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Scifres, who has spent all of his ten NFL seasons with the Chargers, punted a total of four times on the day and reflected back on what 500 punts means to the longevity and success of his career.
“500 is a great number,” Scifres said. “All punters that come into the league just want to get that first one. To be able to last this long and get 500, it’s a great feeling for me.”
The Louisiana born Scifres, who has never missed a single game in his career as a starter, attributes a lot of his success to hard work and preparation during game week.
“A lot goes into what we do during the week,” he said. “A lot of punting in practice and a lot of reps to stay physically and mentally into it. I think that plays a big role in getting to that number.”
Although 500 punts is a tremendous plateau to reach, Scifres knows that he still has many punts left in him. Still, he recognizes that it is a noteworthy number to have at in this point in his career.
“A lot more punters out there have a lot more than 500, but that’s definitely a big number to be at because of the amount of time I was able to stay consistent and work at getting better.”
Scifres also attributes a lot of his success to the year he had with Darren Bennett, the Chargers Pro Bowl punter who mentored him back in 2003.
“Darren Bennett was a tremendous help to me,” he said. “I’m not where I’m at today without that year I had behind him. He taught me about the game and the ins and outs of what you have got to do day in and day out. I owe everything to that year with him because he really did welcome me here with open arms.”
