Milwaukee Weather
Frosted OverBy Dan O'DonnellPop quiz, hotshot: Which would travel farther, an average Derrick Frost punt or Derrick Frost as he's kicked out of Green Bay? Depending on wind conditions, I'm guessing Ted Thompson could boot him at least 35 yards on hate alone. Yet it is Thompson and special teams coordinator Mike Stock who have only themselves to blame for the Frost disaster. Last season, Jon Ryan grossed 44.4 yards per punt and was third in the league with a 42.5 net average. Sure, he only put 30% of his kicks inside the 20 yard line, but his leg strength was at worst better than average. This season, Frost's leg has looked about as strong as an average celery stalk. His gross average of 42.1 yards per punt was fifth worst in the league, while his net average of 38.2 had to make McCarthy think about going for it on 4th and 8 from his own 25 at least once this season. This, of course, begs the question--why was Ryan cut in the first place? Because Thompson believed Stock when he said Frost was the better choice? Because Stock still believed in Frost even after he couldn't beat out Durant Brooks for the starting job in Tennessee? Because Frost had naked pictures of Stock and Thompson? Consider this, from Stock's bio at Packers.com: "In his first year with Green Bay in 2006, Stock assisted in the development of punter Jon Ryan, a former Canadian Football League player who ranked seventh in the NFC in gross punting average (44.5 yards). Stock then helped Ryan change from a three-step to a two-step approach in 2007, and the results were evident, as Ryan maintained his gross average (44.4) and improved his net average by nearly two full yards (35.7 to 37.6), good for sixth and seventh in the NFC, respectively." So what the heck happened between then and August, Coach? Were you longing for the glory days of the '03 Redskins? And Ted, how did you allow this? Did you forget the '03 Redskins finished 5-11 and that Frost had a gross (in every sense of the term) average of 40.1 and a net average of 34.4 while putting just 28.6% of his punts inside the 20? When the Packers' 2008 is offically dead and buried sometime in the next three weeks, "Special Teams" might well be written on its tombstone and Frost, Stock, and Thompson might well be listed as the cause of death. |
      
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