todd sauerbrun

Todd Sauerbrun wasn't the first to make the claim, and he wasn't the first to swallow his words, either.

Just four days after informing Denver media that the Broncos wouldn't kick away from Devin Hester, the veteran Sauerbrun got arguably the worst view of the Bears' playmaker as possible: from flat on his back.

Hester returned two of Sauerbrun's kicks for touchdowns in the Bears' 37-34 overtime victory Sunday at Soldier Field. Both rolled right over the Broncos' special-teams unit that had voiced confidence it could stop the Bears' dynamic return man.

''We're not going to play chicken-bleep ball,'' the former Bears punter and 13-year veteran told the Denver Post this week. ''We're not going to kick away from him. Hey, we respect the hell out of him and he's the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles.''

Sauerbrun didn't back away from his words Sunday but gave Hester his due credit after another game-changing performance.

''He won the game for them today,'' Sauerbrun said. ''It was our fault. We let him loose.''

Sauerbrun jokingly took a special exception to the loss, considering he still lives in Niles, and his words definitely caught the attention of the Bears this week.

''Get me outta here, I'm ready to go,'' Sauerbrun said. ''I think I'm ready to sell my house now.''

The first of Hester's returns -- a 75-yard touchdown burst that tied the game at 13 with 12:50 left in the third quarter -- unfolded literally right over Sauerbrun. After pouring untouched through a seam near midfield, Hester hurdled the fallen Broncos kicker at the 15-yard line before steaming into the end zone for his third punt-return touchdown of the season and sixth of his career.

''I had my shot at him, but you give him that much room, and I don't really have a chance,'' Sauerbrun said. ''You gotta poke and hope on that. Mostly hope.''

Hester's second touchdown run was a spotless 88-yard kickoff return that evened the score at 20.

''All of a sudden you don't kick it as far, and he gets a little edge'' Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. ''And he'll take it the distance on you. He's a great player.''

that Bears coach Lovie Smith criticizes his special teams' play, as he did last week, but it was well-deserved for a subpar performance in Seattle.

This week he'll be able to say that was the unit that propelled the Bears to victory. Devin Hester's two returns for touchdowns will get the most publicity, but it was Charles Tillman's block of Todd Sauerbrun's punt in the fourth quarter that started a late rally.

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• RETURNS ARE IN: BEARS ALIVE
Special-teams coordinator Dave Toub had his group on notice after the loss to the Seahawks. When Sauerbrun said Wednesday that the Broncos wouldn't be involved in any kind of ''chicken-[poop]'' plan to kick away from Hester, Toub clipped the quote out of the Sun-Times and blew it up for his meeting room. His troops responded; the blocked punt was the first in his four seasons with the Bears.

''It was corner roll, and I rolled up and the guy left me untouched,'' Tillman said.

He had to scramble back on the field after Sauerbrun had punted 31 yards to the Bears' 10. The play was wiped out by a Denver penalty for illegal formation.

''It's hard to do two punt returns in a row when you're on defense the whole time, so I ran off the field, and then Patrick Mannelly said, 'Peanut, it's corner roll,''' Tillman said. ''So then I had to sprint all the way to the other end and kind of like, 'OK, you're not tired, you're not tired, block it.' It worked out.''

The Bears recovered at the Broncos' 18-yard line, and Adrian Peterson scored four plays later to pull them within a touchdown.

Pick!
Tillman also came up with the first interception of the year for a Bears cornerback when he made a diving effort to snare a Jay Cutler pass to Brandon Marshall. He picked it off at the Broncos' 14, but the premium field position was squandered when Rex Grossman was stripped by Hamza Abdullah at the end of a five-yard scramble.

''Long overdue,'' Tillman said of the pick. ''I was more excited about that than the blocked punt, just because we've been in various situations and we really couldn't make that play.''

The Bears were fortunate on the Grossman turnover. Officials ruled him down, so the play was dead when Abdullah scooped up the ball at the 10 with no one in front of him and only guard Terrence Metcalf in pursuit. The Broncos were awarded the ball after a replay challenge, but had the play not been blown dead, Abdullah easily would have gone the distance.

Quick strike
The Bears were in field-goal range almost immediately in overtime when Grossman hooked up with tight end Desmond Clark down the sideline for a 39-yard gain. On the play fake, Clark got off the line untouched as linebacker Nate Webster chased unsuccessfully. Clark finally was brought down by Abdullah at the Denver 37.

