Bengals rookie was one play away from making NFL history

The Cincinnati Bengals failed to score a touchdown in their season-opener against the Cleveland Browns. No touchdowns, no turnovers, and very few points is a recipe for a ton of punts, and that’s exactly what happened.

10 punts was the final tally for rookie Brad Robbins in his first-ever NFL game, and seven of them came in the first half alone!

Robbins’ debut was one of the busiest in NFL history for punters. In fact, he joins a list of seven punters to have booted at least 10 punts in their first career game. Robbins is also the first addition to this list in nearly 20 years.

The record-holder is Bob Grupp, who punted 11 times in his debut game for the Kansas City Chiefs back in Week 1 of the 1979 season.

The last rookie punter with 10 in his first game was Brooks Barnard of the New England Patriots back in Week 14 of the 2003 season.

Robbins is now one of six rookie punters with exactly 10, and even becomes the second Bengal to do it. Punting so many times in the elements, Robbins had his fair share of solid boots and attempts he’d like to have back. He ended up with an average of 40.9 yards per punt, and a long of 54 yards.

Two of his punts carried past 50 yards, while three went for fewer than 40 when he wasn’t trying to pin the Browns inside the 10-yard line.

The plan was obviously not to have Robbins punt it that many many times, and so many chances will naturally lead to a wide variance for a rookie, especially when catching and punting in the rain. If all goes to plan, Robbins will not punt the ball that much in a game for the rest of the season, maybe in his entire Bengals career.