Kicker Consideration, Week 3: Blair Walsh is a PAT machine, Jon Ryan a punt leader

Did you know that through Week 3, Jon Ryan is leading the league in punts and punt yards? Some at Field Gulls are pretty excited about this, but some are less than thrilled.

I don’t know about you, but the fact that Jon Ryan has a 47-yard lead on his nearest competitor just thrills me that we’re blessed with such dominance.

The Seahawks punted 21 times in three weeks, an average of seven punts a game; that is 324 yards per game on average. Russell Wilson has only thrown for more yards than Jon Ryan punted one game this season, during this Week 3 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Thus far this season, Ryan leads Wilson by 243 yards in this comparison.

Last week we talked about ways to measure success in punting in the comment section. There are a lot of factors that go into what makes a good punt, such as distance, times pinned within the 10, limited of return by making it hard to field, and hang time. During the Week 3 game against the Titans, I looked to measure Jon Ryan’s success as a function of how well Seattle kept Adoree’ Jackson’s punt return yards in check versus his career averages. The Seahawks punted 8 times and Jackson was in to return five of those eight times. Seattle, thanks in large part to Ryan’s 48+ yard average Sunday and a slight generous block to the back penalty, kept Jackson about 30% below his “career” (he’s a rookie) average in return yards this last game and prevented any touchdowns.

Let’s be fair to Ryan here, that TD has very little to do with him. He kicks the absolute snot out of that ball at the with his plant foot on the Seahawks 6 and Jackson catches it at the Titans 21. That ball flew through the air 73 of a possible 100 yards. That is absolutely insane. Are we sure that James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners is still “Big Maple”? Because I vote for American Ninja Warrior contestant and Seahawks kicker Jon Ryan personally. I’m just glad when Canadians are coming to Seattle, they’re bringing their best. Well, except Blue Jays fans.

Didn’t want to read all that? Here’s your summary: Jon Ryan is a punting God (only a slight exaggeration).

Blair Walsh of the Seahawks had a pretty quiet day. While he was 3/3 on PATs, he didn’t attempt a field goal. Walsh currently sits at 100% for field goals, 75% PATs, 18 total points contributed. Which luckily means Walsh no longer accounts for the majority of Seattle’s points. The Seahawks have now scored 48 total points, of which Walsh is responsible for 18 having only left one point out there on the field via a missed PAT Week 2.

NFL Kick of the Week

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve seen this kick already. Honestly, is there anything better than a walk off win? I don’t care what sport we’re watching, a score to end it is the best. Overtime sudden death hockey, walk off home run to win, or a field goal with no time remaining. Nothing beats it! And to do it against a division rival? Man that’s just amazing, these are the moments I watch sports for.

The Eagles of course made this moment even better in 2 ways. One, they gave us all access to the kick with their Spanish radio call here.

And second, Carson Wentz puts his money where his mouth is on the kick. (Wentz and Jake Elliott agreed afterwards to donate the more than $30,000 to charity.)

Congratulations to Jake Elliott, the Week 3 kick of the week winner. After this kick, field goals from beyond 60+ yards are now 10 for 43 attempts since 2010. Well deserved to the rookie!

Keep kicking it here, and Go Hawks!