Pat McAfee claps back hard at former Kentucky punter Max Duffy over 'butt punt' debate
Former Kentucky punter Max Duffy criticized Pat McAfee‘s breakdown of the infamous ‘butt punt’ by Miami, prompting a major rant from McAfee. Duffy shared via his Twitter that McAfee was “completely wrong” in his analysis of the punt by Thomas Morstead that bounced off the butt of teammate Trent Sherfield and went out of bounds for a safety.
On top of calling McAfee wrong, Duffy called the reaction a “typical American understanding of punting,” which led to a nearly two-minute barrage by McAfee on Tuesday where he criticized Duffy for being a punter for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Pat McAfee versus Max Duffy
The entire back-and-forth was kicked off by an appearance from McAfee on the Monday Night Football “Manningcast” where he blamed the punt mishap on punt protection instead of Morstead. According to McAfee, the punter is in a rough spot and needs his teammates to know better than to run into his punting space.
Duffy quickly responded that Morstead is at fault for not adjusting his kicking motion and indicated American punters don’t view the job the same way as Australian punters like Duffy.
McAfee responded quickly on social media with a shot at Duffy and the entire Kentucky Wildcats program.
“The ‘former punter from Kentucky’ definitely knows.”
The war of words didn’t end there as McAfee used his platform on the Pat McAfee Show to take time to fully lay down his opinion of Duffy. Of particular note in the rant that eventually turned explicit, McAfee never referred to Duffy by his name — instead calling him “the former punter from the University of Kentucky.”
“There is an Aussie punter that used to punt at Kentucky, the University of Kentucky, that said something about Thomas Morstead for the Butt Punt,” McAfee said. “Because I mentioned how the personal protector [was responsible], Shane Lechler mentioned the personal protector, Mike Scifres mentioned how the personal protector, Rex Ryan mentioned how the personal protector — but the punter formerly of the University of Kentucky said that it’s because the American punters have no self-awareness. That’s why that punt went into the ass of the personal protector.
Warning: The following transcript contains NSFW language.
“Now, maybe that is something. Maybe you’re also in the NFL playing against adults who are a lot faster and you’re in a backed-up situation trying to get the ball off quick, so you’re not worried about anything other than the punt. And you’re banking on the personal protector not backing up because that’s literally the only coaching point of that entire play.
“But the former punter from the University of Kentucky said that American punters don’t understand stuff.”
McAfee continued his rant after using a choice curse word popular in Australia for his Australian target, and doubled down that the college level isn’t related to the “men’s league” of the NFL.
“I’m talking to the former punter from the University of Kentucky, that should ring something,” McAfee added. “Shut the fuck up. We’re talking about the men’s league, child. I appreciate everything you did and your journey is probably awesome, but shut the fuck [up].
“He quote-tweeted me saying something on Monday night, ‘This guy is completely wrong.’ The former punter of the University of Kentucky. Okay, thank you. Thank you for your input, we’re talking about the men’s league. Okay? You don’t know what that is because you’re the former punter of the University of Kentucky.”
McAfee then took a moment to acknowledge that Duffy was a well-decorated punter during his time with the Wildcats, although the comments seemed sarcastic in the face of his rant about Kentucky and college football. Duffy won the Ray Guy Award for college football’s most outstanding punter, and was a unanimous First-Team All-American in 2019.
“Not that that’s a bad thing, I thought you were great at the University of Kentucky. Great. Unbelievable… With that being said, shut the fuck up when we’re talking about the men’s league if you’ve never been in the men’s league.
“You former punter at the University of Kentucky — which has never, ever been a resume builder — ‘These Americans,’ shut the **** up.”
Duffy was made aware of McAfee’s rant quickly after it was released, and simply laughed at the tirade at his expense.
“Very aggressive. To your point to never ‘played in the men’s league,’ neither did Bill Belichick but he seems to know football so I don’t think that’s valid,” said Duffy on Twitter. “I like Americans and they’re awesome, just don’t punt it into (peoples’) butts was my point.”