Sepulveda's kickoffs a hit.

[zulater]

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Sepulvedas-kickoffs-a-hit/d0e65199-8b07-4cde-abce-5c967cafcfd0

But during a Friday night practice at Latrobe Stadium, a case can be made that the player who put the biggest bounce in Coach Mike Tomlin’s step was Daniel Sepulveda. Yes, the team’s punter.

For the most part, the work getting done was fairly typical of a Steelers practice. There were competitive individual periods, highlighted by backs-on-backers, but what really seemed to get Tomlin’s juices flowing was a special teams drill.

Sepulveda got a chance to kick off, and he showed himself to be quite accomplished at it. On four kickoffs, Sepulveda’s hang-times were 4.07, 3.93, 3.87 and 3.70. The 4.07 kick also carried 2 yards deep in the end zone, and earlier in the evening, one of his mis-hits went 8 yards deep in the end zone.

“I liked it,” said Tomlin. “Daniel Sepulveda might provide us with a legitimate options there. I liked his placement of the ball, I liked his hang time. He’s worked a lot at it. He didn’t have any exposure in that area prior to getting here. That just speaks to what he is – he’s always willing to do whatever for us.”

Sepulveda has done some kickoff work in each of his training camps with the Steelers, but now with his experience and the fact there is only one kicker and one punter in camp, he got a chance to do it in a live drill. And the way he performed in that live drill should ensure even more opportunities.


:yay3:

[Chidi29]

I say go for it. If he's a better option, there's no reason not to have him be the specialist.

[The Duke]

I've been hoping since his rookie season he could do the kickoffs

Seems like he may finally get the job :thumbsup:

That's a 1/4 reduction of reed's new contract right there :chuckle:

[wootawnee]

Heck yea do it.....Dah........He plays like a linebacker......No more wimpy Jeff Reed tackles on J Cribbs.......:applaudit::applaudit:

[CanadianSteel]

Dan the man - bring it on if he can get is deeper and higher than Reed.... can only help the kick coverage which will hopefully improve drastically this year !

[kmsteelerwr15]

Put him in. Plus if he needs to knock someone out he can do that too

[tihmtahm]

Heck yea do it.....Dah........He plays like a linebacker......No more wimpy Jeff Reed tackles on J Cribbs.......:applaudit::applaudit:

Damn skippy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhCgLeuO0I

[GBMelBlount]

First and foremost, if Sepulveda simply gets out of the bottom quarter in punter stats I'll be happy....AND if he can perform better than Reed on kickoffs, which really is not saying that much, I'd be ecstatic.

Plus, Skippy is just plain nuts. :der:

[Galax Steeler]

Sounds good to me I say lets give it a shot and see what happens.It would be better then giving it to the opponents at the 25 and 30 yard line everytime.

[fansince'76]

Heck yea do it.....Dah........He plays like a linebacker......No more wimpy Jeff Reed tackles on J Cribbs.......:applaudit::applaudit:

Well, hopefully our coverage team actually starts doing their job correctly. When you have to rely on your kicker to make a TD-saving tackle time and time again, it's not a real good reflection on your coverage team.

[solardave]

Heck yea do it.....Dah........He plays like a linebacker......No more wimpy Jeff Reed tackles on J Cribbs.......:applaudit::applaudit:

Hopefully if he sticks it in the endzone our coverage gets there in time to stop Cribbs (or anyone else) short of the 20 but it is nice to know the kicker will make a valiant effort to tackle his butt.

[Burghfan58]

Welcome news indeed!! That will give Skippy a little more time to figure out where to spend his 2.8 mil.

[HometownGal]

Well, hopefully our coverage team actually starts doing their job correctly. When you have to rely on your kicker to make a TD-saving tackle time and time again, it's not a real good reflection on your coverage team.

:applaudit: :thumbsup: :applaudit:

Exactamundo.

My only concern here is that he runs an increased risk of being injured and that would NOT be a good thing.

If the coaches feel he is a better option on KO's, then I'm all for it (other than my concern above), but as far as kicking clutch FG's, there isn't a PK in the league I'd rather have on this team than Skippy.

[Kaeg]

Damn skippy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhCgLeuO0I

I remember watching this shortly after we drafted him. I was really looking forward to that kind of stuff.:tt02: I suppose you shouldn't want your punterkicker to have to make those tackles, but it's nice knowing that it's there if needed.

[stillers4me]

Dan was booming them last night.

[ALLD]

Damn skippy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhCgLeuO0I

The hit looked like Ryan Clark Jr.

[Devilsdancefloor]

So he isnt just a pretty face... hmmm let him kick off!!! let him punt ! hell check and see if he can kick FG too! :) if reed wants 3 million and we have a guy that can do what reed does then give him a raise and send skippy skipping...

[SteelerSal]

Dan was booming them last night.

Punts or kick-offs?

I hope it carries over into the regular season.

[Nadroj 20]

YES a guy that kicks off that can do the FULL job if needed!!! If he gets in a situation where a tackle needs made he will be able to do a hell of alot better then skippy. Part of being the kick off guy is being the "safety" of the coverage team and as bad as it would look on the coverage team for Daniel to have to make a tackle, it feels better knowing he CAN do it.

[SteelerFanInStl]

Good to hear it. Skippy sucks on kickoffs.

[hotrodder07]

This is perfect if he can truly do this. Not only could we see a difference in average starting position for the opposition, but if he is ever needed to make a tackle, he can do it. Now, let's hope he's not ever needed for it, but if he is, we can be sure he'll make a better effort than Jeff.

[Nadroj 20]

Well, hopefully our coverage team actually starts doing their job correctly. When you have to rely on your kicker to make a TD-saving tackle time and time again, it's not a real good reflection on your coverage team.

True, but it is nice knowing he can do the full job and stop someone if its needed.

[zulater]

http://www.postgameheroes.com/?p=9740

Just about all of us want Jeff Reed to be replaced on kickoffs. Reed’s struggles have been well documented on this site and hearing that Sepulveda put up a solid showing under the lights on Friday night makes us smile. Allow us to jump to conclusions using the smallest sample size you’ve ever seen:

Daniel Sepulveda kicked off 4 times last night. His hangtimes were 4.07, 3.93, 3.87, and 3.70. One of his kicks went 2 yards deep into the endzone and another went 8 yards deep into the endzone. We didn’t get word how far the other 2 kicks traveled but if you assume those 2 kicks went the league average (65 yards) Sepulveda’s 4 kick average would put him among the top 5 kickers in the league in terms of average kickoff distance. I know, I know…the sample size is incredibly small but Reed is the worst kickoff guy in the NFL. If Sepulveda can provide the team with ANY kind of improvement then he needs to be “the guy”.

We’ll follow his kicks this preseason and project season-long totals/rankings for him. We ran a similar test for Stefan Logan during last preseason and actually came very close to nailing his regular season output.

[Wheelz]

Sepulveda made the difference between me absolutely dreading every punt to actually looking forward to seeing how badly we could screw the other team. I've found myself writing off every kickoff to the 5 yard line as a necessary burden for a money field goal kicker. I LOVE the idea of Danny kicking off always. Even if he only got a touchback once every 10 tries, it would be better than Reed by a long shot.

[steelpride12]

I think that is an excellent idea and hey it's worth a shot. I mean if he can kick that ball into the endzone or on average the 5 or under yard line and our ST's improves the defense will have a huge sigh of relief with the field position which can wins you games.

[SteelGhost]

I'm all for it, let DSep kickoff, I wonder why they didn't let him do it last season :noidea:

Now Reed has to think over about his contract :chuckle: