NY Times Article: Weatherford

Weatherford, the Jets? Versatile Punter, Is Ready to Kick, and to Run

By JOSHUA ROBINSON
Published: October 31, 2009

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. ? The green light came seconds before the snap. Mike Westhoff, the Jets? special-teams coordinator, had spotted what he needed to see in the Oakland Raiders? defense. Word spread through his team, to long snapper James Dearth, to linebacker Larry Izzo and finally to the punter, Steve Weatherford.

?And when I get the green light, the blood starts flowing,? Weatherford said.

The play had already been called off at least a dozen times this season, but on fourth-and-7, with the Jets at their own 23 at Oakland Coliseum, everything had aligned perfectly. Weatherford, a track star in college, was going to run the ball.

Dearth winged the snap into his hands and, just as he would on a routine punt, Weatherford stuck it out at arms length. He took two slow steps, put his head down and bolted straight up the field.

By the time he slid to the ground 16 yards later, the Raiders were only beginning to realize what had happened.

?When you?ve got a punter who can run like Steve, it?s easy,? Dearth said.

Not many punters can.

After all, Weatherford almost turned professional as a decathlete. In the high jump, he once hit 6 feet 10 inches. In the long jump, he hurtled 24 feet. And when he finally decided that a career in the N.F.L. might be best for him after graduating from Illinois, he was running the 40-yard dash in about 4.45 seconds. Those are numbers that would make most running backs jealous.

?To be honest, that had a lot to do with my track background and knowing the mechanics of running, rather than just being ridiculously fast,? he said after practice last week.

Until Weatherford reached high school, football had always been at the bottom of his list of priorities. Growing up in Terre Haute, Ind., he was in basketball and running country. He had also played soccer since he learned how to walk. So it took a whole family of people who spent their time kicking balls to persuade him to give football a second thought.

When Weatherford was about 14 , a graduate of his high school named Kraig Baker heard about a talented soccer player with a strong leg from his father, the soccer coach at Terre Haute North Vigo High School. And it was Baker, a place-kicker at Michigan and Jay Feely?s college roommate at the time, who first brought up the idea of trying out as a kicker to Weatherford.

At first, Weatherford dismissed it. He played sports where he was continually in the thick of the action. He scored goals, drove the lane and crossed finish lines. Kicking the ball four or five times a game and spending nights on the sideline were not for him.

But with four Bakers telling him to give it a shot, football was hard to ignore. Kraig Baker?s older brother was also involved in the soccer program at the high school, and his younger brother was a kicker for the football team. So Weatherford agreed.

?It was just the constant nudging that did it,? Kraig Baker said in a telephone interview from Chicago.

Soon, Baker was driving Weatherford to kicking camps throughout the Midwest during the summer. By his senior year, a few large colleges had started sniffing around. And even though he was an all-state selection in four sports, it was football that punched his ticket to Illinois.

?It was something I was good at, so I did it,? Weatherford said. ?I didn?t love it.?

Even after college, where he excelled in football and in track, he said he still was not sure he had made the right choice. At one time, he seriously considered a sponsorship offer from Nike to turn professional as a decathlete. But the prospect of the N.F.L. was too much to pass up, even though openings for punters are scarce because of their long careers and short job descriptions.

In 2006, he signed with the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent. After he was cut in the middle of his third year with them, he filled in briefly for an injured punter in Kansas City before competing for the starting role with the Jacksonville Jaguars last summer. He lost out at the end of camp.

?If you?re punting the ball higher, further, more consistently, it?s pretty cut and dry,? Weatherford said. ?It?s a lot easier for a head coach to say, ?That?s our punter,? than it is for him to look at two running backs and be like, ?Well, this one?s fast, but this one?s strong.? ?

He landed with the Jets in early September, and immediately, Westhoff was able to expand his playbook. Though he would not say exactly how many different plays are in it for the punter ? secrets like that are far too valuable to discuss ? he explained that having Weatherford?s speed at his disposal certainly allowed the Jets to be more aggressive.

?We use a whole bunch of different formations, and I have a fake-off from every one of those,? Westhoff said. ?Plus half the time, I?m just drawing them as we go along.?

Since he joined the Jets in 2001, Dearth said he remembered the Jets using a fake punt only about four times. But this season, they have run three, including two against the Miami Dolphins, whom they face Sunday.

On the first, Westhoff gave the go-ahead at the last possible moment, and Weatherford scrambled to the right to pick up 26 yards on the Jets? opening drive.

On the second, Westhoff had scattered clues all over the field, but the Dolphins never knew to look for them. The Jets? starting offensive line stayed on after third down and created a gap off tackle for Brad Smith to gain 12 yards.

On Sunday, the Dolphins may be a little more wary of fake punts. But if the right circumstances are present, Weatherford will know exactly what his job is.

?They just give me the ball and I run fast,? he said. ?I?m not afraid to do it.?