Smitty returning punts

The flip side of that is that you don't pay a guy $5 mil a year and then not let him earn it on punt returns as well as receiving, especially if he's good at it and wants to do it.

You can fair catch a kickoff, can't you? It's just that it's rarely done. But I think I remember one of our opponents' short men fair catching a kickoff last season or in '03. (I've kinda wondered why we didn't have Smart fair-catch the last kickoff of the Super Bowl and set up a final trick play from scrimmage. But maybe I'm wrong about the fair catch rule. Or, we just didn't have anything like that in our playbook...)

 

Last year it looked like Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, & Oakland used starting corners. Cleveland, Denver, New York Jets, & Tennessee used starting WRs.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/PNTRET/2004/regular

 

Yes, you can. That's why kickers have to make onside kicks bounce.

 

You pay him $5 mil to be a receiver. You can pay guys the minimum off the street to return punts, and most do.

And I disagree with them having done so, too. I don't see the advantage of putting a "star" in harm's way, and I'd argue that Smith is more of a star than most on that list.

Hey, if he wants it that bad, he can go do it. And if he goes down again, we're screwed heavily in two ways, then.

 

I've felt like Mags ever since we gave Smitty the new deal, but I can see why they want him there; he can change the game in a flash. Won a couple for us that way in '03.

 

I just have to think about what Fox says about pressure. 'Apply it, don't feel it.'

Smith returning punts is a perfect example of that philosophy.

 

Well sir...I don't like it. :dead-hors

 

Now healed, Panthers aren’t worried about Smith returning punts, too

By: Steve Reed
Gazette Sports Reporter

Rarely in the NFL do you see a team trot out its No. 1 wide receiver to return punts.
So consider the Carolina Panthers and Steve Smith the rare exception, not the rule.

Smith is the most valuable weapon on Carolina’s offense, the team’s undisputed No. 1 receiver, and perhaps the one player this team cannot live without.

Yet when it’s fourth down and the Panthers are about to get the ball back, head coach John Fox has no problem sending Smith out as a return man, despite the inherent dangers of 10 men — do punters really count? — running down the field trying to decapitate him.

Even though Smith missed 15 games last season with a broken leg, Fox believes he’s simply too valuable to keep on the bench in that situation. That’s why Smith, who is now 100 percent back, will again handle punt returns for the Panthers this season.

“You are trying to advance the ball, just like you do at receiver,” Fox said. “It’s a critical position. He was missed a year ago, not just as a receiver but as a return man.

“Going back to the season before, he made some huge plays that turned games around. We’re doing our best to win, and I think he gives us the best opportunity in that role.”

Fox points to two games Smith has almost single-handedly won for the Panthers with his punt return prowess.

One came against Tampa Bay in 2003 after Kris Jenkins blocked an extra point to send the game into overtime whereupon Smith returned a punt 52 yards to set up John Kasay’s game-winning field goal.

The other came in 2002 when Smith returned two punts for touchdowns in the same game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Smith has four punt returns for touchdowns during his brief NFL career, and the Panthers believe he’s worth at least 20 or 30 yards when he’s returning punts.

“There’s a reason why — most of those guys aren’t good punt returners,” said Smith, who averaged 9.6 yards per return from 2001-2003. “You don’t see a lot of receivers doing it because a lot of them don’t know how. But it’s not something I mind at all.”

Some receivers do.

In fact, there were only three No. 1 receivers who were returning punts in 2004 — Rod Smith for Denver, Derrick Mason for Tennessee and Santana Moss for the New York Jets.

You’d think if there was one person who’d be nervous about Smith returning punts it would be quarterback Jake Delhomme, who makes it pretty well known that Smith is his go-to-guy.

“I’m really not (worried), because if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen,” Delhomme said. “What happened last year was just a tackle and it was an odd injury.

“I like seeing him back there, because he can break a game open by himself. We saw it done in the overtime game at Tampa Bay (in 2003). His return won the game. Let’s be honest. Then we played the Giants late that same season, his punt return for a touchdown early on helped us put a cushion on them.

“He does good things and puts us in good field position. As long as he likes doing it, that’s fine with us.”

What makes Smith so hard to tackle — and thus hard to hurt — is he’s so small (5-foot-9, 185 pounds), so fast and so darn quick.

That’s perhaps even truer when he’s returning punts than catching passes

“He’s hard to deal with when he’s out in (open) space,” Fox said. “That’s part of being a return man, and he’s outstanding at it.”

In 2001, Smith became the only rookie in team history to make the Pro Bowl when he did so as a return man. In that season, he returned two kickoffs and one punt for touchdowns.

His goal is to make it back to Hawaii as an all-pro wide receiver, but he still views his role on special teams with great pride.

Smith is no longer working on kickoff returns (Rod Smart and Jamal Robertson handle that role), because Fox doesn’t want to wear Smith out too much. But Smith said if the Panthers needed him to fill that role in a pinch, then he’s always available.

But Smith admits he prefers punt returns.

“I get to control what goes on (with punt returns),” Smith said. “Fair catches, catch the punt and get out of bounds, whatever. I’m in complete control. I’m not in complete control on kickoff returns. When I catch the ball there and it’s not in the end zone, I have to run.

“But punt returns, that’s me. I like playing and touching the ball. That’s when I feel I’m at my best — when I have the ball in my hands.”


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