special teams still an issue

[skinsdad62]

The Good:Gaffe Ratio – a thoroughly unsophisticated way to analyze special teams play

looking at this guys 12 good plays and 17 negatives sheds more of a light on our special teams

penalties kill this unit

we have a long way to go to be a good unit

coaching can fix some of this

now my question is do we bang the ball through the endzone and give up the ball at the 25 or do we force more returns ?

 

[gkekoa]

I am all about turnovers.

 

[deanpet21]

I like the pooch kick. if Hopkins can do this and get inside the 20 I think it would be huge. Or just kick touchbacks. I know its the 25 yardline this year.

 

[Breed]

Agree on the giving up to many penalties. I also think the Skins surrender to many big plays. Whether they be returns, losing fumbles, penalties etc. I like both Way and Hopkins, but our coverage teams and blocking on punt and FG teams still make me cringe.

In one way or another we've been waiting on coaching to fix the shit wrong with the STs ever since the botched snap in the 99 division playoff game against TB. Daniel Snyder's idea of fixing that was terrible and since then.
Eeveryone else's ideas on how to fix STs have been for the vast majority of the time terrible.

Hopkins, at least imo, was brought in mainly for his KOs. Let him keep on keepion on I say.

 

[reptec101]

We don't go after punts... we drop back to set up the big return for five yards...or negative 20 after the almost guaranteed blocking in back penalty. Not sure if we even go after FG's to be honest. Seems we half-hustle on FG's and just hope the dude misses. Like to see more aggressiveness on punt's and FG's. When we kick it away I think we have improved greatly and see no reason for that trend not to continue upwards. Our KO's and FG's are on average with league. The good news is that we're not shitty all over.

 

[Krusheasy]

there is no way to accurately rank special teams based on statistics ... however football outsiders has tried.

based on their ratings the Redskins ST ranked 6th overall last season ... compared with 29, 32 & 28 the previous years.

I believe Gk & I discussed these ranking is another thread about Danny Smith.

but the improvement of the ST speaks to McCloughan's ability to build a roster.

Hopefully this trend will continue.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

there is no way to accurately rank special teams based on statistics ... however football outsiders has tried.

based on their ratings the Redskins ST ranked 6th overall last season ... compared with 29, 32 & 28 the previous years.

I believe Gk & I discussed these ranking is another thread about Danny Smith.

but the improvement of the ST speaks to McCloughan's ability to build a roster.

Hopefully this trend will continue.

Agree. The kicker & punter are certainly more than acceptable & I believe that there is hope in the return area (for punts - kick returns are a crap shoot in today's NFL). By default you would have to believe that the Redskins will get better on special teams since they are constantly getting younger, hungrier players who generally thrive on STs.

 

[Sportster 72]

Agree Krush, STs improved last year. I too attribute it to SM and JG building a better 53 man roster. You especially have to respect that because they had a lot of players in and out due to injury or in some cases guys were just cut due to poor performance. I believe that trend will continue this year with an even better roster.

 

[skinz2winz]

ST has and will continue to improve with an improved roster. Hopkins was a pleasant surprise and Way performed well. There are areas to shore up, ie; returns/coverage/tackling but if you are not ALWAYS trying to improve those areas, you won't get any better.

HTTR!

 

[Krusheasy]

penalties kill this unit

it is difficult to find any information about ST penalties.

according to this Penalty tracker site the Redskins were only penalized once on ST ... but that doesnt sound right.

 

[skinsdad62]

it is difficult to find any information about ST penalties.

according to this Penalty tracker site the Redskins were only penalized once on ST ... but that doesnt sound right.

they werent counting personal fouls and such . in the article i posted there was more then one penalty. how many returns did we have wiped out by blocks in the back ? one penalty is wrong

 

[reptec101]

They need to figure out a better way to cover returns... talking bout refs. It's way to easy for a players to turn and get hit in the back or side. Every team gets hit with these penalties every game.. some more than once. Even a slight push in the back draws the flag. It's such BS.

 

[skinsdad62]

They need to figure out a better way to cover returns... talking bout refs. It's way to easy for a players to turn and get hit in the back or side. Every team gets hit with these penalties every game.. some more than once. Even a slight push in the back draws the flag. It's such BS.

I agreed

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

I can't see how anyone who watched the team all year can say they were a top 6 unit. Our kicker was good on FGs and KOs, our punter had a good average, and that clear scewed the stats. But we know damned well this unit once again failed to make plays that can change games. No big returns, no blocked kicks/punts, few if any turnovers created.

 

[Caliskinsfan]

Nice

 

[Sportster 72]

I think special teams was much improved last year. Certainly not as bad as it had been the previous 5 years to that.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

I can't see how anyone who watched the team all year can say they were a top 6 unit. Our kicker was good on FGs and KOs, our punter had a good average, and that clear scewed the stats. But we know damned well this unit once again failed to make plays that can change games. No big returns, no blocked kicks/punts, few if any turnovers created.

2015 NFL Team Returning Stats - National Football League - ESPN

I think that you are viewing this in terms of the NFL 10-15 years ago. It doesn't really work like this anymore & I would not be shocked if down the road they get rid of kickoff returns (for ever increasing fear of lawsuits based on head injuries).

Take a look at the attached. Only 5 teams had kickoff returns for TDs & what do you know - the Redskins lead that list w/ 2 TDs. Their average and overall return yardage doesn't lead the league but is better than most. They certainly could improve in the punt return area but part of that is that they didn't return that many punts. This area could also dramatically turn around by finding a key returner on the roster who is a younger player looking to contribute.

The days of someone like Brian Mitchell tearing up the field via returns are long gone. Huge returns also start to dwindle in a league where the zebras seem intent on calling a penalty on most returns. Less returns by the Redskins also mean less chances to force turnovers. I truly believe that with their youth the Redskins should be fine in this area or at least good enough in the current NFL where special teams continue to lose value every year.

 

[Darrell Green Fan]

2015 NFL Team Returning Stats - National Football League - ESPN

I think that you are viewing this in terms of the NFL 10-15 years ago. It doesn't really work like this anymore & I would not be shocked if down the road they get rid of kickoff returns (for ever increasing fear of lawsuits based on head injuries).

Take a look at the attached. Only 5 teams had kickoff returns for TDs & what do you know - the Redskins lead that list w/ 2 TDs. Their average and overall return yardage doesn't lead the league but is better than most. They certainly could improve in the punt return area but part of that is that they didn't return that many punts. This area could also dramatically turn around by finding a key returner on the roster who is a younger player looking to contribute.

The days of someone like Brian Mitchell tearing up the field via returns are long gone. Huge returns also start to dwindle in a league where the zebras seem intent on calling a penalty on most returns. Less returns by the Redskins also mean less chances to force turnovers. I truly believe that with their youth the Redskins should be fine in this area or at least good enough in the current NFL where special teams continue to lose value every year.

Yeah that was a good link and a fair point. But if you examine the numbers closer the punt return figues didn't just need improvement, the numbers were pathetic. I'm too lazy to do it but I'm sure if you combined return figues for both kickoffs and punts we would be bottom five.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

Yeah that was a good link and a fair point. But if you examine the numbers closer the punt return figues didn't just need improvement, the numbers were pathetic. I'm too lazy to do it but I'm sure if you combined return figues for both kickoffs and punts we would be bottom five.

Yep - I agree w/ you on punt returns. However - I think that this could change over the next few seasons. As they continue to do well in the draft & get younger there is a decent chance that they find not only a decent returner but also some younger guys who make other contributions on STs.