Broncos punter rightfully wins honor for Week 3 game

Denver Broncos punter Corliss Waitman is just getting his feet wet in the Mile High City, but he’s on the right track.

Corliss Waitman was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in the team’s win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. It’s not often that a punter is a key reason that a team wins a game but as many times as Waitman was called upon in Week 3, that is certainly the case.

Waitman punted the ball 10 times against San Francisco and six of those were downed inside the 20-yard line. One of his punts in the third quarter was stopped down at the 2-yard line, a play that led to a Broncos safety moments later and that was the turning point in the game.

The six punts downed inside the 20 were the best by any punter this season. He averaged 47.6 yards per kick and became the first player from South Alabama ever to win a Player of the Week Award.

Going back into Broncos history, Waitman became the first punter to win the award for the team since Todd Sauerbrun back in Week 6 of the 2005 season.

Waitman joined the Broncos this past offseason after being claimed off waivers. It was thought that he would just be brought in as a camp leg but it soon became a reality that he could win the job and the Broncos could save some money but cutting Sam Martin, which is exactly what happened.

Getting back to one of my original points, Waitman was a key to victory in this game because of the way the Broncos were able to win the battle of field position. The placement of his punts was huge and the Broncos likely don’t win this game without them.

That is why head coach Nathaniel Hackett presented Waitman with a game ball following the victory.