Cardinals Special Teams

[ARZCardinals]

It's amazing to me how year after year the special teams looks so bad.
1- Kick offs the teams often get to the 25 and beyond
2- When we receive kick offs our guys will run it out 8 yards deep in the end zone and ALWAYS get tackled by or before the 15 yard line.
3 - Punt returns our returner has often no time to even catch the ball and run....it's fair catch or get clobbered.

How is it I watch the Seahawks and their special teams is ALWAYS GOOD. Year after year...amazing. I watched last nights game.....all I have to say is LOOK OUT. They've mastered the kickoff. Their kicker sky highs the ball....you'll get it on the 5...and by the 10 yard line your guy is gonna be clobbered! ADDING ON...on kick returns....they often get to the 35 and beyond.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel...I don't get why the Cards can be so bad at a phase of the game....when there is a easy model to follow. It's not like you have to have Tom Brady at QB...this is special teams....it's effort and coaching.

You coach a guy...when you are 4 yards deep DO NOT DO NOT...again DO NOT bring it out...TAKE A KNEE. YOU ARE NOT SUPERMAN...you WILL get nailed and rather than being at the 25 we are at the 15...or worse.
You give away 10 yards every kickoff.

Thoughts?

 

[Brian]

It's amazing to me how year after year the special teams looks so bad.
1- Kick offs the teams often get to the 25 and beyond
2- When we receive kick offs our guys will run it out 8 yards deep in the end zone and ALWAYS get tackled by or before the 15 yard line.
3 - Punt returns our returner has often no time to even catch the ball and run....it's fair catch or get clobbered.

How is it I watch the Seahawks and their special teams is ALWAYS GOOD. Year after year...amazing. I watched last nights game.....all I have to say is LOOK OUT. They've mastered the kickoff. Their kicker sky highs the ball....you'll get it on the 5...and by the 10 yard line your guy is gonna be clobbered! ADDING ON...on kick returns....they often get to the 35 and beyond.

You don't have to reinvent the wheel...I don't get why the Cards can be so bad at a phase of the game....when there is a easy model to follow. It's not like you have to have Tom Brady at QB...this is special teams....it's effort and coaching.

You coach a guy...when you are 4 yards deep DO NOT DO NOT...again DO NOT bring it out...TAKE A KNEE. YOU ARE NOT SUPERMAN...you WILL get nailed and rather than being at the 25 we are at the 15...or worse.
You give away 10 yards every kickoff.

Thoughts?

Been saying it for a few years now: The worst thing BA did was to let Coach Spencer go.

I've come to accept that ST will be bad under BA. I doubt he'll fire the coach.

 

[ARZCardinals]

Been saying it for a few years now: The worst thing BA did was to let Coach Spencer go.

I've come to accept that ST will be bad under BA. I doubt he'll fire the coach.

I agree with you 100% ....it's amazing to me to see him as a coach who's considered one of the best, but how can you be one of the best when YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A PROBLEM and you do nothing to fix it.

Like you, I've come to accept our special teams will put the offense and defense at a disadvantage every game.

He needs to fire our ST coach and get someone who can fix this....again this IS NOT rocket science...nor is it a 'missing players' issue. It's desire and coaching.

How can you accept giving away 60 yards on offense every game because your kick returner goes mental thinking they can run it out 8 yards deep in the end zone? I'll never understand it. Sure once every 5 seasons you'll get a TD, but for 4 seasons and 15 games you put your offense at a disadvantage.

 

[sr7706]

When $$ Mike Adams and Bethel were our gunners during Whis era, we might of had a crappy record but damn was our kick and punt coverage was lights out! The other team never even had the chance to make a return. Can you imagine if we had that on our team today what a weapon that would be!

Now, You have to hold your breath on every kick it seems. The loyalty to D. Butler is mind boggling considering what we have seen from him during a whole Nfl season or has it been 2 seasons? We almost got housed a couple times during the preseason if it wasn't for a great tackle on our last line of defense on kick coverage. Also the lack of attention to drafting a return specialist is head scratching. Imagine what a Tyler Lockett type of returner could add to this team.

PP21 does not need to return punts ever again!!! It's like playing Russian roulette having him back there now, if he ever gets hurt doing that, we are f'd! Not to mention he seems very gun shy. Not sure why a team with Super Bowl talent, why we screw around so much on special teams...

 

[b8rtm8nn]

I hate our coach, here he is in a video clip - I thought "high school coach at best". Fortunately, this is as high as he goes in the coaching world; under Whiz, he would be the next offensive coordinator.

http://www.azcardinals.com/videos/v...s-Jones-/0986ea65-703b-4548-8041-fbe64bab469d

 

[Jasper]

I think are flaws are personel related not coaching.
I think Marcus Cooper will be a nice addition on punts.

I feel the SK is not willing to overpay for special teams.
Our kicker, LS, and punter probably make the league minimum. SK is not going to pay 2-3 million more for another punter that averages 1 yard more gross avg. in his metric/value equation.
Punters are touch and go. Scott Player, Zastudil, Graham were very good punters only to suddenly lose their value and get cut.

 

[Jasper]

Oh I forgot who was that POS specialist KR/PR we signed for millions from Carolina only to have him fair catch 90% of his catches and kneel 90% of his kickoff returns eventually to have him fumble the playoff game away in Carolina and then resign with Carolina the following season?

Just from that experience alone SK will never sign a FA KR/FR ever again.

 

[ARZCardinals]

Ted Gunn

 

[ARZCardinals]

Oops typed that wrong
Ted Ginn

 

[Garthshort]

ST's will improve for three reasons:
1. If healthy Justin Bethel returns and continues as our best Special Teams player.
2. No more mix and match as we will be playing our BEST. KR auditions are over.
3. Kick Returns will probably not be returned as often and team will start at the 25 yard line. Which is better than starting around the 15 as in the PS. Or incurring the usual "block in the back" penalty.

 

[D-Dogg]

ST is so crucial, and we've been BAD at it for awhile now. For how good we are offensively and defensively, if we were above average at ST, we'd be practically unbeatable. 30 yard net punts are not good....but sometimes that's good for Butler.

 

[WisconsinCard]

ST is so crucial, and we've been BAD at it for awhile now. For how good we are offensively and defensively, if we were above average at ST, we'd be practically unbeatable. 30 yard net punts are not good....but sometimes that's good for Butler.

Good point Dogg, I would be happy if he could just get it 40 yards with good enough hang time that the PR would have to fair catch it. DB is very good at pinning the opposition deep though, I'll give him credit for that. But I think that is product of his "weak" leg.