My substantive complaint

[football karma]

setting aside yesterday overall -- there is one area where this team has consistently underperformed:

Special Teams

in a full 16 games:

To the good: one kick off return for a TD

To the bad:

gave up a fake punt for a first down
had a punt blocked
massive disparity in kick off return yardage
massive disparity in punt return yardage

for the last half of the season, I held my breath with every kickoff and punt return the Cards had to cover

for a roster that is deep, there is no excuse for getting beat on special teams consistently

 

[AZCrazy]

Our return game last year was crap, with Ginn having one good return and the rest was nonsense. This year, not much different. Our best kickoff option was to take a knee, otherwise we'd run it out to the 16 every time.

It made me crazy to watch Peterson put in to return kicks. Why not just have Carson Palmer out there returning them. What a dumb idea. We go 6 deep with speedy receivers - that's what those guys are for.

Our punting game was hit or miss all year, and Catanzaro did well on field goals and was strangely questionable on PAT's. He missed more than anyone (although he had to kick more than anyone as well).

We haven't had strong ST's in a while.

 

[Zeno]

Is it a coaching thing? Because something has to be done this offseason when it comes to Special Teams, it just isn't very "special"

 

[WildBB]

Is it a coaching thing? Because something has to be done this offseason when it comes to Special Teams, it just isn't very "special"

Lockett really exposed the unit. From here on out they better be more disciplined. Butler needs to directional punt, not give up the whole field all the time. Tackling has to improve. Need more speed out there as well.

 

[b8rtm8nn]

It's coaching and I would love to get rid of Coach Amos, but BA is loyal and unless we really, really suck (not just mediocre), he isn't going anywhere.

 

[Capital Card]

Yep, for some reason that I can NOT explain, Whiz had better results on special teams, though BA has a deeper roster.

Please don't read anything more into that statement. I'm much happier with BA here.

Go Cards!!!

 

[b8rtm8nn]

Yep, for some reason that I can NOT explain, Whiz had better results on special teams, though BA has a deeper roster.

Please don't read anything more into that statement. I'm much happier with BA here.

Go Cards!!!

That would be the result of coach Kevin Spencer, who ended up in San Diego - he was one of the coaches I hoped BA would hold onto...but he resigned earlier this year citing health reasons.

 

[kerouac9]

The problem is entirely our punting game — on both sides of the punt.

I think that part of the problem is the weird mix of young and old players that we have. The leaders in special teams snaps are Justin Bethel, Alani Fua, Kulabafi, Brittan Golden, and Jauron Brown. No one else has played more than 50% of the special teams snaps. One of those guys is an undrafted rookie, and three are external players.

That means that this team lacks size and strength up the middle of the field. I'd guess that's your problem right there.

 

[Redneck Voodoo]

I was yelling at the TV for us to go for it on 4th down because we'd have better field position than if we punted.

 

[Jetstream Green]

The problem is entirely our punting game — on both sides of the punt.

I think that part of the problem is the weird mix of young and old players that we have. The leaders in special teams snaps are Justin Bethel, Alani Fua, Kulabafi, Brittan Golden, and Jauron Brown. No one else has played more than 50% of the special teams snaps. One of those guys is an undrafted rookie, and three are external players.

That means that this team lacks size and strength up the middle of the field. I'd guess that's your problem right there.

This the one weak point this team has and that can be a factor... you know the metrics so to speak K9, what is the percentage of a game that is special teams is my question because I know the number is really significant

 

[kerouac9]

This the one weak point this team has and that can be a factor... you know the metrics so to speak K9, what is the percentage of a game that is special teams is my question because I know the number is really significant

It depends on what you mean. Generally, FO considers the game to be 2 parts offense, 2 parts defense, and 1 part special teams. So that's 20% of the impact special teams plays on whether you win or lose.

Partly, special teams is just very high variance, particularly now that teams kick the ball out of the back of the end zone.

 

[Jetstream Green]

It depends on what you mean. Generally, FO considers the game to be 2 parts offense, 2 parts defense, and 1 part special teams. So that's 20% of the impact special teams plays on whether you win or lose.

Partly, special teams is just very high variance, particularly now that teams kick the ball out of the back of the end zone.

I mentioned this in the game thread and maybe it was just my frustration... but it seems Cat completely has stunk on the average for kicking touchbacks but always seems to nail a touchback after he botches a EP attempt, it is almost like he then feels he has to focus lol