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Mike Scifres

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Mike Scifres
refer to caption
Scifres with the San Diego Chargers in 2008
No. 5
Position:Punter
Personal information
Born: (1980-10-08) October 8, 1980 (age 44)
Metairie, Louisiana, U.S.
Height:6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight:215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school:Destrehan (Destrehan, Louisiana)
College:Western Illinois
NFL draft:2003 / round: 5 / pick: 149
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Punts:756
Punting yards:34,152
Punting yard average:45.2
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Michael T. Scifres (born October 8, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League (NFL). He played the majority of his career with the San Diego Chargers and is included on the Chargers 50th Anniversary Team.

Early life

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Scifres attended Destrehan High School in Destrehan, Louisiana and lettered in football, soccer, and baseball. In football, he was an All-District selection.[1] He was a teammate of former NFL player and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Ed Reed, for two seasons.[citation needed] Scifres graduated from Destrehan High School in 1998.[citation needed]

College career

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While playing for Western Illinois, Scifres was the only punter from NCAA Div 1-AA (now called the Football Championship Division) to become a 2002 finalist of the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's top punter.[2] He set a school and conference record with an 89-yard punt against Southwest Missouri State in 2000. Scifres also kicked a game-winning 56-yard field goal in his first career attempt in 1999. Two-time First-team All-American selection by Football Gazette, Three-time All-conference selection, Seven-time National player of the week, and Five-time Conference player of the week. His college nickname was Scabies. He graduated from Western Illinois University with a degree in Communications & Broadcasting.[1]

Professional career

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Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Arm length Hand span
6 ft 2+1⁄2 in
(1.89 m) 		236 lb
(107 kg) 		30 in
(0.76 m) 		9+1⁄4 in
(0.23 m)
All values from NFL Combine[3]

San Diego Chargers

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Scifres with the Chargers in Jan. 2016

Scifres was selected with the 14th pick of the fifth round of the 2003 NFL draft out of Western Illinois University.[4]

In the Chargers' 2009 Wild Card Playoff versus the Colts, Scifres kicked a 67-yard punt and averaged 51.7 yards with six punts. Also, all his punts during the game were inside the Colts' 20-yard line, with 4 inside their 10-yard line.[5] Perhaps Scifres's best punt of the game was the last, a 52-yard kick launched from the San Diego 47 yard line that bounced out of bounds at the Colts' 1, pinning Indianapolis deep and allowing the Chargers' defense to force the Colts to punt the ball away from the back of their own end zone. Scifres said after the game, "I don't know if you can dream a game like this."[6] Scifres also made some clutch punts near the end of the 2007 Chargers' AFC Divisional Playoff Game that pinned the Colts back deep in their own territory and ultimately helped thwart the Colts' QB Peyton Manning's come back attempts. In week 11 against the Denver Broncos Scifres completed his first NFL completion to Mike Tolbert for 28 yards.[7]

Scifres boomed his way into the Chargers’ record books in 2012. Already the team’s record-holder for career punting average (45.3), Scifres was voted the team’s Special Teams Player of the Year last season after setting a new team record with an average of 48.3 yards per punt, a mark that shattered the previous high of 46.7, which he set back in 2010. And thanks to the Chargers’ outstanding coverage units, Scifres posted a 40.6-yard net average in 2012, second in the franchise's 53-year history.[8]

In 2014, U-T San Diego wrote that Scifres "arguably was the team MVP" in a Week 11 win over the Oakland Raiders after he landed punts on the Raiders' own 2-, 4-, 6-, 8- and 12-yard line. In a 23–14 loss in Week 14 to the New England Patriots, he suffered a clavicle fracture on a blocked punt, when his body was twisted mid-air and his shoulder landed hard on the ground.[9] The Chargers placed him on injured reserve after he had season-ending surgery.[10]

On April 30, 2016, Scifres was released by the Chargers, who informed him that they were going to select punter Drew Kaser in the 2016 NFL draft that day.[11]

Carolina Panthers

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Scifres with the Panthers in 2016

Scifres signed a one-year contract with the Carolina Panthers on June 7, 2016.[12] He was released via injury settlement on August 31, 2016.[13]

NFL career statistics

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Legend
Led the league
Bold Career high

Regular season

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Year Team Punting
GP Punts Yds Net Yds Lng Avg Net Avg Blk Ins20 TB
2003 SDG 6 0 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
2004 SDG 16 69 2,974 2,650 60 43.1 38.4 0 29 8
2005 SDG 16 71 3,104 2,700 71 43.7 38.0 0 25 8
2006 SDG 16 69 2,893 2,637 71 41.9 38.2 0 35 2
2007 SDG 16 81 3,735 3,244 70 46.1 39.6 1 36 9
2008 SDG 16 51 2,332 2,086 67 45.7 40.9 0 19 5
2009 SDG 16 52 2,342 2,037 65 45.0 39.2 0 23 2
2010 SDG 16 52 2,430 1,722 67 46.7 30.8 4 13 9
2011 SDG 16 47 2,234 1,865 71 47.5 39.7 0 17 2
2012 SDG 16 81 3,914 3,412 66 48.3 40.6 3 30 7
2013 SDG 16 56 2,417 2,239 61 43.2 40.0 0 30 1
2014 SDG 13 55 2,516 2,180 72 45.7 38.9 1 21 6
2015 SDG 16 72 3,261 2,789 68 45.3 38.2 1 15 2
Career 195 756 34,152 29,561 72 45.2 38.6 10 293 61

Playoffs

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Year Team Punting
GP Punts Yds Net Yds Lng Avg Net Avg Blk Ins20 TB
2004 SDG 1 5 182 182 42 36.4 36.4 0 1 0
2006 SDG 1 7 256 256 51 36.6 36.6 0 5 0
2007 SDG 3 12 530 449 66 44.2 37.4 0 4 1
2008 SDG 2 12 599 520 67 49.9 43.3 0 7 0
2009 SDG 1 6 297 263 60 49.5 43.8 0 3 0
2013 SDG 2 10 466 374 62 46.6 37.4 0 3 1
Career 10 52 2,330 2,044 67 44.8 39.3 0 23 2

References

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  1. ^ a b "San Diego Chargers: Mike Scifres". Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  2. ^ "Burns Added to Ray Guy Award Watch List". October 18, 2002. Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  3. ^ "Mike Scifres College Football Profile". DraftScout.com. Retrieved August 9, 2024.
  4. ^ "2003 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  5. ^ "HonoluluAdvertiser.com Chargers get kick out of Scifres' ability to pin Colts deep in own territory".[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "NFL.com Post-Game Recap". NFL.com. Archived from the original on September 6, 2012.
  7. ^ "San Diego Chargers: Mike Scifres". Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2010.
  8. ^ "Mike Scifres | Carolina Panthers | National Football League | Yahoo! Sports".
  9. ^ Gehlken, Michael (December 8, 2014). "Mike Scifres undergoes clavicle surgery". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on December 9, 2014.
  10. ^ Geklken, Michael (December 27, 2014). "Chargers sign center, put Scifres on IR". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on December 27, 2014.
  11. ^ Gehlken, Michael (April 30, 2016). "Chargers release Mike Scifres, draft Drew Kaser". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on May 1, 2016.
  12. ^ Henson, Max (June 7, 2016). "Panthers sign punter Mike Scifres". Panthers.com. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  13. ^ "Carolina Panthers | Transactions". Retrieved September 8, 2016.
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