Matt Bosher, Special Teams Weapon

In today's NFL, the kickoff has never been less important. The punt remains a bit of an underrated art form.

When you're punting, your offense has essentially failed to do its job. The last thing you want following that is to give the defense a short field to...well, defend. A poor punter and poor special teams coverage can cause that to happen, and that's pretty lame.

Fortunately for the Falcons, they have Matt Bosher.

Bosher got off to an infamously slow start last season, with fans calling for his head as he continually made poor punts. It appears that was due in large part to his lack of a full off-season, which certainly jibes with the fact that he was one of the league's best punters in the second half of the 2011 season.

Entering 2012, Bosher hopes to be even better:

"Last year, I didn’t start the way I wanted," he said. "It’s a new year. I had a good, long offseason this year. I had OTAs and minicamp. I got a lot of work done here. Coach Armstrong has really done a lot, dedicating his time to help me get better. He’s trying to help me succeed this year."

This is obviously great news. If Bosher's even just as good as he was a year ago, he'll be a terrific special teams asset for the Falcons. Pinning teams deep in their own territory means more yardage, more passing attempts and thus more opportunities for turnovers with the team's new-look secondary. I like all of that.

How do you think Bosher will fare in 2012?