By Kyle Gunn-Taylor:
New Year’s Day will bring yet another abominable Buffalo Bills campaign to a close, but in the spirit of the holiday season, let’s relent and salute a player that has defined consistency for the red, white and blue over the last decade.
Most NFL franchises choose to build their teams around a quarterback, while others stack the defense with impact players, but the Bills have a strategy that bucks the traditional trends for building a team.
For the past 11-years the Bills have employed a mainstay, not at running back or middle linebacker, but in the phase of the game where the opposition will least expect it – special teams.
The third more obscure phase of the game is typically filled with back-ups and effort players to keep starters healthy and rested, while maintaining competitive balance at the same time.
There are a few teams in the league that save their most talented players for special teams, but the ones that do typically reserve those roles for dynamic kick returners, not punters.
Despite the insistence of many coaches that special teams hold as much importance in the game as offense and defense, the casual fan might argue that special teams is more formidably the glue that holds the major two sides of the ball together.
Regardless, it’s hard to believe that Brian Moorman has spent 11-years in a Bills uniform. Especially throughout a decade as tenuous and forbearing as the one he has had to sustain in Buffalo.
The team has missed the playoffs each year that Moorman has been the punter and despite the Bills overall disparity, the special teams captain has launched 840-punts with power, accuracy and as much consistency as anyone in the NFL.
Although he is not relied upon in a very physical aspect of the game, the fact that Moorman hasn’t missed a game in his NFL career contributes to the overall theme of consistency.
Before breaking down the logistics of how a punter can be a team’s most-valuable asset, it should be said that a healthy Fred Jackson would have been the obvious choice for MVP. But after the team’s workhorse running back went down with a broken fibula in the tenth game of the season, it opened the door for another hero.
In his 174-game career, Moorman has booted; 840-punts, averaging 4.8 per game, encompassing 36,852-total yards, with 237 of those kicks landing inside the 20-yard line, with a career long of 84 yards and a net average of 39.4 yards per punt.
Even avid football fans may have a tough time finding meaning in the stat line of a punter, but for the Buffalo Bills those numbers combined with Moorman’s intangibles and off-the-field work ethic proved to be enough to warrant a 4-year, $10-million contract that began in 2007 and expires at the end of this season.
The 35-year old from Wichita, Kansas, is certainly not a run of the mill punter. Aside from being named to the NFL All-Decade Team 2000’s, playing in two Pro Bowls and being named honorable mention in a third, Moorman was a four-time Division II All-American punter at Pittsburgh State and possesses rare athleticism for his position.
Moorman lettered in track, football and basketball at Sedgewick High School in Kansas. Moorman was a 3 time State Hurdle Champion in high school, as well as receiving All-State honors in football and basketball.
In track & field at Pittsburgh State, Moorman was a ten-time All-American including three straight NCAA Division II national championships in the 400 meter hurdles (1997-99). Moorman also still holds the Pittsburg State record in the 110 meter hurdles (13.81) and ranks second all-time in the 400m hurdles (49.77).
Moorman displays his toughness at the 2006-2007 Pro Bowl
For a player that is typically solely relied on to kick the ball, Moorman has amassed 68-yards passing, including; 2-touchdowns as well as 55-yards rushing, including; 5-first downs. Even more impressively, he has a career passer rating of 117.9 a number Ryan Fitzpatrick and his career 75.3 passer rating should envy.
Trickery aside, all of his numbers are compounded by the fact that Moorman has had to punt his entire career in one of the toughest places to kick in the NFL, Ralph Wilson Stadium. A place where the wind swirls resemble mini tornadoes makes it even more amazing Moorman places in the top-10 in punting each season.
Even more impressive than any of the on-the-field aspects to the Bills punter, Moorman has set up a charity to benefit children affected by cancer in Western New York called; the Brian Moorman P.U.N.T. Foundation.
According to the charity’s website, the foundation was set up by Moorman and his wife Amber in 2004 and it provides assistance, valuable family-centered programs and events designed to enrich children’s lives, and provide them with unique, memorable opportunities.
As the Bills move forward into 2012, they should begin to look for free agents and prospects that mirror the attributes of their dynamic punter. If the players they bring in have half of the talent and personality he brings, they will be on their way to resurrecting a struggling franchise.
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Resources
Brian Moorman’s Career statistics – ESPN
Brian Moorman’s P.U.N.T. Foundation website
Buffalo Bills website – Moorman’s Bio Page