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Green Bay Packers: Week 5 special teams recap

By Kenn Korb

Oct 26, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby (2) reacts after making a field goal against the New Orleans Saints during the first quarter of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 26, 2014; New Orleans, LA, USA; Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby (2) reacts after making a field goal against the New Orleans Saints during the first quarter of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 18, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers punter Jacob Schum (10) against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings defeated the Packers 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers punter Jacob Schum (10) against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings defeated the Packers 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports /

The Punter

Punts:

  1. 33 yards (NYG 45); Out of Bounds
  2. 42 yards (NYG 33); 6 yard return (NYG 39)
  3. 32 yards (NYG 47); Fair Catch
  4. 39 yards (NYG 34); Out of Bounds; *GB Penalty* (NYG 49)

For every bit of positivity provided by Crosby in the kicking game, Schum managed to toss out negative contributions.

Just one of the Green Bay punter’s kicks reached 40 yards, and none managed to even get within the Giants’ 33 yard line.

What’s worse is that combined with a low distances he accrued, Schum couldn’t provide much hangtime on any of those kicks either, and his directional control was subpar as well.

It isn’t like Schum was pinned deep for any of these; the Packers were on their own 21 for his furthest-back attempt.

I’ve been as adamant as anyone at waiting awhile before making a judgment on his abilities (honing in on small sample sizes rarely works out, and even now he’s only four games into his Green Bay tenure), but this is a major concern now.

Even accounting for the small sample size, you would expect that in four games there would be some glimpse of potential mixed in; so far, Schum has given us practically none.

While punters who are exceptional with both distance and direction are pretty rare, a team has to expect they can get at least one of those aspects at a decent level out of their guy.

Schum is failing at both: among his 15 total punts, he has a single kick of 50+ yards, and just two kicks that have landed within the 20-yard line.

He’s proven unable to pile up yardage and also unable to pin teams deep in their own territory. Add in his basement-level hangtimes and a peculiar predilection to shanking, and it is baffling how this guy isn’t the worst-ranked person at his position (he’s close: 31st — out of 34 — in gross punt yards average, 22nd in net punt average, and 33rd in percentage of punts downed within the 20).

The Packers tend to not give up on players quickly even if they are trending in an undesirable direction, but with Schum’s struggles they must start preparing for a potential change in case he doesn’t show improvement soon.

At worst, players they already know such as the Tim Masthay and his training camp competition Peter Mortell are out there; at this point, fans might throw a celebration if Ted Thompson were to welcome either back into the fold.

There’s still time for Schum to show us something more, but he better start doing so now or he will find himself on the cutting block in short order.

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