Sav Rocca draws national praise

In his Monday Morning QB column, Sports illustrated's Peter King singled out a certain Aussie punter as his special teams player of the week.

Special Teams Player of the Week

Philadelphia P Sav Rocca. The stats looked modest -- five punts, 44.4-yard average -- but his net was 43.4 yards (meaning only five return yards) and he boomed a punt 75 yards in the air in the second half that pinned the Steelers; he punted from his own one and it landed at the Steeler 25, giving him credit for a 64-yard punt. His next punt was 54 yards to the Pittsburgh 6. His last was 37 yards to the Pittsburgh 7. "You don't very often talk about a punter being a weapon, but he was tonight,'' said Andy Reid.

Rocca's teammates were effusive in their praise as well

It's not something you're likely to hear again after a hard-fought NFL game, but Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown gave no hint that he was joking when he said, after the 15-6 victory over the Steelers, that punter Sav Rocca "won the game."

Brian Dawkins

"He was big time, man - big time," Brian Dawkins said. "And he had a huge punt there. Every time he did, I made sure I went up to him and gave him a hard high-five. That was to let him know that we appreciate him. That's the way it works. If one of our units is struggling, the other two pick it up. You saw that today."

Sav himself says it's all starting to click.

 

"Last year, at the start, I just thought it was kicking a ball. But as you go along, you tend to learn you're better off having the ball on the 20 instead of the 30, or that it's better to have it deep inside than a touchback. Those are things I've gotten a grip on in the last 6 months."

I guess it's easy to forget that a little over a year ago this guy knew next to nothing about American football.

Back to Peter King for a moment... He also ranked the Eagles second in his "fine fifteen"

2. Philadelphia (2-1). Two different defenses. The Eagle D had zero pass-rush in Dallas and allowed 41 points in the Monday nighter. On Sunday, the Eagles smelled blood in the water (with Ben Roethlisberger and his separated shoulder the reason), blitzed on practically every passing down and held the Steelers to six points.

Scary thought. The Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants make up his top 3. Another scary thought, NFC East teams have yet to lose a game outside of their own division.