by JJ Cooper
If Paul Ernster ever punts in the NFL again, it will be because he's managed to make every last copy of his disastrous game against the Bengals disappear (and it's not happening Paul, as I have socked away a copy you can't have).
But thankfully, the Steelers have fixed one of their worst decisions of the year by cutting the worst punter the team has employed in decades. Pittsburgh re-signed Mitch Berger, who had punted for the first nine games of the season before the Steelers decided his pulled hamstring was limiting him too much.
Punting with a pulled left hamstring, Berger averaged 36.3 yards per punt against the Redskins. That was five yards off of his season average, which was enough to convince the Steelers that they had to make a change. All that was good and logical, but by picking Ernster, they found the one punter who couldn't outkick a one-legged man. Ernster averaged only 31.3 in his three games. In 12 punts, he never booted one longer than 43 yards, and his finale against the Bengals set new standards for awful. Five punts, none longer than 34 yards and an average of 28.4 yards per punt. It's safe to say that your average college punter can do better.
There's no word whether Berger is fully recovered from his hamstring injury, but even if he's not, he's proven he'll be a better choice than Ernster.
Steelers Decide Berger's One Good Leg Is Better Than Ernster originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:31:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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