2011 Giants' Position Battles: Matt Dodge Vs. Steve Weatherford, Updated

Dodge did land the punt inside the 5, but the coverage team couldn’t down the ball and it rolled/bounced for the TB.

(honestly, that should’ve been the tactic all last season… forget the coffin corner punts and just blast it out of the endzone. Dodge can do that from almost anywhere on the field, and there’s no danger of return).

IMO, Weatherford got the edge because he was able to hold for the field goal, not because of anything punting related.

on the punt into the EZ after a poor snap

I completely understand your sentiment, but I don’t see how Dodge could be much much better than Weatherford. There’s just not enough headroom for that. But I could definitely see how W could be much much better than D, since we know how bad D can be.

Dodge wins the job solely on $$$

going into the last preseason game. I think Dodge may have more of a leg, but Weatherford is plenty good enough in that area. The differences in Weatherford’s favor is he hasn’t shown problems catching the snap or dropping the football, he appears to have better control over where his kicks are going, and he get’s an additional point for being able to handle the holder duties. Both are NFL kickers and both will end up with jobs in the league, but as Weatherford isn’t old, and punter is a position with a long shelf life (see Feagles, Jeff), Dodge’s youth advantage isn’t as strong as it would be at another position, and I think TC will err on the side of predictability. The Giants don’t need their punter to lead the league, just being competent and not messing things up will do nicely.

that were “special”.

I will jump out my window. Every punt should NOT be an adventure.

This person’s 53-man projection makes little sense. Keeping 2 TEs makes no sense given Beckum is not a pure TE (especially when Ballard did OK against the Jets and have been getting a lot of PT). Cutting Jamon Meredith is unlikely given the G-men have been using him as extra TE on heavy formations.

Carrying 3 DTs??? Especially when Rocky has been playing well? I understand Tuck can play inside and we use a lot of 3 DE sets but depth at DT is important and I think Rocky would make the team over Kennedy.

I doubt Jacquin Williams makes the team over Dillard or Tracy.

I want to see Dodge make it but hasn’t Weatherford been holding for Tynes/Lloyd? Would indicate that Weatherford is a trusted to handle the snap and I think he’s a safer bet than Dodge

on a random note.. I just saw Mike Strahan pull a cameo on the new episode of Entourage.

He will continue to learn and get better with his touch on the ball and his leg gives us options we wouldn’t have otherwise.

Given our coverage abilities last year (and my guess is this year won’t be much better)… blasting it through the end zone, might be the best option (though I suppose you should at least try to blast it out of bounds near the end zone).

The kick holder aspect however, is tricky. Personally, I never understood why you would want a punter to be a kick holder. If something goes wrong on a field goal attempt, I’d rather have a 2nd or 3rd string quarterback with the ball and have a chance of still making points. Assuming we feel the need to have a punter hold the ball, that does hurt Dodge’s standing.

I suspect however, if we let Dodge go… we will look back at some point and say it was a mistake.

In fact, I am quite surprised that anyone that watched last years “Dodge Chronicles” could have him beating out ANYONE, hell, I would rather have Mr Potato Head kicking quite frankly.

Ok, so the guy can kick it 60 yds. But the thing is, they have 1.2 second hangtime, he outkicks his coverage, and then throw in an out and out shank or drop every game or two. Its beyond livable. His problem is that he is a HEAD CASE, the worst problem to correct. Having a strong leg is LESS important than controlling your punts directionally or in terms distance. If it wasn’t we would have dumped Feagles but instead the guy was a weapon.

The drops, the shanks, no touch inside the twenty, the inability to kick it to a spot or even out of bounds….

No thanks. There isn’t enough Maalox in the world for another year of Dodge, and there isn’t anyone in my circle of Gmen fans that feels otherwise…. I have faith Weatherford will get the job.

The way this offense has looked they’re gonna need TWO punters.