Last week Riders were pounded - things to work on to get better include
Rider Field position problems (hurt by punting game)
Five Rider punts - 31 yard net (low even by CFL standards) - Stamps net was 50 yards
(1 punt)
according to CFL game summary, three times after punt returns by Stamps, ball inside Rider territory (S44, S49, S40) - other two at Stamp 48 and 43
in other words, Stamps had ball at midfield or in Rider part of field all night long and Rider punting was big part of problem allowing this to happen
Congi doing well in other two phases (field goals and kicking off) but Riders need bigtime help in punting game if they are going to keep games close enough to win
Things could be worse... You could have Duncan O'Missy hitting crossbars and uprights....Although Duncan was a pretty decent punter.....when you could find him...
look at league stats (like other punters do not punt outside into winds?)
Sure they do, but so far this season how many times have they had too. Congi has played two game in windy regina and during the last game punted a little more often than normal.
Averages only apply to large sample sets. Look at the leader Westwood with his 61 yard average but hey only one kick.
I think Congi is fine and will continue to improve. But a big reason why they give him all the kicking duties is so he is in the game more often.
I'd rather have Congi try and make a game winning 50 yarder after he has been on the field and kicked 10 times than anyone else who is on the field for the first time in the game.
Look at that guy who won a million last year, got better the more he kicked it.
What was the BC punters average in that indoor game? 2 yards better. Whoopee!
Paul McCallum is last in net yards punting, not Congi. Yet, I still think Paul is a good punter as yardage is not the only criteria as often what yard line the ball goes to is a better indicator of a punters skill.
Yup, other punters work outdoors, but we we specifically talking about that game.
Do you remember when Ken Clark was our punter, he could boot the ball pretty far, but most times he would outkick the coverage, so distance should not be the only criteria for assessing a punter's skill.
comments noted - but dont think that being dead last in net punting result is not going to have negative effect on rider for rest of rider season - only salvation last week was mccallum is not good either - and he punts indoors - next to dead last - congi is kicking well but numbers say riders can use punting help - or just continue to use excuses if 500 is good enough
Why use Hughes? I have not seen him doing any punting in practice, but could be wrong.
The reality is that problems with field position can not be blamed on Congi. Have there been some punts that would have be nice if they were longer, perhaps, but I can not really recall being at a game this year and saying, darn wish we had a better punter!