Special Teams?

[The Raven]

I think that the problems related special teams are blown way out of proportion. I'm hearing all this nonsense about how we should fire Rosburg because our STs were so bad. But how good were they the past 3 years? Guess who the special teams coach was for those 3 years? Oh, right, it was Rosburg. Yes, I know the special teams was awful this year. They were really awful. But why does Jerry get blamed for something that the players are responsible for?

The Special Teams were great for the previous 3 years, why is Rosburg blamed for one single bad season?

It's not even like special teams are that complicated to where the coordinator can be [i]completely[/i] blamed. Yeah, there are different calls, and different plays and such but in the end, its simple. Run fast, stay in your lane, break down, don't lose contain, track down the ball carrier, and kill him.

[Alexir]

I've never been overwhelmed by our special teams but I think it has more to do with not having a great kick returner. Yeah we got beat a couple times and missed tackles, but it is what it is. Patrick Peterson and Josh Cribbs are sick.

[SideStep77]

I think it comes down to player execution. We need to tackle. I'm ok with returns not getting much yardage but we can't give up ST touchdowns.

[gabefergy]

The aspect of ST that bothered me the most was lack of KR and lack of coverage on KRs. Now, I'm not trying to blame the ST coach here, but it was a problem all year and never really got fixed. It might be a personnel thing and injuries take its toll to ST more than a lot of people realize because players are asked to do things that they arent used to.

[Jillester]

Why you ask? Because Rosburg has to be held accountable. He receives accolades when the team performs well and he gets heat when they don't.

[bMore Heathen]

I have never really been impressed with our STs since Rosburg and Harbs got here. The reason ou kick coverage was good 2 years ago was because Cundiff was kicking touchbacks, nobody had to cover.
And we lost a big contributor to the gunner position when we promoted Carry Williams to starter this past year, but what's our philosophy? Next man up...

(null)

[scrock]

i understand that our special teams were poor and part of the is because of the talent wasnt the best or injuries maybe? but i thought the coach would be fired for sure....i guess they will give him better players and see if he can turn it around

....we shall see

[JO_75]

I don't think we need to get rid of him, it's more of the players executing more, the missed tackles on KR/PR that allow other teams better starting position. The main issue we need to fix is we need a KR/PR, because every time in that New England game, we always had to make a drive of 80 yards or more, if we get a Kick Returner, make better tackles on Kickoffs, then we can be the one to win the field position battle, not the other team.

[The Raven]

[quote name='JO_75' timestamp='1328044356' post='980890']
I don't think we need to get rid of him, it's more of the players executing more, the missed tackles on KR/PR that allow other teams better starting position. The main issue we need to fix is we need a KR/PR, because every time in that New England game, we always had to make a drive of 80 yards or more, if we get a Kick Returner, make better tackles on Kickoffs, then we can be the one to win the field position battle, not the other team.
[/quote]

Thats exactly what I'm thinking. Rosburg isn't respnsible or the embarassing amount of missed tackles on STs.

And don't gimme that "well as a coach he should teach them how to tackle" nonsense. Thats bull. If you don't know how to tackle by the time your in the NFL... well. Shame on you.

[FerrariFan87]

If anyone on the staff is going to be fired, Rosburg has to be near the top of the list... the ST were beyond horrible in both returns and coverage.

[Ed_Reed20]

[quote name='FerrariFan87' timestamp='1328051446' post='981066']
If anyone on the staff is going to be fired, Rosburg has to be near the top of the list... the ST were beyond horrible in both returns and coverage.
[/quote]

Rosburg obviously deserves blame for the coverage being as bad as it was, but there's little any ST coordinator can be about returns. If the team has a great athlete returning kicks and punts, so be it. If they don't, returns will be an issue. Both Reed and Webb had big returns when they got their chances. It's not Rusburg's fault Zibby couldn't do the same.

[TDubbs]

Our ST coverage was poor and head scratching most of the season. Some of it is to do with coaching ( although it shouldnt because that should be Harbaughs area of expertise ), but it always comes down to personnel and execution. I feel like if we had a legitimate Kick Return threat we could have won a few more games, possibly put up more points in the AFC Championship. I know Ozzie thought David Reed would only improve on last seasons success, but we all saw how that worked out. Id like to see us find someone who can take it to the house, instead of using defensive starters returning kicks like Webb.