Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-2017-nfl-mid-season-special-team-rankings
This (Cardinals ranked #32 in STs) pretty much shows how a team cannot improve its biggest and most glaring weakness if the head coach isn't willing to make necessary changes in the way these special teams are coached.
Steve Keim has said that improving STs was one of his top priorities this off-season. To his credit he did sign K Phil Dawson, P Andy Lee and 2nd round draft pick, Budda Baker, has been one of the rare stars as a gunner on cover teams. Keim addressed the kickoff and punt return void by drafting T.J. Logan, but, alas, Logan was injured in the pre-season and is still the IR. Will Holden and Rudy Ford have made some STs contributions. WR Chad Williams, not so much.
Hard to imagine why and how Dawson has been so poor...but, again, there has to be something in the way in which the special teams are coordinated and how much focus, organization, energy and detail is put into the process.
This repeated failure on the Cardinals' part is an indication of why the Cardinals cannot be taken seriously as a legitimate contender. They lost a handful of games last year due to shabby STs, and this year poor STs play has been a contributing factor in all 5 of their losses.
BTW---SF is #3, Rams are #9, Hags are #21.
This (Cardinals ranked #32 in STs) pretty much shows how a team cannot improve its biggest and most glaring weakness if the head coach isn't willing to make necessary changes in the way these special teams are coached.
Steve Keim has said that improving STs was one of his top priorities this off-season. To his credit he did sign K Phil Dawson, P Andy Lee and 2nd round draft pick, Budda Baker, has been one of the rare stars as a gunner on cover teams. Keim addressed the kickoff and punt return void by drafting T.J. Logan, but, alas, Logan was injured in the pre-season and is still the IR. Will Holden and Rudy Ford have made some STs contributions. WR Chad Williams, not so much.
Hard to imagine why and how Dawson has been so poor...but, again, there has to be something in the way in which the special teams are coordinated and how much focus, organization, energy and detail is put into the process.
This repeated failure on the Cardinals' part is an indication of why the Cardinals cannot be taken seriously as a legitimate contender. They lost a handful of games last year due to shabby STs, and this year poor STs play has been a contributing factor in all 5 of their losses.
BTW---SF is #3, Rams are #9, Hags are #21.
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