Martin continues to be huge weapon for special teams
Sam Martin has always been a weapon for the Panthers; years of experience and game knowledge will do that for you. But the punter has kept adding to his tool bag, throwing in new directions, velocities, and looks that let special teams coordinator Tracy Smith have fun with the rest of his unit.
“We do a lot of things formationally that help him, and he adjusts to all that really well,” explained Smith on Thursday. “He handles that. There’s not a lot of punters that can handle motion in front of them or this, or he’s forced to punt this way because of the certain way we’re standing, all of those things, and Sam’s always up for stuff like that.”
Even while facing pressure (which Martin has seen twice on 10 punts through three games), the veteran has handled it well, with no blocks. And Smith’s freedom to move his coverage team around has resulted in just three of the 10 punts being returned, for 31 total yards (tied for sixth-fewest in the league through Week 3). Seven fair catches have lost yards because the opponent was forced to backpedal for a punt.
“He’s done a great job. He’s a good hang time punter. He can still hit for distance and direction. He has a few mixers, so he’s challenging to deal with,” said Smith.
The “mixers” are punts that either curve, twist, or do something other than what a normal punt is supposed to do. Martin used one against Cleveland last week, colloquially called a banana punt because of the shape it takes in the air.
The Browns returner couldn’t field it, and it rolled out of bounds at the nine-yard line. Despite a 13-play drive, Cleveland couldn’t overcome the bad field position and punted.
It was a result of Martin and Smith’s partnership: the former’s knowledge of the game and the latter’s subsequent knowledge and respect for his veteran punter.