RIP Ray Guy

Or the fog rolled in, the wind picked up and it got colder than anywhere other than Candlestick.

 

I remember Roby for wearing a wristwatch.

 

I always liked the Cowboys' Mike "Too Tan" Saxon.

 

As bad as the Lions suck they’ve had a lot of great punters
Yale Lary was the best I ever saw, but you also have Herman “Thunderfoot” Weaver, Tom Skladany, Jim Arnold and the current punter, Jack Fox

 

100%. But an awful lot of people seemed to see the same things then and have similar memories now in this case.

 

I grew up a Raiders fan as a kid. Ray Guy was their punter when I was age 6 through age 19. So, I get the adoration of Ray Guy. He was like a folk hero. I loved Ray Guy.

You still kind of have to acknowledge that he ranks 83rd all-time in yards per punt... and his net yards per punt is flat out poor.

I will buy "you had to be there" arguments for guys like Barry Sanders, whose brilliance is not in any way reflected in his statistics. But a punter? Those two stats tell you what you need to know about a punter. He was very good for his era, but probably overrated at that. Historically he's not in the conversation.

 

Yes

 

Awesome post just because of the names. Heck, I still have Herman Weaver football cards. Herman Weaver … as a kid, I was just fascinated with the dude’s name.

 

Ah, yes, good old comparing eras. Some of Mark Spitz's times in the 1972 Olympics would not have won last year. In the women's races. I guess he wasn't any good.

Comparing things done by people now to those 40-50 years ago is ludicrous. The vast majority of those ranked ahead of Guy did most of their punting since 2000. Think anything changed much since 1980, maybe in terms of training, nutrition, the science of the art, etc.? Even the ball they kick changed. Much like in swimming, football skills were different animals then because so many changes, almost all for the better and improvement of the craft, over time.

Of those ahead of Guy, the top 30 played since 2000. Sammy Baugh is the exception and he kicked in the fat ball era and probably took the snap from 5 yards closer than most guys on the list. Comparing Guy to his contemporaries, the next guy on the rankings is Tom Skledany at No. 95. After that it's Pat McNally at 106. Guy's numbers didn't hold up well over his last five seasons, probably because of conditioning and all the other stuff that allows guys to be better longer. Prior to that he averaged more than 43 yards, equal to Reggie Roby and far better than anyone from his era.

At his peak, Guy was a game-changer unlike few have been. Could he, at his best, kick as well as anyone playing today? Nope. He couldn't. I'll readily acknowledge that. As long as you kind of acknowledge that comparisons over eras this far apart is silliness.

 

If you compare Ray Guy's yards per punt to strictly those who played up until his retirement he ranks 13th.

His net yards per punt were average even when he was active.

 

“The best punter is the one who kicks the ball a long way. Nothing else matters,” experts said.

 

My main memory of Saxon was a brief article somewhere where one of his training methods was trying to kick around a racquetball on a racquetball court.