Falcons remain patient with punter Matt Bosher
Falcons rookie kicker Matt Bosher is near the bottom in punting average, but first in fair catches. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
FLOWERY BRANCH — Rookie punter Matt Bosher has had a jagged start to his NFL career.
He is averaging 36.9 yards on 32 punts, which ranks him 35th in the league. He has placed 11 punts inside the 20 and has forced 15 fair catches with his hang-time. The 15 fair catches is tops in the league.
“When you look at him over the last four weeks, three of the four weeks have been pretty good,” special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong said. “He’s done a pretty good job for us. He’s done a really good job of placing the ball.”
Bosher, who’s attempting to replace Michael Koenen, who signed with Tampa Bay as a free agent, also has been inconsistent on his kickoffs.
He has 10 touchbacks on 36 kickoffs (27.8 percent), which is 29th in the league for players with more than 20 kickoffs. Denver’s Matt Prater leads the league with 26 touchbacks on 30 kickoffs (86.7 percent). Koenen has 15 touchbacks on 31 kickoffs (48.4 percent).
“Kickoff wise, we still need to work on some things in terms of corner kicking and that type of stuff,” Armstrong said. “I think, all in all, he’s making progress. That’s the biggest thing. Is he where he really wants to be, I would say, not right now. But he is making progress. He is becoming more and more consistent.”
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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65 comments Add your comment
SeenThisB4
November 3rd, 2011
7:36 pm
@SCFalcon: If you truely believe that, then it says something about your character, or lack thereof. What? You think that Saints fans should be ashamed we lost? It doesn’t work that way, so No, we’re not. Pi$$ed off perhaps, but not ashamed. But, from your comment, I would assume that you would be, and with your team, it’s understandable.
FalconJim
November 3rd, 2011
8:05 pm
SeenThisB4…..go eat some crawdads, or something man. Don’t you have better things to do, than to lurk around a team’s local newspaper, and spew your garbage? Leave…..please!!!
SeenThisB4
November 3rd, 2011
8:14 pm
@FalconJim: If I don’t show up after a loss, your brethren will call me out. And when I do, you still call me out. So, your last post, is basically meaningless. Come to think of it, if I asked you to leave, would you listen?
Tell ya what. I’ll say my last for now and ignore the inevitable follow ups from your buds but, next week, which I am looking forward to with great anticipation, I’ll pull out all the stops.
KenK
November 3rd, 2011
8:24 pm
Bosher, Baker, Jerry a overpaid Dunta.All big time mistakes by TD.. TD is making millions of dollars a year to make the right decisions. TD job should be on the line.. TD is Clueless!!
falconfan 24-7
November 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
Has there been a Hiram Saint sighting? He always seem to go into hiding when the Aints lose, but when we lose, he appears to bash our beloved Falcons. Go Figure. Hopefully the Bucs can beat them again.
falconfan 24-7
November 3rd, 2011
9:29 pm
The Aints got what they deserved after running up the score on the hapless Colts.
The Aints got beat by a winless team (Rams) with their back up quarterback.What comes around, goes around.
Ronnie D' cruz
November 3rd, 2011
9:33 pm
well …will see how you gonna react after colts whip your trashy falcons
falconneil
November 3rd, 2011
9:33 pm
Bosher was outplayed in the preseason by a wide margin, but kept the job because he was a draft pick. He is not an NFL caliber punter. Please, cut your losses now and get rid of this guy.
Ackshun
November 4th, 2011
6:56 am
Interesting D-led never wrote an article like this for Koenen. It’s a shame this guy is still on the team and Swayze Waters (who kicked excellently for Pittsburgh in preseason) is bagging groceries somewhere. TD should get us the best players available for the position without the nice guy, give the kid a chance stuff, after more than 4 decades I think we deserve it.
J-Lo
November 4th, 2011
7:59 am
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but he is a legit 11th tackler on returns.
DR. FALCON
November 4th, 2011
9:37 am
WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO BE PATIENT!! WE CHOSE NOT TO RE-SIGN ONE OF THE BEST PUNTERS IN THE LEAGUE, AND WASTED A 6TH RD. PICK ON BAOSHER!! WE ARE GETTING WHAT WE DESERVE! BOSHER IS WHAT HE IS! IT’S A SHAME THAT WE HAVE TO HOPE FOR PRODUCTION FROM THAT POSITION!
dude bro
November 4th, 2011
12:28 pm
Actually, our kickoff coverage team is so good that touchbacks aren’t even a big deal.
Bosher is getting better and right now he’s doing well enough. S’all good.
torgo
November 4th, 2011
2:49 pm
The short kickoffs are by design. Special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong wants to try to pin opponents inside the 20. Bosher is simply doing what he’s being told to do.
And did my eyes deceive me, or did I catch some wishful references to Matt Prater on kickoffs?
Flashback… Rich McKay had signed Billy Cundiff to be our kicker in 2007. At the final roster cut, Bobby Petrino released Cundiff in order to make Prater our place kicker.
In week two, he shanked two short field goals in the game against the Jaguars (with Mike Smith as defensive coordinator), and the Falcons lost by six points. Prater was immediately thrown out, and once again Morten Andersen was called out of retirement to take over the place kicking duties.
I’m happy for Prater that he has established a fine career in Denver. But it’s ironic to see anyone here wanting him back when four years ago we could hardly wait to get him out of town.
Dennis
November 5th, 2011
1:33 pm
SCFalcon wrote:
“I am real surprised an ain’ts fan would come out of the woodwork after losing to the St. Louis Lambs.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Tis further proof you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to live in that hole called ‘Nawlins.
Jordan
November 6th, 2011
9:31 am
http://isportsweb.com/2011/11/06/falcons-vs-colts-preview/