Saverio Rocca vs Ben Graham

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The last practice match before the NFL season kicks off sees the NY Jets take on the Philly Eagles....got this piece of info from the Eagles site -

Obviously, the punter spot is a big-time competition. Dirk Johnson starts at the punter in this game, and Sav Rocca starts as the holder. Both men have performed well in the spring and summer and the decision is going to be a tough one for the coaching staff. Who has the edge? You could argue for either player, honestly. Rocca has been so much more consistent than many expected, and Johnson has shown improvement with his distance and pooch punting.

 

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Quotes from the Special Teams Coordinator Rory Segrest -

On whether he is pleased about the way P Dirk Johnson has responded to the competition with P Sav Rocca: "It's a great situation to be in right now. We've got two punters who are very capable of punting in the NFL. Dirk, coming off of last season with Sav coming in, has tremendously improved his game. Sav is continuing to improve as well. Right now it's a great situation to be in and we're excited about both of those guys."

On whether the competition has made Johnson better: "Competition brings out the best of everybody. I think Dirk saw Sav in the offseason and the spring, and he's worked very hard in the offseason to improve his game. Again, both those guys are doing a great job at this point."

On whether the fact that Johnson is a year removed from his sports hernia surgery has helped him improve: "I think that obviously has something to do with it as well. He wasn't at 100% last year. He's come back, he's healthier now. He's been working hard, a little bit because of the competition, but also he's healthier. Again, he's doing a good job right now."

On how tough it will be to make the decision about which punter makes the team: "It's going to be very tough. Like I said, we've got two guys who are very capable of punting in the NFL right now. It's just going to come down to who is getting the job done the best at the time."

 

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Another interesting article from phillyburbs.com

Rocca making punter decision tough

By JEFF OFFORD
phillyBurbs.com

Back in Australia if Sav Rocca wanted to know where he stood with his old football team he would just walk into his coach's office and ask.

Here in Eagledom, he's learned to wait quietly and let his kicking do his talking.

Rocca is in a tight battle with Dirk Johnson to be the Eagles' opening day punter. The former Australian Rules Football star has done a better than average job of both punting and holding for kicker David Akers but is no closer to knowing his fate than he was a month ago when training camp began.

“I'd love to have a better idea because it's pretty even right now,” Rocca said. “But the coaches don't let out anything about who's got a better shot at it.

“In my game back in Australia if I wanted to know something about where I was I'd just ask, but that's something that's not done here so you just have to stick at it and make sure every punt is a good one.”

Although his long-term job status is still unclear, Rocca knows he's made the Eagles' decision as to who to keep a difficult one.

Head coach Andy Reid said that again yesterday. Although he threatened to walk out of his Friday news conference if anyone asked about his son Britt's newest legal troubles, Reid said the battle to be the Eagles' punter is, in a word, “crazy”.

“He (Rocca) has handled it well,'' Reid said. “There's a great competition going there. The whole camp we've talked about a punting competition. That's a first since I've been here. He's done a nice job, and he probably is ahead of where I thought he'd be.”

Reid, though, wouldn't go as far as to say Rocca was ahead of Johnson — in his fifth year with the Eagles — heading into Sunday night's preseason game at Pittsburgh. Or that he was behind. Neither would Eagles new special teams coach Rory Segrest yesterday.


“It's a great situation to be in right now,'' Segrest said. “We've got two punters who are very capable of punting in the NFL. Dirk, coming off of last season with Sav coming in, has tremendously improved his game. Sav is continuing to improve as well. Right now it's a great situation to be in and we're excited about both of those guys.”

Through two preseason games Rocca has punted seven times and has a 49-yard average. The 6-foot-5, 265-pounder has a 65-yarder to his credit but a few line drives as well. Returners have brought back his kicks a total of 50 yards.

On the flip side, Johnson's longest is 53 yards but returners have brought only one of his six boots back and for just eight yards. The incumbent, who is vastly more familiar holding for Akers than Rocca, has averaged a respectable 42 yards on six kicks but Rocca's ability — bred from his days in Australian football — to kick the ball end over end and have it almost always bounce backward on punts inside the 20 has been nothing short of amazing during practice.

“I think you just have to focus on what you're doing,'' said Johnson about the competition. “You have to make sure you're right and let everything else take care of itself.

"I don't make the decisions, I just have to go out and do my job.''