File Under: Rex Ryan, Reggie Hodges, T.J. Conley, Ken Parrish
08/16 — Quarterbacks are obviously on the minds of many Green & White fans, but Rex Ryan has another position he’s been seriously kicking around in his head.
“I’m tired of seeing groundballs being hit,” the head coach said about some of the kicks by the two punters on the Jets’ roster, Reggie Hodges and T.J. Conley. “We’ve got to do better than that. Our guys know that, so we’ll see. You watch some practices and it’s like we’ve got Ray Guy in there — I want to see that. I want to see an NFL punt.”
Both punters had mixed results in the Rams game. Hodges got a 47-yard net on a low punt that took a favorable bounce in averaging a 49.0-yard gross and a 38.0 net on two punts. Conley’s first punt went 50 yards, his second 27 yards.
Ryan underscored how important that usually underappreciated position is to his concept of playing like Jets.
“We’ve got to find a punter. If he’s here or he’s on somebody else’s team, we’ve got to find a punter,” he said. “If he’s here, great. Step up and punt. If not, we’re going to go find one.”
In fact, the Jets tried out red-headed two-step punter Ken Parrish today. Parrish, out of East Stroudsburg, was a free agent signed by the 49ers in 2007 and the Eagles this year but has never made it to an NFL regular season. He had some beautiful punts with hangtimes in the high-four-second range and then some OK kicks during his trial this morning.
Bucks County Jeff Said:
Sun, August 16, 2009 - 10:14pm ET"Ben Graham was one shank after another. Take your negative attitude elsewhere. Ben Graham punted once in the Super Bowl for 43 yards and "pinned" the steelers at the 27 yard line."
Chip Ray Said:
Mon, August 17, 2009 - 11:51am ET"Graham was a slug erratic and he could not hold for the kicker worth a plug nickle! Good riddens! Hodges does a great job holding, and I am certain he will prove himself as a punter on the field this week. "
Joe from Amherst Said:
Mon, August 17, 2009 - 3:07pm ET"Why don't you get CJ Koegel who punted at UMASS a try!"
Pete Said:
Sun, August 16, 2009 - 1:35pm ET"its good to see that Rex saw the same problem i noticed during the game, our punting has been terribly for afew years now. graham was good at the end over end technique but he leached consistent hangtime. we need a consistent 5second punter to compliment a great defense."
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