The worst-case punting scenario for JerryWorld

Only seven percent of the punts during Friday night's JerryWorld opener made contact with the digital board, but that's enough to make it a major issue for the league's competition committee. And it should be. Figure that only a handful of punts would hit the Jerrytron this season. What if one or two of those makes a major difference in that game? Picture this scenario: In the Dec. 13 game between the Chargers and Cowboys, a couple of teams jockeying for playoff position in their respective conferences, San Diego's Mike Scifres booms a punt in the fourth quarter with his team protecting a 20-17 lead. It looks Scifres, who is known as one of the league's elite hang-time punters, got hold of a 60-yarder that will pin the Cowboys deep ... until it clanks off that electronic monster. On the do-over, Scifres hits a regular punt by his standards (44 yards). Suddenly, the Cowboys have decent field position to start a potentially tying or winning drive. If you think ...