To understand Sam Koch’s brilliance, you need to grasp traditional punting techniques.
In American football, kicking encompasses field goals and kickoffs: the ball is propelled from the ground to score or initiate play. Punting, however, involves strategically reversing possession. A player kicks the ball from his hands, aiming to send it as far into the opponent’s territory as possible.
Traditionally, punters kicked ‘turnover’ balls—spiraling projectiles that traveled further. However, this predictable flight path made them easier to catch.
“The philosophy of punting has always been to kick the ball high, allowing your team to force a fair catch,” explains Randy Brown, kicking coach for the Baltimore Ravens.
A fair catch occurs when the receiving player elects to take possession without interference. Once caught, the ball becomes dead, effectively halting any potential yardage gain.
Koch’s Ravens faced a formidable challenge: the Pittsburgh Steelers—led by the league’s best punt returner, Antonio Brown. Determined to counter this threat, the team devised an audacious strategy involving Koch’s deliberate mis-kicks.
He would feign left or right kicks by angling his hips, but secretly slice the ball in the opposite direction, unleashing unpredictable “knuckleballs” that wobbled erratically through the air. He would also employ the ‘drop-punt,’ a technique primarily used in Aussie Rules football and rarely seen in American football. This involved punting the ball so it rotated end-over-end.
These unorthodox punts traveled shorter distances, leaving the receiver with less time to react and prepare a return.
And it worked flawlessly.
Koch punted six times to Brown that match, forcing four fair catches while the other two punts rolled out of bounds.
“We instructed Sam, ’put the ball on the ground as quickly as possible,'” reminisces Brown.
“This wasn’t some pre-season game. From a coaching standpoint, it was confidence in the player to execute this skill on the grand stage,” adds Brown.
“If you’re introducing something like this on a Sunday night with millions watching, you don’t want your player embarrassed, and as a coach, you wouldn’t want that either.”
In 2013, Koch’s net yardage stood at 38.9, placing him 22nd in the league. By 2014, it surged to 43.2—the best in the league.
“It was exhilarating,” recounts Koch. “We created something entirely unorthodox for how punting had traditionally been done.”
For Brown, it was a “eureka moment.”
