Tennessee Titans: How Brett Kern is defense’s best weapon
Tennessee Titans punter Brett Kern is the defense’s best weapon in 2019.
Tennessee Titans punter Brett Kern is having himself another great season, as he continuously sets opposing offenses up with bad field position.
It’s obviously no secret that Kern is a great punter. He’s been doing it for years now and has picked up right where he left off last season. The man is a legend, plain and simple.
In fact, Kern has dropped 14 of his 25 punts inside the 20-yard line this season, which leads the league. As a result, Titans opponents are starting their drives from the 23-yard line on average, and that’s the worst average starting field position in the league in 2019, per John Glennon of The Athletic.
Thanks in large part to Brett Kern's league-best 14 punts inside 20-yard lines, #Titans' opponents are starting their drives on average from their own 23-yard line, the worst field-position start in the league.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) October 3, 2019
Overall, the Titans defense has allowed just 15.5 points per game, the fourth-fewest in the NFL going into Week 4. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to score points on what is a supremely talented defense, Kern makes it that much harder.
As we saw in Week 3 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were setup from the seven-yard line on one scoring drive thanks to a fumble on a punt return by cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, even the best defenses can succumb to opposing offenses who start out with great field position.
Kern’s punts almost never allow that. Not only does he drop them inside the 20 with jaw-dropping accuracy, he also makes booming kicks from deep inside the Titans’ side of the field that quickly flip field position in Tennessee’s favor.
With numbers the likes of which Kern is putting up, it’s odd he didn’t win AFC Special Teams Player of the Month, but I guess we should be used to Titans players getting overlooked — it has become the norm.
Punters rarely ever get their due, but true Titans fans know just how important Kern is. He’s easily one of the best punters in the NFL and deserves whatever recognition he gets as one of the most consistent Titans on a weekly basis.