You, like the other troglodytes, don’t read too well, do you. The emphasis in “punctuated equilibrium” is on the “equilibrium” part, not on the punctuation. The theory aims at an explanation for why there should be equilibrium at all, given that the prevailing view at the time was so-called gradualism, in which evolutionary changes slowly accumulate, one by one, over time, and in which no species ever rests at an equilibrium point where it is not accumulating changes that will eventually lead to another species. In other words, Eldredge and Gould took aim at, and shot down, the then-prevailing theory with a theory that was more consistent with the facts.