Special Teams Thread

[Maryland]

I never thought I'd see the day where Harbaugh is fielding one of the worst special teams units in the NFL, but here we are.

Coverage team is terrible, Koch shanks a punt every week it seems, and Hester doesn't fair catch when he should. 

[letitgosometimes]

Learn to punt out of bounds, please.  It is the nicest way to say it.

[kiwi_raven]

Worst topic ever

[Cville-Raven]

Maybe we can get Manziel and he can punt

[Moderator 3]

6 minutes ago, rmw10 said:

Bruh, chill with the 10,000 threads.

Merged

[K-Dog]

I don't know what was up with Hester today. 

[Raving_Heathen]

1 minute ago, K-Dog said:

I don't know what was up with Hester today. 

Didn't he drop punt returns in both the Jags and Raiders games? In the Jags game, I think it was muffed. That may have something to do with his aversion to catching the ball.

[rmw10]

8 minutes ago, K-Dog said:

I don't know what was up with Hester today. 

I mentioned it in the game thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if the wind had something to do with it today.  After seeing how Hopkins' 56 yard FG attempt died in the middle of the air, I'd think some of those punts were going through the same thing.  I think it's easy to say he should have moved up and made the catch from onlookers, but we don't really know what he's seeing from below.  I'm willing to give him a small pass in that regard, but it still wasn't a good day for him today.

[K-Dog]

1 hour ago, rmw10 said:

I mentioned it in the game thread, but I wouldn't be surprised if the wind had something to do with it today.  After seeing how Hopkins' 56 yard FG attempt died in the middle of the air, I'd think some of those punts were going through the same thing.  I think it's easy to say he should have moved up and made the catch from onlookers, but we don't really know what he's seeing from below.  I'm willing to give him a small pass in that regard, but it still wasn't a good day for him today.

Yeah, I see your point.  I will wait a week or two and recheck my feelings. 

[Wildabeast88]

Kick coverage has been awful on kickoffs and punts Waller was back and no improvement, also Hester is reminding me of Jacoby at the end where he was returning everything and not making it back to the 20 it is downright sickening. 

[PurpleCity5]

Awful job, but offense was the worst unit today. 

[Maryland]

Today they allowed a punt return TD; last week they allowed a punt return to the 6 yd line; the week before that Rashad Greene had a long punt return that later resulted in a touchdown. Aiken was the goat last week, missing a crucial tackle and getting the fair-catch interference. This week it seemed like Waller was rusty, taking a poor angle on the punt return. Plus there was that block in the back on Hester's return to ruin good field position (a ticky-tack call though).

I'm mainly just venting, but it's still something that must improve. 

[manofsteel]

Punt returners for th Ravens has turned into a joke. A fair catch would keep us at least 15yds up further. Why do they just let it bounce around on the ground when it is that far away from the goal line? I will never know. Either catch it and run or make sure of where the ball is going to bounce to  and call a fair catch. Help out the offense. 

[Daft Classic]

Hester has definitely been too lax in letting the ball bounce, and it has been costly. You'd expect the greatest return man of all time to understand the impact of a fair catch, so I assume this is easily fixable, but at the same time, I do appreciate him not being too aggressive with catching and returns. Can you name all the returns/returners we've had that wanted to make a big play and end up getting destroyed and fumbling? 

[rmw10]

1 hour ago, Daft Classic said:

Hester has definitely been too lax in letting the ball bounce, and it has been costly. You'd expect the greatest return man of all time to understand the impact of a fair catch, so I assume this is easily fixable, but at the same time, I do appreciate him not being too aggressive with catching and returns. Can you name all the returns/returners we've had that wanted to make a big play and end up getting destroyed and fumbling? 

That's kind of my thing with Hester and why I'm willing to wait it out a couple more games on him.  Usually when you see a returner diminish, it's their speed or burst.  It's not typically the mental side of things.  Although Hester is losing speed and burst, you can tell he's still plenty capable of returning on that aspect alone.  I just can't see him going from one of the smartest guys to making awful decisions.  For now at least, I trust that he's making what he feels is the best decision.  He really does need to be better, though.  Only time will tell if I'm wrong in that opinion.

[Mount-Cody]

Chris Carter was just released today. Guess he wasn't playing too well.