This offseason Brad Wing was named to NFL.com's All-Under-25 Team, he signed to a one-year contract extension, but the one thing Brad Wing wants more than anything moving forward is consistency.
"I want to get better in every aspect," said Wing. "I want to be more consistent from a punting standpoint. I want to have less bad punts. Hopefully we can be sitting here in a year's time and I can say I had less bad ones. I just want to perform better."
Wing had an up-and-down rookie season, but as Coach Mike Tomlin said throughout the year he rebounded from bad performances to come back strong.
"In the Tampa Bay game I didn't have a very good punt and we lost the game," recalled Wing. "When your teammates and coaches are counting on you to do a job and you don't do your job to your ability for whatever reason you are disappointed.
"A lot of times you hear with specialists it gets in their heads. You have to be sure even when you don't hit a good ball that you can't let one punt define you. That has been the toughest thing, dealing with the negatives, the not so good punts, and remaining confident in your abilities."
Wing finished the season with a net average of 38.8 yards and had 20 of his 61 punts downed inside the 20-yard line. But they are numbers he knows he must improve on moving forward.
"I would have like to have performed better statistically," said Wing. "It's always about the next punt. Now that the season is over I can go back and review each punt. There are a couple I would like to have back here and there and there are some I am really happy with. It's about focusing on the positives. Every player is going to have ups and downs and you are never going to be perfect every time. It's about keeping the non-perfect performance to a minimum."
Wing's search for consistency isn't just in his play. After seeing punters come and go with frequency over the last few years, Wing is hoping that his stay is longer than his recent predecessors.
"That is the goal," said Wing. "I am aware of the situations in the past. There have been a lot of names that came through here. I would like to be the guy who ends that. I love it here, the organization, the coaches are second to none. Teammates are great. This is where I want to be. I have grown to love Pittsburgh. I don't want to go anywhere else."
