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If you're a Steeler fan, you've seen it all too often. Pittsburgh's drive stalls, the punter trots out and blips a low line drive that puts the defense in a tough spot.The Steelers have two Super Bowl trophies in the past four years, but they've managed to do it despite having some of the worst punters in the league. On Thursday night, we saw why that should change this year. When third-year pro Daniel Sepulveda (or Robo-Punter as Football Outsiders and FanHouse's Ryan Wilson have proclaimed) showed up to training camp this year, he said that his reconstructed right knee feels better than it has in years. He proved it last night.
Sepulveda was the Steelers punter for the entire 2007 season as a rookie. But he now admits that he rushed back from a 2006 ACL injury, which meant his knee wasn't ever fully healthy. He tore the same ligament again during training camp last year and missed the season while he recovered from ACL surgery. Even with a balky knee, Sepulveda's 37.9 yard net average was the best of any Steelers punter this decade.
But he should be even better this year. If he stays healthy, expect to see Pittsburgh go from having one of the worst punting games in the league to one of the best.
Sepulveda's 49.5-yard gross average and his 43.8 yard net average on Thursday were both outstanding, but what was really impressive about his 2009 debut was his hang time. He averaged 4.63 seconds of hang time on his six punts and two of his punts floated in the stratosphere for an outstanding five seconds apiece.
That's the best hang time I've recorded in four years of tracking Steelers' punters. On a 12-punt sample of Chris Gardocki's punts I timed in 2006, Gardocki averaged only 3.75 seconds per punt. The Steelers' 2008 punter, Mitch Berger, averaged 4.0 punts on 10 punts of his I timed. Of Berger's 10 punts, one hung up for longer than 4.3 seconds. Four of Sepulveda's six punts stayed up for 4.5 seconds or more.
Now he hasn't entered Mike Scifres' unreal hang time category, but Sepulveda's leg should give the Steelers a nice yard or two difference on each change of possession. That may not seem like a lot, but that difference will be pretty significant over the course of the 2009 season.
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