Veteran has provided boost for special teams
By JOSEPH WHITE AP Sports Writer
source: http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/spo/2009/11/20-15/Redskins-Smith-having-interesting-year-for-punter.html
ASHBURN, Va. - Hunter Smith is getting a lot of attention for a punter.First, his position coach claimed with a straight face during training camp that Smith might be the best holder in the history of the NFL.
Then Smith showed up at practice one day wearing strange, seamless burgundy and gold shoes, a can't-miss moment for TV cameras.
In the Washington Redskins' season opener he scored a touchdown, running 8 yards on a fake field goal.
Then he got hurt. Twice. The pulled groin in his kicking leg forced the Redskins to use three other punters over a five-game span. Smith was nearly placed on the season-ending injured reserve list.
Then came the biggest moment yet. On Sunday, during a wacky fake field goal sequence, Smith uncorked a 35-yard touchdown pass to Mike Sellers to turn the tide in a 27-17 win over Denver that snapped a four-game losing streak.
"Generally, the only time we generate news is when we don't punt well, and the news is that we've lost our job," Smith said yesterday. "If you have to sit out and cause your team that sort of roster problem with an injury, you'd like to come back and be worth your weight."
Smith was chosen as the NFC special teams player of the week. He is the first specialist in NFL history to run and pass for a touchdown in the same season.
Seems he was worth all the trouble he caused.
"It makes it difficult to put a guy down, to release a guy, to bring a guy back, to have two punters on the roster at the same time, all of that logistical thing," coach Jim Zorn said. "But the thing that we came out with was very positive results, with the punters that we used and then Hunter being able to make it back. That couldn't have been a better story."
The fake field goal looked silly watching it live, but it was a stroke of well-designed genius from special teams coach Danny Smith. Even though the Redskins had advertised the fake and even sent a man in motion, the Broncos didn't notice Sellers slip out to the left while Smith and everyone else rolled right.
Smith was recruited as a quarterback by Notre Dame and was the emergency third-string quarterback for many of his 10 years with the Indianapolis Colts, so he was able to throw a downfield spiral with no problem.
source: http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/spo/2009/11/20-15/Redskins-Smith-having-interesting-year-for-punter.html






























