"But I think the biggest thing would just be getting used to the live rush coming at you."
Some teams even had other players as the backup punter or placekicker. On the Saints, it's second-string quarterback Luke McCown behind Morstead. For Philadelphia, wide receiver Riley Cooper backs up placekicker Cody Parkey.
"I was 70 percent in college, which is plenty enough to get you cut in the NFL," Saints punter Thomas Morstead said of his placekicking. "But I'd be a very serviceable backup, I would think, if they need me in a pinch.
So if Quigley gets called on to replace Folk during Sunday's finale,NFL Jerseys China, what's his philosophy?
Still, as a pro, Walsh has studied what the Vikings' Jeff Locke and other NFL punters do, and believes he could handle the assignment. He even spends some time on Fridays working on punting.
"Punting's very linear, and your swing is more straight up and through the ball," explained Minnesota field goal kicker Blair Walsh. "Kicking, you're coming around it a little bit more and you're worried about a plant."
"Shoot, I'd tell them to back it up and put me out there from anywhere," he said with a laugh. "Nah,nfl jerseys cheap, that's the way I think because I'd just crank it and use my leg strength. But who knows where it's going?
"There's definitely similarities you could carry over to each position to make you successful at both," Walsh said. "I've been around it long enough where I've seen a lot of good punters do the right technique, so you sort of emulate it a little bit in your mind.
"There really was no pressure there."
A brutal hit while having a punt blocked sidelined San Diego's Mike Scifres with a broken left collarbone.
"I can do it," Novak said after punts of 27, 33,Jerseys Wholesale, 45, 51, 46 and 38 yards in the loss to New England on Dec. 7. "I can't do it on Mike's level, but I feel I can certainly get the job done. The pressure's not there, because I'm sure the expectation is, just catch it and kick it and get it out. ... If you mess up, 'Well,Cheap NFL Jerseys, he doesn't punt.' If he does well, it's more of a 'Wow' kind of thing.
Nobody does both in the NFL anymore, except in a pinch.
But he points out with a sharp jab that punter Andy Lee trying Dawson's specialty "would be worse,Wholesale Jerseys."
Indeed, the rush to get to the punter is a sprint, entirely different and probably more dangerous than attempts to block field goals.
Ah, but usually there is tons of pressure on a placekicker replacing a punter in a game, and vice versa. The only similarities between the jobs are that both players make a living with their foot, and their specialties are critical to field position and scoring.
"They're so different, but I'm going to say it's probably more difficult filling in as a field goal kicker just because there's not much room for error,Wholesale Jerseys China," Jets punter Ryan Quigley said. "Punting, you've got the whole field to work with. It's like, when you're punting, you can just say, 'OK, we're going to punt it down the middle and hopefully it stays in bounds and you get a good 40 yards out of it.'"
There's the rub.
While NFL coaching staffs and personnel people try to account for all situations, an in-game injury or illness to a placekicker or punter often falls outside their preparation. San Diego was extremely fortunate that Novak was so successful; the Chargers have a similar history because Scifres did the placement work in the 2011 opener when Nick Kaeding injured his knee.
"You could use the similarities between the two, whether it's locking your foot out or having an explosive motion through it," he said, adding that "overdoing it" must be avoided.
Yet he was more than comfortable with the challenge.
He went 3 for 3 on field goals of 49, 34 and 33 yards in the 2003 opener after placekicker Joe Nedney suffered a season-ending knee injury. Hentrich hadn't made a field goal since 1995.
That's also how Novak wound up in San Diego.
Generally, though, it's a desperate spot when one of those guys goes down in a game.
"I can kick it a long ways, but whether it goes between the sticks, you know. ..."
Punters and placekickers find good reasons not to practice the other guy's art. San Francisco's Phil Dawson, now in his 16th season making field goals and extra points, works on punting occasionally. He notes "the more I do it, the worse I get."
Perhaps th
