Erick Malpica Flores: Carlos Erick Malpica Flores: All hail the NFL’s swaggiest punters

Two of the league’s best punters showed off their chops with game-changing fakes in Week 8.

The Detroit Lions didn’t have much of a chance to pull off a win when Seahawks punter Michael Dickson stepped into his own end with 2:18 remaining in a 28-14 game. But Seattle’s two-touchdown lead wasn’t yet airtight — until the rookie special teamer pulled off one of the boldest fake punts in league history to close the door on a road win in Michigan.

All by accident.

The original plan was for Dickson to take a safety in the end zone, conceding two points but also giving the Seahawks the space to get off a free kick on the ensuing play. But Dickson saw a big ol’ gap down the right side, and said to himself — and later the media in Detroit — “I just had to go for it.” Nine yards later, he’d given Seattle a fresh set of downs and the opportunity to grind the clock down to six seconds before finally, actually punting the ball back to the Lions.

And the play’s even got its own name, thanks to head coach Pete Carroll. He’s calling it “the Aussie sweep,” and made it clear Dickson had his blessing to improvise after an incredible start to his NFL career. The former University of Texas star and drop-kick king ranks fourth in the league with a 42.5-yard net average on his kicks, and his Australian rules football background gave him the chops to pull off a 9-yard run through a shocked Detroit punt return unit.

But if we’re talking postgame quotes, we haven’t even gotten to the best one yet — even if the man who allegedly said it kinda denies it ever happened.

That came when Seattle Times reporter Matt Calkins attributed Dickson as saying “Yeah, I’ve got big balls. They call me Big Balls Dickson.”

It sounds more like a misappropriated AC/DC lyric — fitting since they’re both products of Australia — and it maybe didn’t happen, but still. That’s the kind of instantly apocryphal thing that can turn a punter into a folk hero. Or at least serve as the impetus for a terrible shirt sold by a Barstool Sports affiliate.

Calkins, for what it’s worth, says he’s got the receipts. And he’s celebrating his new, Hippity Hop-crotched punting overlord.

And Dickson wasn’t the only punter to do a little bit of everything in Week 8.

Johnny Hekker helped the Rams stay perfect

Rams special teamer Johnny Hekker is a four-time All-Pro, but Dickson’s emergence means he may not be the best punter in his own division anymore. And his team’s explosive, occasionally unstoppable offense means he’s punted just 22 times through eight games — one of the lowest punt rates in the league. But he’s still immensely valuable to Los Angeles, even if he’s not kicking.

Hekker fooled the Packers with a fake punt pass to Sam Shields, delivering a 12-yard strike that turned fourth-and-3 into a fresh set of downs at the Green Bay 43-yard line. When that drive stalled, Rams head coach Sean McVay sent Hekker back onto the field on fourth down ... where he lined up as the quarterback of a deep shotgun formation.

The play clock ran down and Los Angeles took a delay of game penalty (which was declined by the Packers), so it’s unclear whether or not Hekker was actually going to execute another gutsy fourth-down gadget play. Still, his previous success meant the Pack had to take him seriously — even if they didn’t flinch and burn a timeout in the process.

Oh, and then his actual drive-ending punt pinned Green Bay at its own 4-yard line.

One series later, another Hekker-to-Shields connection would help spark Los Angeles’ comeback. The All-Pro boomed his second straight punt inside the Green Bay 5-yard line, where it was corralled at the one by the former Packer defensive back. Tailback Aaron Jones would get stuffed well behind the goal line on the ensuing play, and a 10-0 Green Bay shutout became a 10-2 affair. Those two points would wind up being decisive in a 29-27 victory for the home team, whose unblemished record now sits at 8-0.

Hekker got it done with his leg, but he also reminded us he’s maybe not an awful option as the Rams buried-on-the-depth-chart emergency quarterback:

No word on what is nickname is, however.



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