NFL FOOTBALL
Dallas punter McBriar enjoys the other kind of hang time
IRVING, Texas » Mat McBriar had great hang time yesterday -- as in hanging out on the sideline, watching while the Dallas Cowboys piled it on the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-10 at Texas Stadium.
The Cowboys punter, who played for Hawaii from 2000 to 2002, doesn't mind watching if that means Dallas' offense is clicking like it was yesterday. He punted just twice, in the fourth quarter after the issue had been settled. His kicks went for 39 and 43 yards, both below his 44.9 average in his second NFL season, but neither was returned.
He's got some experience at waiting around, since McBriar often had a long time between punts while at UH.
"This was the first time in my college or pro career I had to wait until the fourth quarter," he said. "I think at Nevada one year I had just one punt, but it was in the third quarter."
McBriar, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound former Australian Rules Football player, always had a powerful leg. But he had never played American football until arriving at UH. While at Hawaii he averaged 42.2 yards per punt (second on the career list to Jason Elam's 43.51), but he had little touch and allowed many touchbacks.
That's changed.
Yesterday in pregame warmups, McBriar consistently dropped punts near the goal line. Four of his 19 kicks this season have resulted in the opponents starting from behind their 20-yard line.
He credits consistency in technique for his improvement from his rookie season, when McBriar averaged 42.4 yards per punt and a 35.1 net. His net going into yesterday's game was 36.8.
"Especially my drop. I was moving the ball around so much," he said. "I have a little bit more finesse now."
McBriar is adjusting to his third snapper in his brief career, L.P. Ladoceur. He replaced rookie Jon Cano two weeks ago after Cano bounced two snaps to McBriar and botched another on a field-goal attempt.
"I never had a problem in college. I had Brian Smith, who was just magic. And then I had T.J. Moe, who was just terrific. Then I get to the pros, and I've got guys who can't snap," McBriar said. "I had a terrific guy last year, Jeff Robinson, a veteran guy who went to the Pro Bowl. He made it so I didn't have to think about things going wrong. We had a rookie who won the job in camp basically because he was cheaper than Jeff."
McBriar also had to adjust to coach Bill Parcells last year.
"The way June (Jones) used to run college games was terrific. He knows how to deal with kids. As professionals more is expected, and Bill is very hard on us."
At 3-2, the Cowboys are already halfway to their 2004 victory total.
Last year this wasn't a great place to be," McBriar said. "But we had a lot of transactions, good transactions in the offseason. We got things kind of rolling and you can kind of feel that things are different now.
"It's coming back to what it used to be."