Bear Digest

Tory Taylor Prepared to 'Own the Field' in Bears Preseason

Bears Aussie punter continues to dazzle in practice and finally could get a chance to show this skill against Buffalo on Saturday.

Gene Chamberlain

Bears Punter from Down Under.mp4
Bears Punter from Down Under.mp4 /
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Rookie punter Tory Taylor continues to impress in every way for the Bears, even at holding the football.

It's a good thing because backup Corliss Waitman is giving every punter-needy team in the NFL plenty to look at once roster cuts come.

"I will say this: In the game, Corliss Waitman punted his tail off," Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "He did a real nice job in that game and he had some really big-time punts.

"I'd be remiss if I didn't say how well he played. He held those guys to 4.5 yards a return. He had a 52-yard punt that (Tarvarius) Moore caused a holding penalty on and flipped it 58 yards, 58-yard field flip to try to pin those guys back. He pinned somebody at the 1. He also had a punt out of bounds, a 49-yard punt out of bounds at the sideline. We're in a good situation right now."

All of those accomplishments for a backup punter, and Waitman daily displays a strong leg with excellent hang time.

Yet, Taylor's star shines so bright it renders Waitman nearly invisible.

Taylor showed this again in Sunday's practice with a display of punts inside the 10, including one that landed on the 1-yard line with a big bounce and with backspin so it could easily be downed.

Coffin corner punts inside the 5, high and deep, any type of punt imaginable has come off Taylor's foot.

Taylor didn't get to show his skills in the first preseason game but he did get in work by coming to Halas Hall and practicing on his Friday off.

"Out of, I don't know, it was 40 or so punts, he had zero touchbacks and we were working the plus-50 area," Hightower said. "So I'm really proud of him for coming out  and doing that. And he's just growing. He's growing right before our eyes and I just can't wait to see him play."

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Technically Taylor did play in the game, although he didn't punt. He held for placement when Cairo Santos kicked and he performed the new "12th man" duty of holding a ball that wouldn't stay on the kicking tee during kickoffs he has to leave the field immediately after the ball is kicked in this situation.

"One thing is clearly evident with Tory Taylor is he doesn’t give a damn about anything but winning," Hightower said. "That’s why I really love this kid. And he wants to work on his craft every day, so he could put the team in a position to own the field.

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"That's how he thinks. He doesn’t think, like, 'Oh, it's my time to punt,' or 'I just trot out there.' He's like, 'I’m owning the field. This is my field when I'm out here and I'm gonna pin 'em for my defense.' And that's the kind of mentality punter I want. That's a go-getter."

Taylor says he didn't develop this attitude in Australia as a youth playing Aussie rules football.

"Probably in my Iowa days," the Bears' fourth-round draft pick said. "It was really one of those things where special teams and defense really played a pivotal role in winning games for us at Iowa.

"I was kind of like (thinking), if I'm going to be one of the very few players with the ball in my hand, I'm really gonna go out there and try to dominate the game the way I want to," Taylor said. "It was probably after a year or so at Iowa, coach would say to me, 'Man, just go out there and own the field.' It was one thing that I never really thought about but then I was like, 'You know what, it's probably a pretty good mentality' to just kinda go out there—I've only gotta go out there for 10, 15 seconds. It's one of those things that people say, 'Oh, do you ever get nervous to go out there?' And I do. That's really one of those things where I've only gotta focus for 10 seconds at a time, like really, really hone in and focus for 10 seconds. I think really any human on the planet can focus for 10 seconds."

It's clear to the Bears so far that Taylor is focusing for more than 10 seconds—and he's even doing it on his day off.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.