Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have placed veteran punter Adam Podlesh on the Reserve/Did Not Report list, Brad Wing now has a golden opportunity to win the job this year during the preseason uncontested.
While Wing’s average (36.5 yards) and net average (34.5 yards) of his six punts Saturday night in the preseason opener against the New York Giants wasn’t great, I think he fared well overall when you look at each punt individually.
Here is a breakdown of all six of Wing’s punts against the Giants along with the hang times.
Punt #1 – 4.4 seconds – 4-2-NYG 35 (5:38) B.Wing punts 23 yards to NYG 12, Center-G.Warren, downed by PIT-J.Dangerfield.
While Wing only received credit for 23 yard punt on his first attempt of the night, it did land at the Giants 5-yard-line before bouncing back 7 yards before it was finally downed. Any time that you can pin the opponent inside their own 20-yard-line you have to consider the punt a success, regardless of the distance.
Punt #2 – 4.6 seconds – 4-15-PIT 49 (:42) B.Wing punts 27 yards to NYG 24, Center-G.Warren, fair catch by P.Parker.
Not a great effort at all by Wing on his second punt. While he did have decent hang time that resulted in a fair catch, he should have had better distance based on the field position. This should have wound up somewhere inside the Giants 20-yard-line.
Punt #3 – 5.2 seconds – 4-11-PIT 14 (10:48) B.Wing punts 21 yards to PIT 35, Center-G.Warren, downed by PIT-M.Spaeth.
I’m not entirely positive about the hang time on Wing’s third punt as the camera work was awful. If my hang time for this punt is right, you can see that it went straight up without any distance. It looks like it hit at the Steelers own 43-yard-line before bouncing backwards eight yards before it was downed. This was a JV punt for sure.
Punt #4 – 5.2 seconds – 4-12-PIT 34 (12:50) B.Wing punts 52 yards to NYG 14, Center-G.Warren. P.Parker to NYG 26 for 12 yards (T.Poole).
A solid effort here by Wing as he not only had a great hang time of over five seconds, but great distance as well.
Punt #5 – 5.1 seconds – 4-4-PIT 11 (7:51) B.Wing punts 46 yards to NYG 43, Center-G.Warren. C.James MUFFS catch, touched at NYG 35, RECOVERED by PIT-H.Jones at NYG 21.
Wing hit this one while standing on his own goal-line and the solid hang time allows the upback time to run right down the middle of the field to provide enough pressure to force a muff.
Punt #6 – 5.4 seconds – 4-10-PIT 33 (3:13) B.Wing punts 42 yards to NYG 25, Center-G.Warren, fair catch by P.Parker.
Wing’s last punt maybe could have been a little longer, but at least he didnt out kick his coverage thanks to his solid hang time. I consider this a field-flipper.
Throw out the JV punt and it wasn’t an awful night for Wing. He certainly has the leg, now he just needs to be more consistent. We will check back in on him after the game this coming Saturday night against the Buffalo Bills to see if the arrow is moving up or down with him.
