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Josh out for rest of season

December 20, 2002 by Still Mill

Josh out for Season

Josh out for Season

 

In what amounts to a huge break for the Stillers, Josh Miller has been placed on IR and is done for the season.Josh has some sort of shoulder malady that apparently prevents him from punting the ball with his foot.

 

No ill will to Josh and his health, of course.We wish him a speedy recovery, so that he might be able to move on to his life�s work in a painless, enjoyable manner.But the bigger picture for this football team is this: with the signing of former Bronco and Giant punter Tom Rouen, the Stillers have a chance to significantly upgrade their punting spot at an exorbitantly reduced hit on their salary cap.Like the rib injury that allowed the Stillers to replace the woeful Todd Peterson -- who kicked like a drunken Norm Peterson -- this shoulder injury allows the Stillers to employ a far better all-around punter at a fraction of the salary cap cost.

 

Fact is, Josh Miller has, for far too long, been far too over-rated, and is eating far too much of the scarce salary cap.With Rouen, Stiller fans -- and hopefully management -- will realize that Josh Miller is not the do all and end all of NFL punting.Contrary to popular belief, Josh Miller is not the God of Punting.Josh Miller is not in the same category, not by a long shot, as Ray Guy.

 

Miller is what he is:a mediocre punter whom the fans felt sorry for when he sucked ass on national TV in J-ville back in �97.While Miller has improved from those barfy days, he isn�t close to being an elite punter, nor is he even remotely worth what the Stillers pay him per annum.Josh, supposedly the God of Punting, is currently ranked 8th in the AFC in punting.Josh routinely takes forever -- and then some -- to get his punts off, oftentimes taking the opportunity to study the authenticity of Paul Tagliabue�s signature on the side of the football.This overt lack of haste and �pocket presence� by Josh has significantly factored in to the plethora of blocked punts the past couple of seasons.Josh is supposedly the God of �directional punting�, but in last year�s AFC title game, Josh punted a boot of average length right down the exact middle of the field, and Troy Brown fielded it and ran in for a huge touchdown.Josh and his pathetic head coach, Billy Cowher, both whined that Josh had to kick the ball from a different hash.This, of course, was a feeble, pathetic excuse, because, as we all know, the hashes are only 5.5 yards from the middle.It wasn�t like Josh moved from one sideline, and went 52 yards over to the other sideline.�� A measly 16-some feet, and Josh -- supposedly God�s gift to �directional punting� -- couldn�t come close to getting the job done.This season, Josh has been as mediocre as they come.Rarely has he pinned teams deep inside their own 5, and more often than not, he�s out kicked his coverage with horribly shabby hang time.

 

Rouen has had a stellar NFL career -- far better, in fact, than Schlosh Miller.In fact, when I met with Chiefs� GM Carl Peterson in-person back in early November, he was surprised, as was I, that Rouen was let go by the Giants.

 

Summing it all up, the Stillers get a classic win-win and a classic �addition by subtraction�.Signed from the ranks of the nation�s unemployed, Rouen has no leverage, and will get a small-dollar deal with a paltry bonus.If Rouen boots well down the stretch and in the playoffs, we could be looking at not only an improvement in our punting, but also a tremendous savings in our salary cap�savings that would help enable us to sign, say, a quality 3rd corner, or a backup QB, or a starting RB, etc.

Assuming all goes well on his physical today, Rouen will be booting punts for the Stillers on Monday evening down in Tampa.Welcome aboard, Tom !!

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