1) Introduction: The Packers didn’t need to use Tim Masthay that much this season, but on the rare occasions he trotted onto the field, he did what he needed to do.
2) Profile:
Timothy James Masthay
Position: P
Height: 6-1
Weight: 200 lbs.
AGE: 24
3) Expectations coming into the season: Keep rolling. Masthay closed the 2010 season with a bang by punting well in the playoffs, especially against Devin Hester and the Bears in the NFC Championship.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Masthay’s net average of 38.6 yards per punt was the best net by a Packers punter in 48 years. Lowlights have to be whenever Mashtay stepped on the field because, well, that meant the Packers were punting.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: The Packers horrible defense needed all the field position help it could get. Masthay’s punts landed inside the 20 yard line almost 50 percent of the time and I can’t remember any horrible shanks.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Masthay contributed too often in the playoffs. If he remained on the sideline and didn’t contribute anything, this space would be used to preview the Packers Super Bowl matchup instead of an end-of-season report card on the team’s punter.
Season Report Card:
(B+) Level of expectations met during the season
(B) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(B) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: B
——————
Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
——————
Anybody know how punters typically progress in the league? Can we expect greater strength/hang time/distance as he grows older than 24? Or is it just a consistency thing?
How about picking up the accidental first down and the terrific job of holding!
Damn! I forgot all about the accidental 1st down. It’s amazing how regular season plays seem so long ago already……
And then I remembered, yeah, he got the first down, but he fumbled…aaaaaannnd recovered. So does that help or hurt his grade?
As far as i’ve noticed a kicker is pretty much as good as he gets by the time he gets to the nfl. The good ones are consistantly good and the bad ones are consistantly bad. We’re lucky to have mason crosby and tim masthay. Best kickers in both categories we’ve had in a very long time. Ryan Longwell, although our all time leading scorer, was not a clutch kicker at all. Crosby seems much more suited to dealing with pressure and has a stronger leg and is much more accurate. Masthay’s got lots of power and he was pretty good at pinning opposition deep not giving up too many touch back’s when he has opportunities.
Really? Only a “B” grade after all the praise & he did something not done in over 46 years? Only a “B”? WTF does he have to do for an “A”?????
I might give him an A-, actually. This is the first year in a long, long time where I didn’t just cringe every time the punter came out.
I like your “contributions in the playoffs” assessment, a one punt game would have been nice. Tim was to busy in that game.
Masthay’s job is to get the ball inside the 20 and help prevent a game changing runback by getting hang time. I think on both those key duties he was at least a B+, maybe an A.
straight A’s for Tim, about time we’ve had a solid punter…Hentrich and Bidwell were good, keep him TT
Bidwell? Good? Really?
Masthay is a keeper.
after Hentrich and Masthay yes, Bidwell was decent especially vs. the Kapinos and other punters the Packers have used over the last several years, who knows what type of ability he really had after his health issues
Bidwell actually had a very good career including pro bowl in 06 with Tampa Bay, 42.8 for 727 punts…better than his replacelemtns i dare say…im hoping Ted will keep Mastay and Crosby , he seems to not pay some vets at certain positions although Bidwell was let go during Sherman era
Masthay continues with excellent kicks, getting great coverage by Bush to down kicks inside the 10. His directional punting to sideline is an effective weapon to keep the Hester’s and Sproles’ of the league from making momentum killing returns against GB, can’t remember when Masthay muffed a punt except for the fumble that he ran for a first down, too bad he didn’t run for TD–it would be on the level of Chester Marcol’s blocked FG for TD against Bears years ago. Hope Masthay and Crosby continue excellent production next year–they are assets to STeams.