Will Special Teams Get It Together?

[Terrellb2007]

Although we are doing a good job Defensively and Offensively something we have longed for from day One (1). It would be great to get another great return person on special teams to give us outstanding field position, or score a couple touchdowns to make us even better. Our return man this year scares me each time he touches the ball because it flies out of his hands or he gets hit so hard that I think it will come out. He's not a very hard target to hit and we need someone who is to return the ball.

[smashmouth]

This is why we brought in Chris Carr and let Yamon Figures go. But from what I have been seeing so far I dont like. ST's needs alot of work. Our kicker, kick returns,punt returns and our Kick and punt coverage all needs worked on.

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='smashmouth' date='24 September 2009 - 03:35 PM' timestamp='1253820934' post='240767']
This is why we brought in Chris Carr and let Yamon Figures go. But from what I have been seeing so far I dont like. ST's needs alot of work. Our kicker, kick returns,punt returns and our Kick and punt coverage all needs worked on.
[/quote]
This is 100% true. We've always been sorta weak when it comes to special teams. As you've mentioned, Punt coverage and returns, our kicker, etc needs improvement. It could cost us a few games if not. The Chargers had good field position just about the whole game. We never seemed to pass the 20yrd line. I dont think we're gonna escape too many games with this issue unless the Defense continue to limit teams to points in the Redzone or get back to forcing turnovers.

[YYZ66]

I'm sure most of us have a bad feeling that a special teams breakdown could cost us a game. I would imagine, and hope, that ST is a top priority with the coaching staff.

[kash96ravenstotalfan]

I agree, Carr scares me. He looks scared everytime he catches the ball. Has not proven why the Ravens are so high on him. Hope he improves

[FerrariFan87]

They need to be on-point this week or Cribbs is going to burn us... Memo to Koch: Punt it out of bounds. Memo to Hauschka: Kick it in the end zone.

[hawk51]

What do you think will help the special teams play, as far as the return situation is concerned, anyone?

[wacko4flacco5]

lets hope so, sproles kicked our butts, and the browns have got some good returners, but i'm sure they watched some film and worked on filling up the gaps.

[edreedfromtheu]

Seriously... every kickoff should be going into the endzone. There is just no reason to give a team hope if you're shutting them down in the other areas of the game. No excuse what-so-ever! Punts, Koch usually hangs them high enough that we can cover those. So I don't mind trying to pin a team back further than the 20 on punts, but kickoffs just aren't even worth the risk.

And when we're returning... just take a knee. Unless Reed is returning, we really are just putting out guys at risk of injury for no good reason. The rest of the returners are simply not skillful enough to make anyone miss. And even if the blocking is perfect, none of them have any breakaway speed! Obviously, if the kick doesn't go into the endzone then they have to return it... but otherwise, just take a knee!

[FerrariFan87]

[quote name='hawk51' date='24 September 2009 - 10:21 PM' timestamp='1253845312' post='240990']
What do you think will help the special teams play, as far as the return situation is concerned, anyone?
[/quote]

I don't know... there seems to be an issue with overall blocking because Carr can't seem to find anywhere to go and is running East-West and not North-South.

[hawk51]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' date='25 September 2009 - 08:42 AM' timestamp='1253882547' post='241101']
I don't know... there seems to be an issue with overall blocking because Carr can't seem to find anywhere to go and is running East-West and not North-South.
[/quote]

Right, just watching it sometimes it seems like he actually runs into the tacklers! They have to get a handle on that, or teams will begin to take advantage of it. Special teams is the easiest place to get injured or a turnover.

Special teams is in more trouble than the secondary, the secondary knows what it needs to work on I think. But specifically the Kick Return team...they need a plan...that works. The punt team isn't too bad, but it could be better. The Ravens would be complete if they could get the special teams situation under control. Again, my opinion only.

[wbirkhead]

I agree with most people's sentiments, but Carr was top 5 in kickoff return yardage last year, so let's give him more than 2 games. Maybe he's still getting used to our ST blocking schemes. That being said, he's never going to be a home-run threat as a kick returner, that's just not his style, and that's not why he was brought in. What he should (and hopefully will) do this season is go a long way in helping us win the field position battle which helps our D tremendously. It hasn't looked good so far, but again, we're only 2 games in. Let the first quarter of the season finish before we start writing him off.

[Alexir]

They will get it together eventually but dont bet on it happening this sunday versus cribbs. I hope he is a FA next year and we sign him. He is the shiznit!

