McCourty Kick Returns

[brdmaverick]

Not only was yesterday's win against the Colts McCourty's best day from a safety perspective, but it was also his best kick returning day.

I am STILL hoping there is a better option than McCourty (and thought I we had it when we saw Edelman return a kick last week), but McCourty did make some improvement.

Coming into yesterday's game, McCourty returned 15 kickoffs and ONLY 7 were brought back to the 20 yard line. Which means there were more times (8) when he returned a kick and DID NOT make it back to the 20. That means more times than not the team would have been better off taking a knee in the endzone. Sure, on one of those failed attempts he caught the ball at the one (negating a kneeldown opportunity), but noting that a player caught the ball outside the goalline and STILL didn't make it past the 20 also doesn't help your argument.

Sure, returns do have the ability to hit the home run (TD against NY), but it also has the opportunity for negative (worse field position, penalities, fumble). We've seen much more of the latter than the former. Outside of his touchdown return, none of the other returns made it to the 30 yard line.

There is positive improvement though.

Yesterday McCourty returned 4 kicks and made it past the 20 on 3 of those tries.

I'd still like to see Edelman or someone else given a shot, but at least there were some positive steps taken yesterday for McCourty.

 

[brdmaverick]

Ok, please don't misconstrue this as a 'McCourty Hate' thread. I've never been involved with those. I could see how this could come off as 'McCourty had a great day at safety so now they have to attack his kick returns'.....no, that's not my intention.

My intention is to have a reasonable discussion about the kickoff return game as it is subpar at the moment. It's fortunate that we have a offense that can see to overcome that, but it will be harder without Gronk.

 

[chasa]

obviously sitting on my couch i have a different perspective, BUT...

Mccourty doesnt seem to have very good vision on returns, twice he had really good cut back lanes but instead he ran right into a group of guys and ended up short of the 20 yard line.

He doesnt seem to have the same kind of instinct welker and edlemen have during punt returns.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

Not to diminish his day but I was wondering how much of it had to do with the Colts having a dismal day on special teams. We'll see how McCourty performs against some of the better teams they'll face which improved special teams.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Has Dennard return any kicks?

 

[brdmaverick]

Edelman is a jack of all trades, I say why not put him back there? He has instinct.

In the Bills game he returned one kick for 32 yards, that's longer than 18 of 19 McCourty's returns.

 

[DocHoliday]

Edelman is a jack of all trades, I say why not put him back there? He has instinct.

In the Bills game he returned one kick for 32 yards, that's longer than 18 of 19 McCourty's returns.

Different skill set really, not to mention if he's the new WR3 full time you gotta keep him at least a little fresh

 

[brdmaverick]

Different skill set really, not to mention if he's the new WR3 full time you gotta keep him at least a little fresh

I should clarify that the one kick return I was referring too against the Bills was a kick off return. I do get your point that they are different skill sets, but apparently he is in contention to get reps since he was put out there in the Buffalo game.

Your point about him needing to be on offense more is certainly valid, though, especially now with Gronk out.

 

[Sicilian]

Different skill set really, not to mention if he's the new WR3 full time you gotta keep him at least a little fresh

Not as much anymore IMO. With the new kickoff rules, kicks that are actually returnable tend to be higher, more arcing kicks. They're still a little different, but the skills that make Edelman a good PR (elusiveness, vision, ability to hit the jets when the seam opens up), now translate more between both PR and KR than they used to.

 

[BlueThunder]

Was it me or did McCourty seem to be running in molasses?

Wonder if Demps has any ability on KR for next season.

If he gets injured, we are down to Wilson,Gregory and Chung (when healthy) at Safety.