They're steady as they kick

Adjust font size

Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
By Tom Shanahan,, Chargers.com

A third-round draft pick scored 14 of the Chargers' points in a 32-14 win Sunday over the Baltimore Ravens.

A fifth-round draft pick accounted for plays that kept the Ravens pinned on their end of the field all day.

If the above players were a quarterback and a linebacker, they would be hailed as the steals of their respective drafts. But Nate Kaeding is a kicker and Mike Scifres a punter, so sometimes their contributions are overlooked or taken for granted.

Not by Chargers head coach Norv Turner.

"We gave Nate a game ball because he did such a great job of kicking," Turner said.

And of Scifres' punting, Turner noted, "He's having as good a year as any punter I've ever been around."

Against Baltimore, Kaeding was four-for-four on field goals of 27, 46, 41 and 41 yards and booted both of his extra-point attempts. The only missed scoring opportunity was an extra-point when Scifres, whom Turner described as very reliable, mishandled the snap.

The third field goal came with just three seconds on the clock when Kaeding's kickoff following Chris Chambers' touchdown was a perfectly-placed chip shot fumbled by the Ravens' Mike Anderson and recovered by Tim Dobbins.

Scifres punted four times for an average of 48.0 yards and, more importantly, a net of 43.0. None of the punts were returned, with one fair catch, one downed, one out of bounds and one a touchback in the end zone.

Touchbacks on punts usually hurt a punter's net averaged since 20 yards are subtracted, but even Scifres' touchback added to his average. His punt, which bounced long into the end zone instead of dying with a thud as many of his high punts do, covered 70 yards for a net of 50. On the season, Scifres ranks third in the NFL in net punting average and sixth in gross average.

"Mike does a great of directional kicking," Turner said. "He gets great height on the ball, he can kick it inside the 20; he can do what you ask him to do. Nate has also done a great job of direction on kickoffs, and that bloop kickoff got us three points."

In a season when the Chargers' have been up-and-down, Kaeding and Scifres have been steady. But it's not just the Baltimore game or this season. Kaeding and Scifres have made their marks since the Chargers drafted them.

Kaeding, in his fourth season, was a Pro Bowl pick last year. Scifres, in his fifth season but fourth handling the punting duties, has put together Pro Bowl-caliber seasons. He was the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after the Oct. 28 win over the Houston Texans.

Kaeding's 3-for-3 day from 40 to 49 yards against the Ravens made him 5-for-5 for the season. Overall, he's 13-of-15 for the season with 3-of-4 from 30 to 39 and 1-of-2 from 50-plus.

Scifres' net average of 40.2 makes him one of only four punters in the league above 40 yards (one, Cleveland's Scott Player, has punted only three times). He's third in punts inside the 20 with 24 of his 52 attempts, but the two punters with more than him have both had more attempts but a wide margin.

Minnesota's Chris Kluwe has 25 out of 61 and San Francisco's Andy Lee has 27 of 74.

Kickers and punters follow a different practice routine than their teammates and aren’t always the closest to the other players in the locker room, but since coming to the Chargers this year, Turner said he likes how Kaeding and Scifres fit into the team.

"These guys are team guys that are part of the locker room," Turner said. "They're normal guys that are very professional with the work that they put in. They both have input when you ask them that are realistic answers.

"We actually changed the way we practice this year, because Nate wanted to adjust when we kick field goals and how we kick them to be more game-like. They're very unselfish guys. Mike could kick the ball 70 yards every time if he wanted, but then people would be getting returns off of us."

Have an opinion on this story? Share it on the team's official message boards.

Visit the forums

Find out what others are saying about the Chargers. Visit Daily Clips.

Already registered? Login here.