Key Super Bowl Matchup: Roby Against McLemore

Some players’ professional football careers are measured in years. Dana McLemore and Reggie Roby’s are measured in seconds. The two practice the most highly specialized and underrated jobs in professional football. McLemore is the San Francisco 49ers’ punt return specialist and this year ranked fourth in the NFL with 43 returns for 521 yards and one 79-yard touchdown burst against the New York Giants. Roby is the Miami Dolphins’ punter and has become almost legendary in just his second season in the art of hang time. On the year, he has had just 17 of his punts returned. He ranked second in the NFL in average with a 44.7 per punt mark and first in net average with a 38.1 per punt total. On Super Bowl Sunday, either of the two men could be pivotal to his team’s performance. “We are going to have to get a great holdup from our inside men if I’m going to be successful,” McLemore said. “We got that holdup against the Bears and I was able to put us in good position.” In the NFC championship game, McLemore returned four punts for a total of 69 yards. Three of the four punt returns put the 49ers in good enough field position that they were able to mount a scoring drive. Roby enjoyed an outstanding afternoon in the Dolphins’ AFC championship victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Aware that Steeler return man Louis Lipps was the most dangerous in the NFL, Roby took Lipps completely out of the game. Only one of three punts was returned for a mere seven yards. The Miami punter’s job on Super Bowl Sunday will be to keep his powerful leg under control. He has put 15 punts this season inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, but also has a tendency to outkick his coverage. Still the longest return of a Roby punt this season has been 33 yards and there have been 13 fair catches. “He has such a powerful leg, he often outkicks his coverage,” McLemore said. “I’m hoping he’ll do that because I just need one seam, one crack to try and break one.” Roby said he did not think he would change anything coming into the matchup with McLemore. “It’s just like last week against Louis Lipps. We didn’t do anything different and he didn’t hurt us,” the punter said. “I just hang it up and give the coverage time to get under it.” Roby is also an artist when it comes to the sidelines. Of his NFL low 51 punts this year, 21 have been put out-of-bounds robbing the return man of a chance to do damage to the Dolphins. McLemore--who is generally left on his own in the 49ers’ punt return formation--said he does not fear the height and hang time of Roby’s punts. He also added it was unlikely that he’d call for a fair catch. “I have a lot of faith in my teammates,” McLemore said of his tendency to foresake the fair catch. “I want to get the ball upfield to give the offense a better chance.”