work, but I don't think you can practice that enough to count on the odds of pulling it off being very good. Or if you did practice it enough, you'd take away from vital practice time in other areas.
From their perspective, it was a "why not?" Worst case scenario it works like a regular punt with the ball going into the end zone. The other reasonable possibility is a punt getting downed or rolling out of bounds inside the 20 yard line. Not much chance of a good return. Low chance of a turnover, but you don't lose anything if you don't get it.