ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw has consistently blasted rockets in practice. In six punts during preseason games, those missiles failed to launch; just once did he deliver the type of punt that became routine in training camp.
But it’s not just the crowds and spotlight that are different at game time; it’s the structure of punting situations. Punt periods in practice see teams typically run six to 10 punts in succession. In games, of course, you get one opportunity.
And that led to practice Thursday at Broncos Park Powered By CommonSpirit looking a bit different. In the midst of team periods, the session halted. The punt-protection and punt-return teams dashed onto the field. And Crawshaw fired away.
The idea? Replicate how punts will look in games.
“It was a great idea by Rizz,” said Broncos coach Sean Payton, referring to his assistant head coach and special-teams coordinator, Darren Rizzi.
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BRONCOS KNOW THEY NEED MORE FROM CRAWSHAW
This practice protocol was a first step, they believe.
“We get into these periods and then we go punt, and we — and we’re gonna have a punt period, right? But in the game, it’s punt, you’re out there, one punt, and so, you’re on hole 17, it’s a par-five, you’re on the tee,” Payton said.
“And just creating those situations, I think, benefits the young punter, because that’s kind of the game. If you said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna go out there, we’re punting, and everyone chill out for a second while he hits three, and then he’s gona punt,’ that’s not very realistic.”
Thursday’s work was encouraging.
“So, I thought he handled it well,” Payton said. “I thought it went well, and we’ll continue to do that.”
That being said, few rookie punters enter the league like Seattle’s Michael Dickson, another Australian like Crawshaw who was a draft pick seven years ago. He earned All-Pro honors in his first season and has ranked in the top six in net average five times in seven NFL seasons.
ROOKIE PUNTERS SOMETIMES HAVE DIFFICULT TRANSITION
Payton knows from experience that it can take some time for a rookie punter to get things down pat.
The punter he had for 11 of his 15 seasons in New Orleans, Thomas Morstead, experienced this in 2009 after the Saints drafted him in the fifth round that year. Morstead finished 30th of 34 eligible punters in gross average, with a 36.0-yard figure that remains a career-low.
But he improved from there. In his second season, he ranked 11th in the NFL in net average; in his third season, he was second — the first of nine consecutive seasons for Morstead in the NFL’s top 10 in net average.
That’s the sort of arc Payton hopes to see from Crawshaw.
Earlier this month, Payton spoke of a conversation he had with Morstead — now with the San Francisco 49ers — during the Broncos’ visit to Santa Clara, Calif. for a joint practice and a preseason game Aug. 7-9.
“[Morstead] he came up to me afterwards and just went on about having a chance to meet our guy (Crawshaw) and then watch his flexibility. He just said — and Thomas has done this long enough — he said, ‘Man, you really got a good one,'” Payton said on Aug. 12.
“So, it’s working through some of those things that we do with rookies. You guys see it, and him getting used to the game situations. He has a bright future.”
Payton hopes his unusual practice structure will help Crawshaw get adjusted just a little bit faster. A team that still has some questions and may need to win games at the margins can’t afford an ill-timed shank.
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