''That's a play that we had up only for goal-line situations -- I was kind of surprised it was called,'' Grossman explained. ''But it's a safe play to get a good, positive play on first down. He's the back tight end running a corner route, and with hard play action at them, everyone stepped up and the cornerback jumped Jason McKie in the flat -- which is a play we run quite a bit -- which left him open.

''I turned my head around and saw him jump the flat route and got my eyes over to Des -- he ran a great route -- and hit him in stride.''

Extra points
Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye had another big game with two sacks and a forced fumble. That gives him a team-high nine sacks and four forced fumbles.

• • Right tackle Fred Miller was replaced in the fourth quarter by John St. Clair after he rolled up the right ankle that has bothered him at various points this season.

''We'll get it checked out [today],'' Miller said. ''I should be OK.''

• • Ricky Manning Jr. started at right cornerback in place of
Sauerbrun grew up in Setauket on Long Island. He attended Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York, and was a letterman in football and lacrosse.[1] In football, as a senior, he averaged 45.1 yards per punt and kicked a field goal of 63 yards on October 27, 1990 (still the New York State High School record). In lacrosse, he was a third team All-America selection.


[edit] College and Early Pro Career
Sauerbrun made history when he enrolled at West Virginia University, after being one of the nation's top prep placekickers. Sauerbrun played punter at West Virginia, where he set a NCAA record with a 48.4 punting average in 1994. He was also named the school's sixth consensus All-American that season.

He was drafted by the Chicago Bears 56th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He spent five seasons with the Bears, and is ranked second on the team in all-time punting average. He spent the 2000 season with the Kansas City Chiefs, and was signed by the Carolina Panthers before the 2001 season.


[edit] 2002-Dec 2004
Carolina is where Sauerbrun achieved his greatest success, as well as his biggest problems. He was picked for the Pro Bowl to represent the NFC in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 seasons. Sauerbrun also became the first player from either conference since the AFL-NFL Merger in 1970 to lead his conference in gross punting average for three consecutive seasons (2001-2003). However, during the 2004 season, the Panthers were riddled with injuries, and at one point, starting placekicker John Kasay suffered a leg injury, and the Panthers were forced to use Sauerbrun to replace Kasay. Sauerbrun refused to kick unless he was reimbursed for fines he incurred when he was overweight.


[edit] Post-Dec 2004
In December 2004, he was charged with DWI, and he was recently named in an investigation of steroids use in the NFL linked to a Carolina doctor during the 2004-05 season. Sauerbrun has also been known for his long-standing feud with the Gramatica brothers, who are placekickers in the NFL, and it was why he was forced to be Carolina's kicker when Kasay got injured, as he refused to allow the Panthers to bring them in for tryouts. On May 19, 2005, Sauerbrun was traded to the Denver Broncos for punter Jason Baker and a 7th round draft pick in the 2006 draft. On July 7, 2006, Sauerbrun was suspended for the first four games of the NFL season after testing positive for the banned supplement ephedra. On October 17, 2006, the day he was supposed to come back from his suspension, Denver cut him, favoring Paul Ernster.

One of Todd Sauerbrun's most notable NFL career moments so far occurred during the AFC Divisional Playoffs on January 14, 2006, when, in a rare move for a team punter, he managed to tackle New England Patriots returner Ellis Hobbs after his own kickoff and actually forced a fumble, which was recovered by his teammate, Cecil Sapp. This eventually led to a Broncos field goal, which helped Denver defeat the Patriots 27-13, ending New England's bid for an unprecedented three consecutive Super Bowl victories.

Sauerbrun was signed by the Patriots on December 22, 2006 to a one year contract that gave them the right to match any contract he signed the next offseason.

On April 3, 2007, the Denver Broncos signed Sauerbrun to a one year contract. However, a week later, the Patriots announced their decision to match Denver's offer to the veteran punter.[2] Shortly thereafter, the NFL Players Association filed a grievance on behalf of Sauerbrun regarding the details of the contract he signed with New England in 2006. On April 18th, 2007, it was announced that Sauerbrun would once again be a free agent. Sauerbrun resigned with the Denver Broncos on April 19, 2007. [3]