[Steelerkillers]

[quote name='YYZ66' date='24 September 2009 - 05:19 PM' timestamp='1253827185' post='240831']
I'm sure most of us have a bad feeling that a special teams breakdown could cost us a game. I would imagine, and hope, that ST is a top priority with the coaching staff.
[/quote]
i like that picture u have of that Bum keyshawn. He's the real Bum with the one of the most ghetto names i've ever heard of. lol

[Ravensfan23]

Wow reading this thread you would think our Special Teams flat out sucks.

However the Special teams hasn't played that bad. Save for 1 great return by Sproles, the Ravens have done a really good job on Kickoffs.

The Punt team has been great so far. I think the blocked punt has put a black eye on that unit, but otherwise they have been great. The Ravens have had a total of 7 punts. Out of those 7 punts, 0 have been returned and 4 have landed inside the 10 yard line. So that means the coverage unit is doing a good job getting down field and Koch is hanging them high.

The Kick Off unit hasn't been all bad either. As I mentioned above, Sproles had one really good return, and one other time Haushcka had a poor kick. Other then that the Ravens held Sproles in check.

Somebody in this thread said that the Chargers had great field position all day as a result of the coverage units, well that just isn't true imo.
The Chargers had a total of 11 possessions. Of those 11 possessions, 6 started by KO, 4 started by Punt, and 1 by turnover.

The 4 possessions that started after a punt looked like this. 1 yard line(no return) 38 yard line(no return) 3 yard line(no return) and 7 yard line(no return). That's a plus for the Punt Team.

Their starting position after the INT was the 44 yard line. Special teams doesn't control that.

On the 6 Kickoffs, the Chargers only had starting field position past the 26 twice as a result of the coverage unit. One started at Bal 42(great individual effort by Sproles) the other started at the 34(poor kick by Haushcka).

3 of those 6 Kickoffs, the Chargers had starting position of 20, 18(penalty moved the ball to the 33, jumping on the pile) and the 26 yard line. All 3 of those kicks went into the end zone and was returned out.

On the other kickoff, Haushcka had a really good corner kick, but the Ravens caught a bad break when Sproles had his foot on the line.

You can even look back to week 1. The Ravens kicked off 6 times and none of those returns made it past the 26 yard line.

So as far as the actually coverage, the Kickoff unit isn't doing as poor as many people make it seem.

Like I said before about Sproles, he had one great return, but other then that his returns were average. He had returns of 21(1 yard deep in end zone, returned to 20) 26(ball kicked to 8 yard line, returned out to the 34), and 28(2 yards deep in end zone and returned to 26). So Sproles didn't hurt us as much as many think.

The one area I did think the Ravens needed to improve from Week 1 was the return unit. We didn't look good at all in week 1, but in week 2 we were much better.

Chris Carr's kick returns were much more decisive. Carr had returns of 27, 26, 41, 15, and 28.

Carr had a total of 137 return yards. Sproles had a total of 128.

So if people think Sproles had a great day returning the ball, then you have to give Carr just as much props.

Haushcka seems to be on a weekly try out with the fans. In Week 1, many people were concerned because he missed a kick. People feared putting him in a position to make a pressure kick. Well in Week 2 he was 1 of 1 and he made that pressure kick. Haushcka's FG turned a 2 point game into a 5 point lead and forced the Chargers to score a TD, instead of being able to attempt a game winning FG. That kick was huge. So if you bashed the guy for his week 1 performance, praise him for week 2, and look forward to week 3.

In writting all of this I guess my answer to the original question of the thread would be, yes. The Special Teams unit will get it together, because much like the defense they haven't played as poorly as many perceive.

We didn't have as many penalties as week 1. Had it not been for Sproles foot being out of bounds and Lawrence pile jumping(how often is that called?) the overall performance of the Special Teams would have seem much better.

I think the up and down flow and emotion of the game, gave everyone the feeling that we were performing poorly. However after re-watching the game without emotions tied in and already knowing the outcome, I go a better appreciation of how the Special Teams performed. Sproles is one of the best return guys, and the Ravens held up well to the test.

Now we have Cribbs. Where Sproles is a test because of speed, Cribbs is a test because of strength and speed. The Coverage unit will have to hit and wrap up Sunday, arm tackles won't get it done.

That's just my view.

[macbrak]

Koch rocks. Haushka's getting there. The rest, well most of Special Teams is made up of the "leftovers", rookie projects, Backups etc. People we need but don't make an immediate impact on D or O. We shouldn't waste a spot or main receiver (cough Steelers cough) on a person to return.