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Adam Hayward encouraged by special teams emphasis in draft - The Washington Post
Remember when slow-plodding Eagles' RB Chris Polk ran a kickoff against us for 103 yards in Week 3 last year? That was the margin of defeat in that game. (Forbath missing a chip shot late in the game didn't help either.) And it was but one of countless special teams failures we had that put at huge disadvantages in terms of field position, scoring and losses. Now, thankfully, we're shoring STs up with young players in the draft. This is something prior members of the Redskins brass would've never have thought of.
That's because special teams isn't too sexy, but it can easily make or break you during games. Look at Seattle for instance. How many times did they pin us back on our 10-yard line in our contest with them last year? They had a great gunner in Ricardo Lockette that beat our special teams guys to force our returner to fair catch it deep in our territory. That put their championship caliber defense in great shape to put the pressure on our piddling offense to make due in the dark end of our field.
And, with Forbath continuing to have problems kicking the ball out of the end zone, we'll need kickoff coverage teams to be at their best. Hopefully, with improved special teams players, we'll get improved play on that end. In addition, we'll see how Jamison Crowder does for us in the return game.
All in all, if we've got better special teams play, that itself can lead to wins we would've never gotten last year. We'll see if that plays out in 2015. We'll certainly need it.
Remember when slow-plodding Eagles' RB Chris Polk ran a kickoff against us for 103 yards in Week 3 last year? That was the margin of defeat in that game. (Forbath missing a chip shot late in the game didn't help either.) And it was but one of countless special teams failures we had that put at huge disadvantages in terms of field position, scoring and losses. Now, thankfully, we're shoring STs up with young players in the draft. This is something prior members of the Redskins brass would've never have thought of.
That's because special teams isn't too sexy, but it can easily make or break you during games. Look at Seattle for instance. How many times did they pin us back on our 10-yard line in our contest with them last year? They had a great gunner in Ricardo Lockette that beat our special teams guys to force our returner to fair catch it deep in our territory. That put their championship caliber defense in great shape to put the pressure on our piddling offense to make due in the dark end of our field.
And, with Forbath continuing to have problems kicking the ball out of the end zone, we'll need kickoff coverage teams to be at their best. Hopefully, with improved special teams players, we'll get improved play on that end. In addition, we'll see how Jamison Crowder does for us in the return game.
All in all, if we've got better special teams play, that itself can lead to wins we would've never gotten last year. We'll see if that plays out in 2015. We'll certainly need it.
Yep. It would be nice to see us starting at the 30 or 40 on a regular basis and making sure that our opponents start inside their 20. That's a huge factor that often is not accounted for in games.
