for the NFC North is under way. Your Packers choices are punter Jon Ryan or defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila. The deadline is Dec. 12.

Ryan talks about how his ailing father -- "a lifetime Packers fan" -- saw him play at Lambeau Field last October, and how he played after his father died of cancer last December.

You must register and provide an e-mail address before you can vote.

Al Harris talks about his draft experience here:
LINK (http://superad.nfl.com/videosidelines.php?vlf=packers_al_harris_600ws&Team_ID=&auto=true)

[packers11]

http://superad.nfl.com/videosidelines.php?vlf=steelers_najeh_davenport_60 0ws&Team_ID=&auto=true

Davenport gives his love to Favre... Pretty funny...

[HarveyWallbangers]

Ryan learns to be more effective
By RICK BRAUN, JSO

Green Bay - Jon Ryan always had the leg.

Jon Ryan has had 15 of his punts downed inside the 20-yard line this season, on pace to better his total from last season, when he only had 17 downed inside the 20-yard line.

He could put his right foot to a football and make it fly higher and farther than the great majority of folks on this earth.

The problem was how many times he could do it out of 100.

Now he's finding out that experience is nearly as important as leg strength.

A year ago, Ryan averaged 44.5 gross yards per punt, the sign of a strong leg.

But his net average was just 35.7, just under 8 yards less than his gross average.

This year, Ryan's gross average is slightly better, at 44.8, but his net average of 39.0 is a full 3.3 yards better.

But the numbers go even deeper than that. Out of 50 punts this year, only 18 have been returned and nine have gone for touchbacks. That means that on 23 of Ryan's 50 punts, his gross and net were the same.

In 2006, Ryan punted 84 times, but 55 were returned and another 12 went for touchbacks. That means his gross equaled his net on just 17 punts.

For Ryan, a year of experience has proved to be a major boost.

"I'm just more confident in myself. I'm not as nervous," Ryan said. "When I'm on the field it feels a lot more natural and everything I've worked on in the off-season has helped me out to this point.

"After the season last year we saw all the things that I've kind of struggled with and really looked to improve on those things. I think to this point I've improved quite a bit."

Punting in front of crowds wasn't new to Ryan. He punted in college at the University of Regina, in his native Canada, and spent two seasons in the Canadian Football League.

But the Canadian game is much different. Teams get a point for a punt into the end zone, so touchbacks aren't a bad thing.

In the American game, touchbacks are not the desired result of a punt.

Ryan already has had 15 punts downed inside the 20-yard line, as opposed to last year, when he had 17 over the whole season.

And Ryan understands how important punts inside the 20-yard line are.

In the Nov. 18 game against Carolina, Ryan punted four times, for a gross average of just 35.5 and a net average of just 30.5. But each of his four punts came from inside the 50-yard line. Three of them were downed inside the 20-yard line and one went into the end zone when Jarrett Bush missed an opportunity to down it at the 2.

"It would have been nice to have all four of those inside the 20, but three out of four inside the 20 isn't bad, I guess," Ryan said. "It's one of those things where you look in the paper and I'll have about a 32-yard average or something like that. It'll look bad, but it was one of those games where I had a lot of situational kicks and I feel like I did pretty well. . . . We'll take it. The coverage unit got down there. They might have misplayed that one, but the other three I'll definitely take."

And that also is part of experience for Ryan.

"Absolutely," he said. "You kind of have to ignore the numbers because you'll have some games where you can bang the ball away and you'll average 50-plus yards. Then you'll have games . . . where you're hitting the ball from our 40 and you might only average 32 or 33, and as it turns out, that's a good average.

"Over the course of the year it all averages out, so you've kind of got to look at it that way."

The game last Thursday was one of those where Ryan could bang away, and he averaged 49.7 gross and 46.3 net. One kick in particular hit inside the 5 and bounced sideways, allowing the Packers to down it at the 4.

Special teams coordinator Mike Stock is appreciative of the improvement Ryan has made this season.

"I thought that we could do that, given his second year in the league and the various adjustments we've made," Stock said. "He's worked real hard to make the progress to enter that next echelon. We've tried putting a great emphasis on hanging the ball and I think he's done a very good job of doing that."

Ryan also credits his success this season to a clearer mind. In 2006, he had to deal with the emotional torment of his terminally ill father dying of cancer during the season.

"Really, it took a lot out of me, to be honest," Ryan said. "At the time, I felt that I could separate the two, but looking back I struggled at times. I think it probably had a lot to do with what was going on in my personal life. It made it difficult to be here some days."

Making the 2007 ride even better is that the Packers are winning.

A year ago, they were 4-8 after 12 games. Now they're riding high at 10-2, in the position to clinch the NFC North with their next victory.

"It's one of those things where you don't really care (about numbers)," Ryan said. "You look back at the game and you may have some plays you want to take back, but as long as we're winning you're still happy. It's nice to be in the situation we're in right now."

[FritzDontBlitz]

http://superad.nfl.com/videosidelines.php?vlf=steelers_najeh_davenport_60 0ws&Team_ID=&auto=true

Davenport gives his love to Favre... Pretty funny...

That is hilarious. Hasselbeck's is pretty funny too...

[Badgerinmaine]

The Ryan video is very cool...but you also couldn't go wrong voting for KGB, either:
LINK (http://superad.nfl.com/vote.php?vlf=packers_kabeer_gbaja-biamila_600ws&next3=2&ov1=&ov2=&ov3=&ov4=&vt1=&vt2=&vt3=&vt4=&dim=29437&sh=&sh2=&sh3=&sh4=&ThumbSmall=&ThumbSmall2=&ThumbSmall3=&ThumbSmall4=&PLName=&PLName2=&PLName3=&PLName4=&mode=sv)
It's the 6th of 6 in the NFCN, so if you're on the main screen, you'll have to cursor right to see it.

[Badgerinmaine]

http://superad.nfl.com/videosidelines.php?vlf=steelers_najeh_davenport_60 0ws&Team_ID=&auto=true

Davenport gives his love to Favre... Pretty funny...

That is hilarious. Hasselbeck's is pretty funny too...
Agreed on both. I also liked Madieu Williams of the Bengals discussing the importance of condiments. 8-)

[3irty1]

Lol listen to Ryan Longwells.