A PUNTER is rarely the key to any game, but for the Giants this week Jeff Feagles looms as large as anyone when thoughts drift to Chicago’s Soldier Field and the menacing specter of the ball coming off Feagles’ foot and landing into the waiting arms of Devin Hester.
“We’re certainly not going to kick the ball right to him, I can tell you that,” Feagles vowed yesterday to The Post. “I’m not going to come out and say what Sauerbrun did.”
That would be Todd Sauerbrun, the mouthy Broncos punter and kickoff specialist from Eastern Long Island who in the days leading up to last Sunday’s Broncos-Bears game said, “We’re not going to play chicken[bleep] ball . . . we’re not going to kick away from him.”
Hester, the second-year return sensation, admitted he heard those words and “I take it personal.” Then he took one of Sauerbrun’s punts back 75 yards for a touchdown and one of his kickoffs back 88 yards for another touchdown, providing the impetus for the Bears’ 37-34 overtime triumph.
“They probably fear him now,” Feagles said. “They just kicked it right to him, served it up on a silver platter.”
Perhaps more skillfully than anyone in the history of the NFL, Feagles is equipped to deal with Hester, but this will not be any sort of macho battle. Feagles is athletic, but in a 41-year old sort of way. He’s balding (to be kind) and humming along in his 20th NFL season. Hester, 25, has a great head of dreadlocked hair and in his second NFL season can be considered the greatest return man in league history. He already has 10 career touchdown returns (six punts, four kickoffs) and that doesn’t count last season’s 108-yard return off a missed field goal against the Giants nor his 92-yard touchdown return to ignite Super Bowl XLI.
The Bears (5-6) struggle to throw the ball with Rex Grossman, struggle to run it, and now leading rusher Cedric Benson is through for the season. Hester in 11 games has five touchdown returns and without that spark the Bears have little fire.
On the scene to douse any burning embers is Feagles.
“You know what, it puts a lot of pressure on me, but I’ve been doing it for a long time,” he said.
Feagles and kicker Lawrence Tynes are the first line of defense against Hester, a dynamo Feagles has no problem stating is “by far the best I’ve ever seen.” Unlike the powerful Sauerbrun – who basically punts the ball as high and far as he can – Feagles is one of the dying breed of directional punters, someone old enough to remember when it was called the “coffin corner.”
Every game, without fail, Tom Coughlin instructs Feagles to send the ball out of bounds, but that is not possible. The realistic goal is to punt it 40-45 yards toward the side, limiting any possible return by allowing the coverage unit to trap Hester along the sideline. To do that, Feagles explains, he has to off-set his angle, lining up behind the guard rather than the center. If he does not do that, he risks turning and kicking the ball directly into the edge rushers, increasing the chances of a blocked kick.
Last season, Hester on punts against the Giants was held in check. Of Feagles’ five punts, three went out of bounds and two were not returned. Tynes cannot simply send his kickoffs out of bounds – although that’s what the Lions did twice against Hester – and the Giants this week will work on variations of squib, pooch or “mortar” kicks to prevent Hester from taking the ball with a head of steam.
“A good returner makes the first guy miss; this guy makes the first three miss, which makes him so great,” Feagles said. “His speed from point A to point B and his acceleration, you can see it on film, it’s incredible. I have three characteristics of a good punt: hang time, distance and direction; you get those three and it’s 40 yards, if he catches it we’ll get him.”
The Giants are handling Hester – who has 14 career fumbles, so he is a risk-reward performer – with the respect he deserves.
“I think the word fear is a little bit too strong,” Feagles said. “I’m sure he doesn’t fear me.”
For one week, at least, the media crowd around Feagles might match the swarm surrounding Eli Manning.
“They’ll have to line up three-deep to get to my locker,” Feagles joked, having gone through this more than a few times before.