I’ve never understood the anamosity towards Kluwe. I think he’s a great punter and I’m glad to have him on our team.

There were times when he needed to get more air under his kicks, but then our guys sure forgot how to tackle too. We did not have good enough personnel on the special team squad, kicking or receiving. I swear, our guys could not shed blocks when covering kicks and then would turn around and get shredded when blocking.

If Kluwe reins in his distance to get more hang-time, his punt range average will drop, and it’s not exactly that long as it is. He’s given up a more return yardage than any other punter in the NFL, 3x as many as the better punters. At a ranking of 12, there’s 11 teams with better punters than the Vikings, which doesn’t mean he’s a bad punter… but there’s a lot of room for improvement. But ‘great’ is too generous.

I’d like for him to get better during the off-season. Improve his control, his accuracy, and above all, his hang-time. But he’s no where remotely good enough to be given a free pass with the assumption that he’s so great that there’s no way the Vikes couldn’t find better.

I totally agree with your post. The Vikings just signed him to a huge contract (for a punter) last year because he holds many team records (surprising, but check if you dont believe me) and they love how far he can consistently punt. Can’t blame the guy for doing what he’s told. You’re going to have a hard time finding a better punter and we have WAY bigger fish to fry this offseason to even bother.

punters are not easy to come by. we have not had a Punter who avgs in the 40’s since Mitch burger left for more money in 2001. in fact, of active Punters, Kluwe is 5 among active punters in yrds/punt. He has never had a Punt blocked, not in four years and over 300 attempts. if you want to know why our punt coverage was so bad, look no further then the coverage team. our coverage was absolutely awful, and it had little to do with out kicking the coverage.

It did not help that we where lacking 2 of our best special teams players in Heath Farwell and Micheal Boulware before the season even started. the real problem seemed to do more with bad coaching then with Kluwe.

If those two return healthy next year, our coverage should improve drematicaly, and while mediocre kickers may be dime a dozen, truely good ones are much harder to find.

Is that he’s too concerned with Viking records. He can punt it far, yes, and that’s usually a good thing. The trade-off for distance is hangtime. If the punt returner has to drop back ten extra yards, but gets two to three more seconds to find a lane, and the blockers get two to three more seconds to find someone to block, that creates problems.

Kluwe has said, somewhere or another (it was awhile ago) that he’s mainly concerned about distance and records. If he’d just take his distance in a bit and put a little bit more air under the ball, I think he’d be better off.

I’m not upset we have him; he just needs a little self control.

The coverage team was pretty terrible as well, so there’s that. A combination of Kluwe holding back a bit and the coverage team not being terrible should result in an average-at-worst coverage team next year.

First, I cannot believe how many people forget that this kid can put a ball within the 5 yard line 8 times out of 10 if it is within his distance.

Second, I cannot believe that people forget what a horrible coach Brad Childress is.

Third, I cannot believe that people forget we lost not just 1 great special teamer in Farwell, but a few more as well.

I remember people half-joking 2 years ago that Kluwe was our MVP. I say half-joking because he had an amazing year as a punter. I still miss Mitch Berger, but I am sure Kluwe enjoys a snickers bar once in a while.

He was not the reason our special teams was terrible. His punting was not the cause of poor strategy and poor tackling.