There are just four teams left in the NFL Playoffs — and one of them was not supposed to be there. The Tennessee Titans were the biggest underdogs coming into the postseason and remain so despite beating two of the league’s best teams.
They’ve made it this far behind a red-hot running back, Derrick Henry, but also thanks in part to a player who hasn’t scored a single point.
The Titans’ Brett Kern knows most people don’t really get excited when the punter takes the field. He jokes that his job is to let fans know when it’s OK to get up and go to the fridge.
But it is impressive when his foot connects with the ball.
https://twitter.com/brettkern6/status/1150582999731310592?s=20
And one of Kern’s more recent kicks essentially sealed a huge win against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
📽 Un punt PARFAIT de Brett Kern pour repousser les Patriots sur la ligne de 1 Yard à 15 secondes de la fin du match ! #Titans pic.twitter.com/pFV8xKZiGB
— NFL France (@NFLFrance) January 5, 2020
Kern says that was “pretty close to getting a game-winning field goal, without scoring any points.”
But it wasn’t just one big kick in the playoffs. Kern has been big for the team all season.
Usually, a busy year for the punter is not good news for a team. If you’re punting a lot, it means you’re not scoring very much.
And when you go looking for punting stats on the NFL’s website, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom. But sometimes you find a surprise.
We asked Kern if he knew that he has more total yards in the playoffs than Derrick Henry’s rushing yards and quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s passing yards combined.
Kern just laughed. He jokes that he’s trying to keep up with Henry. He also guessed that he had punted for 8 or 9 miles of distance over his career.
But after some quick cellphone math, he figured out his kicks have actually travelled more than 23 miles.
This season he’s added a lot to the odometer, earning nearly every punting honor there, is including the highest grade from data company Pro Football Focus.
Punters are people too, but Brett Kern might not be human pic.twitter.com/obldeoejls
— PFF (@PFF) December 28, 2019
PFF’s Gordon McGuiness, who has followed special teams for years, says Kern is “at the top” in terms of their grades and “a country mile ahead of any other punter in the NFL this year.”
McGuiness says when it comes to Kern’s impact, it’s a simple formula. Booming punts force the opponent to go more yards and that often equals costly mistakes, such as the ones made last week by Lamar Jackson, the league’s likely MVP.
That’s what Kern hopes his foot will do again on Sunday when the Titans take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
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