Importance of ST cover guys

[Fencer]

If I'm reading New England Patriots 2012 Statistics - Team and Player Stats - ESPN correctly, the Patriots made 80 kickoff or punt returns last season, and faced 83. Unless I'm missing something, most of the other plays on which ST cover guys contributed favorably would have been downed punts. (I'm assuming that cases in which the quality of coverage affects the fair catch decision or whatever are fairly rare.)

I think that's somewhere between 10 and 11 plays per game on which guys like Slater contribute.

The next question that comes to mind is how important a kicking play is compared to a regular snap from scrimmage. I want to think that a punt or kickoff is a more important play than a generic first down play from scrimmage, but I'm not sure that's correct:

• I'd guess that there are more yards at stake, but I don't have a good way in mind to measure that.
• I'd definitely say that each yard is less important, because they can't contribute to first downs.
• I don't know what the relative likelihood of TOs is -- and by the way, that figure probably depends greatly on whether you count roughing the punter penalties as TOs.

Thoughts?

 

[jmt57]

I was going to post this in another thread about the WR position but I think this is more appropriate here.

NFL Preseason: What You Need to Know Heading into Week 2 | Matt Bowen

Why Special Teams are crucial this weekend for “bubble players”

Some advice for the guys trying to win a job on an NFL roster: Make a play in the kicking game this weekend.

Developing on offense or defense is the goal of every young player. But to buy that time, you need to find a role on special teams first.

Heading into the second week of the preseason, the starters will begin to see more reps on both sides of the ball. That means the “bubble players” will get the majority of their playing time on the four core special teams units (kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return).

Get the ball out on coverage units, make a tackle inside of the 20-yard line, make a play in the return game or block a kick.

I’m talking about splash plays here. The type of play that jumps off the screen when the coaching staff turns on the tape. You need to show the coaches that you can make an impact on Sundays (and be on the game day dress roster) with your abilities on special teams.

It’s not glamorous work. Nah. It’s dirty work. Running down the field at full speed to lower your head on contact hurts. That’s no fun.

But if it keeps you on the roster for another week and leads to more reps in practice, it does the job.

As former Redskins special teams coach Danny Smith said to us, “If you aren’t a starter on offense or defense, you better be a starter on special teams…or we don’t have a spot for you.”​

We as fans tend to look at roster battles strictly being about how well this player produces at a position versus that player, and we tend to not look nearly enough at how well a player did in his assignments on special teams - not just at who got credited with the tackle, but who got downfield, who broke up the blocking to allow another to make the tackle, etc.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I'm assuming that cases in which the quality of coverage affects the fair catch decision or whatever are fairly rare.)

I'd argue the opposite: that when a fair catch is called for, it's because the punt coverage team has done a good job of beating the blockers and putting itself in a position to make an immediate tackle.

As for the relative value of an individual special teams play, I agree with your reasoning on that. on a per-play basis, I'd guess that good coverage/blocking should gain/save you more yards than the average offensive or defensive play, but that's also probably offset by the fact that offensive and defensive yards contribute to first downs/change of possession, whereas ST yards do not.

 

[JMC00]

I posted this in the Jenkins thread in response to a post but

Slater missing a punt in the Seahawks game because of injury might have been the contributing factor of Leon Washington taking a fair catch at the 18 had he been in and getting 25 yards and the Seahawks starting at their 43, which was the drive that won them the game.

I'm not saying the Seahawks wouldn't have scored but starting inside your own 20 is a lot different than starting at almost midfield.