Unspecial teams

[BlitzFritz]

Special teams brain freeze

Did anyone else find that onside kick just embarassing?
We obviously didnt have the hands team out there. But even the guys on the field didnt seem to know how to play it.

O'Brien's genius rating just fell a notch or two.
I guess it goes to show even smart coaches can lose sight of the game.

Thoughts?


-- FRITZ

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: Special teams brain freeze

I had that thought at first but after watching it a second time you can clearly see our players recegnize and step up when the ball is kicked it was just perfectly placed.

I think you can criticize why hands teams wasnt out there or why they werent at the 40 but considering where the players were lined up they did react. The 3 guys closest to where the kick went did not start running the wrong way they just were to far to make the play.

 

[signbabybrady]

The golfer analogy is a good one. It's not a lack of talent or ability so much as a mental block that develops. Maybe there are some mechanics involved as well, I don't know. But just as Ghost struggled early on yet rounded into form, I have to think (and maybe this is wishful thinking) that Scott O'Brien can help Ingram turn it around.

Ingram was really solid all last season so we know he can do the job. But I have no idea how to actually fix it.

As the Ingram struggles grow more evident I am left wondering if maybe the snaps or the mechanics of the snaps may have lead to Ghostkowski's early struggles.

 

[GoWhalers]

Re: Special teams brain freeze

I had that thought at first but after watching it a second time you can clearly see our players recegnize and step up when the ball is kicked it was just perfectly placed.

I think you can criticize why hands teams wasnt out there or why they werent at the 40 but considering where the players were lined up they did react. The 3 guys closest to where the kick went did not start running the wrong way they just were to far to make the play.

I agree completely -- that was a near-perfect onside kick. When I first saw it, I didn't think it had traveled the minimum 10 yards required. On replay it was about 10 + half a yard, and took a favorable backwards bounce towards the Bolts.

I'm not sure the Pats can recover that ball regardless, even in an obvious "hands" protection formation.

 

[BlitzFritz]

Re: Special teams brain freeze

the hands formation recovers that because the front line of Pats blocks the oncoming Chargers, and the backline just catches the ball and falls to the ground. i havent seen anyone solve that approach to hands team yet, its near perfect.

I agree completely -- that was a near-perfect onside kick. When I first saw it, I didn't think it had traveled the minimum 10 yards required. On replay it was about 10 + half a yard, and took a favorable backwards bounce towards the Bolts.

I'm not sure the Pats can recover that ball regardless, even in an obvious "hands" protection formation.

 

[GoWhalers]

Re: Special teams brain freeze

the hands formation recovers that because the front line of Pats blocks the oncoming Chargers, and the backline just catches the ball and falls to the ground. i havent seen anyone solve that approach to hands team yet, its near perfect.

I get how the hands formation is supposed to work, but I've never seen an onside kick before that travels only the minimum 10 yards and bounces backwards. The ball is then traveling away from the backline, and the frontline is caught between blocking players and trying to recover the ball.

 

[buile]

wondering if maybe the snaps or the mechanics of the snaps may have lead to Ghostkowski's early struggles.

The snaps I recall, Mesko really showed his hands, got the ball in place, and the kicks were good. I don't recall on the misses if there was an errant snap. Let's just hope we've seen the last of it.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

As the Ingram struggles grow more evident I am left wondering if maybe the snaps or the mechanics of the snaps may have lead to Ghostkowski's early struggles.

I can't recall any really bad snaps that led to misses, though I recall Zoltan snagging a few and getting them down in time. But those were all makes. Maybe part of it is the confidence of the kicker that the snap will be there, and maybe he's hesitating a bit before he gets into his full kick. I don't know.

I do recall Ghost saying he wished he had more chances to kick in the pre-season before the regular season started, as he only got 3 kicks in all pre-season, 2 in the first game. Part of it may be the confidence in a new holder as well in Mesko. For whatever reason though, Ghost is back to his usual self. Ingram, I hope he will be back to normal this week.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

On the subject of special teams, Reiss brought up some good points.

Patriots will focus on onside kicks - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

"We’ve got to do a better job of that. That’s the second time that’s happened," Belichick said Monday at Gillette Stadium. "We’ve got to be more alert in that situation, maybe change something that we’re doing schematically, and also just be more prepared for that play. It’s come up twice this year. I don’t think we’ve handled it the way we need to handle it either time."

The team will spend some time working on onside kicks. But it was BB's note about possibly changing up the scheme a bit that makes me wonder if there was a weakness in the alignment of the return team that other special teams coaches may have picked up on and tried to expose.

Closer look at Tate factor on returns - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Explode early in the season like kickoff returner Brandon Tate did, and opponents start to alter their plans. The last two weeks have been evidence of that.

Reiss points out 3 examples of teams trying to keep the ball away from Tate, and how they benefited the Pats. He mentioned last week when Baltimore tried a low-arcing kick and kicked the ball out of bounds, giving the Pats good field position which led to a TD, as well as the Chargers game where they tried to squib a kick and it went out of bounds as well. So even though Tate didn't make a big return, his abilities still impacted the game.