The CFL’s revolving door for punters
“It’s just one of those things,” Ronnie Pfeffer said, “where, as long as you keep working hard, you’ll have a team, and, as long as you have the confidence and the guys have confidence in you to perform to the best of your ability, you’ll be fine.”
Sounds simple, doesn’t it, just like punting sounds like one of pro football’s more basic tasks?
Sure, but job security is hard to find, judging by the turnover for punters through 16 weeks of this Canadian Football League season.
Nineteen players have served 21 stints as punters for nine teams, and those totals could increase Saturday if the Toronto Argonauts bring in a replacement for the ineffective and injured Anthony Alix, rather than have place kicker Justin Palardy do double duty against the Calgary Stampeders.
Five clubs have used the same punters all season, “so the other four teams have been playing carousel, musical chairs …” Ottawa Redblacks special teams coach Don Yanowsky said Wednesday following his club’s practice at TD Place stadium.
Yanowsky has witnessed the churn first-hand, with the Redblacks and Argonauts tied for the league lead with six punters each.
Ottawa’s list includes Pfeffer, who will return to the active roster for Friday ’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers after watching Brett Maher at work in three contests.
Maher had followed Pfeffer, who followed Andy Wilder, who followed backup QB Thomas DeMarco, who followed Chris Milo, who replaced Alix after the latter was injured in the season’s sixth game.
After rehabbing his right hamstring, Alix passed a tryout with the Argos, but the successor to Swayze Waters, Dave Stala, Pfeffer and Michael Palardy was ineffective and re-injured Monday against the Montreal Alouettes.
Stala, a veteran receiver who has previously replaced injured kickers, launched one poor punt before the Argos switched to Justin Palardy.
Sometimes rules governing the ratio of Canadian and American players on a roster play a role. It was certainly why the Argos released Michael Palardy, even though he performed well against the Redblacks. It was also partly why the Redblacks released Maher: If he wasn’t making a difference in field position, better to give the job back to Pfeffer, a national whose 43.5-yard average was only 0.4 behind Maher’s.
“It’s a feel thing to an extent, but, for us right now, we’ve just made the decision to stick with Ronnie, and that’s what we’re doing,” general manager Marcel Desjardins said.
Just as Milo consults about place-kicking with retired CFL star Don Sweet, Pfeffer trusts in John Katsaouni, his kicking coach at Wilfrid Laurier University, and kicking specialist Ken Urquhart. He’s also worked out with Lirim Hajrullahu, the Winnipeg punter who recently yielded as placekicker to American Sergio Castillo, and they share a coach with Calgary punter Rob Maver.
Milo also counts Maver and Stampeders placekicker Rene Paredes among his circle of friends.
“We’ve always stayed in touch,” said Milo, who previously performed double duty as a Saskatchewan Roughrider. “We don’t just talk about football. We talk about other things, too. Nobody else talks to us, so we have to talk to somebody.”
A 23-year-old in his first CFL season, Pfeffer said he had learned already from his early-season tenure in Toronto and chats with Milo, 28, that quality mattered more than quantity when it came to practice. Trust in technique and your own ability, then relax.
Milo and Yanowsky both compare kicking to golf in the sense that perfecting the stroke and repeating it under pressure are keys to success.
“There are certain things you have to do to kick the ball, and different people get to them different ways,” Yanowsky said.
“If a guy is at this level and we’ve brought him in here, it’s because he has been able to perform at a pretty high level. He can kick the ball, so I don’t think you ever want to mess with a guy and change him and get inside his head. ”
The circle of CFL kickers has also included 16 athletes who have attempted field goals in 2015, with just one each for B.C., Calgary, Hamilton and Montreal. Milo has been with both Ottawa and Saskatchewan.
“We’re happy with what Chris Milo has brought to the table,” Desjardins said.
“He’s steady, he’s getting the job done.
“Could he be better? Yes, but you can still win regularly with a guy who clicks at the percentage (89.6, on 20-for-23) he’s at.”