Thomas Morstead named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week in first game with Falcons

Thomas Morstead joined the Atlanta Falcons just last week, but he’s already collecting honors for his work for his new team. It must make Saints fans sick to see it, how terrible for them.

Morstead was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts against the Jaguars, where he placed punts inside the Jacksonville 15 yard line four times on five punts, including a 55 yarder. The former Jet and Saint was signed with Dustin Colquitt on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and his strong effort probably will have him sticking around in Atlanta over the long haul.

This shouldn’t come as a shock, because the Morstead the Jets released had been a quality punter all year long, and his departure from New York is still a bit of a mystery to me. He was averaging a robust 48.2 yards per punt, one of the top numbers in the entire NFL, before he was cut after seven games. On Sunday, his ability to pin the Jaguars deep helped give a hapless offense long fields, which in turn helped keep Jacksonville’s scoring low.

Morstead becomes the third Falcon to receive a NFC Player of the Week award in 2021, and the team now has collected one each for offense, defense and special teams. Matt Ryan took one home back in Week 9 for his effort against the Saints, while Deion Jones received honors for his work against the Panthers in Week 7.

Congratulations to Morstead, and may he have many superlative days ahead of him in a Falcons jersey.