All six Cincinnati Bengals rookies who were active against the Cleveland Browns got into Sunday’s 24-3 loss, but the one attracting the most scrutiny was sixth-round punter Brad Robbins.
Bengals Punter Brad Robbins
An Ohio native and Midwest weather battle-tested graduate of the University of Michigan, Robbins said he wasn’t going to blame the rain on his shaky debut that saw him average just 40.9 yards on his 10 punts with a net of 37.4.
“I’m not a guy to make excuses,” Robbins said. “In all facets, I need to be better, which I should be. You expect to be better in those kind of games, especially playing a vital role in those field position battles.”
“We’re in the frickin’ AFC North, so I’m not going to say anything about the conditions because this is what I signed up for and the division I want to be in,” he added. “I’ve played in plenty of conditions in college in six years, so it’s time to call on that and be productive in that environment.”
There were three especially poor punts against the Browns that stood out.
The first came early in the second quarter after the Browns had taken a 3-0 lead, and the Bengals went three-and-out. Punting from the Cincinnati 19, Robbins sent the ball out of bounds for a short 37-yard punt.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, with the Bengals trailing 13-3, Robbins was punting from the Cincinnati 42 and shanked the ball out of bounds again, this time for just 22 yards.
“As I was dropping it, it slipped out of my hand,” he said of the 22-yarder. “The other was just a mishandle low. I was just trying to get it off. I felt the guy coming from left to right. He wrapped through the middle. It was either punt it straight into him and get it blocked or getting it as far as I can right. Feeling that pressure there, I was just trying to maximize on what we could do. But yeah, they were mishits. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
The one that really got to him, and the one head coach Zac Taylor called out in his postgame news conference, came midway through the second quarter. Taylor opted to punt on 4th-and-3 at the Cleveland 38. Trailing 3-0 and repeatedly backed up to start each drive, Taylor was trying to flip the field position.
But instead of Robbins pinning the Browns deep in their end, he put the ball in the end zone for a touchback and an 18-yard net.
“It’s an embarrassing play,” Robbins said. “That was more of an accuracy thing. If you go back and watch the play, our gunner on that play was expecting that ball to be right. As I hit the ball, it kind of drew back into the middle. I would’ve liked it to be more outside the hash, more on the numbers. It would’ve been right to our gunner on that side. That’s something you’ve really got to capitalize on. It’s all about field position and being able to win those battles.”
Robbins led the NCAA in hang time each of his last two seasons at Michigan while averaging 42.3 yards per attempt last year and 46.3 in 2021, leading the Bengals to draft him to usher in a new era for special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons.
After Kevin Huber handled the punting duties from 2009 through the first half of 2022 and set the franchise record for career games played at 216, the Bengals have used three punters in their last nine games.
Huber’s final game was Week 9 last year against Carolina. After the bye week, Drue Chrisman took over but struggled with directional punting and hang time.
That’s why the Bengals drafted Robbins in the sixth round, to set up a training camp battle with Chrisman. But Chrisman missed several weeks in camp after a medical scare left him hospitalized on the first day of camp, and Robbins clearly won the job.
Rookie punter Brad Robbins had five punts last night for a 44.8-yard average with a long of 65. His net average was 39.0.
After the game, Zac Taylor said he expects punter Drue Chrisman to begin practicing this week after a medical issue derailed his first 3 weeks of camp.
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) August 12, 2023
He’s not in danger of losing it after one bad game, especially given the conditions.
One of the reasons he refuses to blame the weather is that he has been practicing for those conditions once a week. Robbins said Simmons will use a spray bottle to douse him and the ball.
“I feel like we do a good job preparing for it,” he said.
Robbins’ 10 punts Sunday were one shy of the franchise record of 11 set by Huber, Lee Johnson, and Kyle Larson twice.
MORE: Bengals’ Big Advantage on the AFC North Heading Into Week 2
“That’s one of the positives I take away,” Robbins said. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, you didn’t perform the greatest all the time, but you got plenty of reps in a real NFL game against a divisional opponent in really crappy weather.’
“So how can that carry forward because you’re gonna play in really bad weather again? That wasn’t even the worst of it. So just taking that experience and being able to move forward from that and be really excited about capitalizing on the next opportunity.
“Flush this one and move on.”
Listen to the PFN Bengals Podcast
Listen to the PFN Bengals Podcast! Click the embedded player below to listen, or you can find the PFN Bengals Podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and all major podcast platforms. Be sure to subscribe and leave us a five-star review! Rather watch instead? Check out the PFN Bengals Podcast on our NFL YouTube channel.