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Martin To Return Both Kicks and Punts

CloakNNNdagger

CloakNNNdagger

Hall of Fame
For those of you who might have missed it.

Holliday had 10 kick returns for 194 yards (19.4 average) and 16 punt returns for 147 yards (9.2 avg) in five games. The Texans rank last in the NFL with 17.6 yards per kickoff return. Rookie wide receiver Keshawn Martin, an All-Big Ten kick returner at Michigan State, will take over for Holliday on returns.

Kubiak called it a "tough decision" to release Holliday, who returned three kicks for touchdowns in the preseason.

"As you move through the season, you have issues at one spot or another," Kubiak said. "We’re carrying 11 defensive backs right now. We had six wide receivers, so we have to go pull from somewhere, so that’s the place we chose to go. By no means is it a statement of what we thought of Trindon. We have not been playing up to par on special teams giving returns the opportunity, so that had nothing to do with it. You never know. Our paths may cross again.”
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link

I don't remember Martin returning kicks in college, but he was a heck of a punt returner. My guess is this might herald more WR work for Posey. If things don't work out with Martin or he needs return relief, it will likely be Forsett.link


Edit: Evidently, he also performed well as a kick returner.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>Punt Ret>>>>Kick Ret
Year School Conf Class Pos Ret Yds Avg TD Ret Yds Avg TD
2008 Michigan State Big Ten FR WR 3 1 0.3 0 2 50 25.0 0
2009 Michigan State Big Ten SO WR 21 156 7.4 0 23 665 28.9 1
2010 Michigan State Big Ten JR WR 16 228 14.3 1 20 355 17.8 0
2011 Michigan State Big Ten SR WR 25 274 11.0 1 2 30 15.0 0
Career Michigan State >>>>>>>>>65 659 10.1 2 47 1100 23.4 1
 
kmart.gif
returning kicks = :trophy:




If he takes one to the house it will be a:
bluelight.gif




A Deep Steel Blue Light Special!!!!
 
Playoffs said:
Yeah, I'm wondering if this slows KeyMart's use/progress as a WR a bit.
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For THIS season, don't really care if it does or not. More reps for Posey at the wideout. Then, after the season is over, reevaluate.
 
CloakNNNdagger said:
For those of you who might have missed it.

link

I don't remember Martin returning kicks in college, but he was a heck of a punt returner. My guess is this might herald more WR work for Posey. If things don't work out with Martin or he needs return relief, it will likely be Forsett.link


Edit: Evidently, he also performed well as a kick returner.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>Punt Ret>>>>Kick Ret
Year School Conf Class Pos Ret Yds Avg TD Ret Yds Avg TD
2008 Michigan State Big Ten FR WR 3 1 0.3 0 2 50 25.0 0
2009 Michigan State Big Ten SO WR 21 156 7.4 0 23 665 28.9 1
2010 Michigan State Big Ten JR WR 16 228 14.3 1 20 355 17.8 0
2011 Michigan State Big Ten SR WR 25 274 11.0 1 2 30 15.0 0
Career Michigan State >>>>>>>>>65 659 10.1 2 47 1100 23.4 1
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In his senior year, the Spartans wanted to use KMart in the passing game more, so they use another guy for most of their Kick Returns.
 
76Texan said:
In his senior year, the Spartans wanted to use KMart in the passing game more, so they use another guy for most of their Kick Returns.
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Despite his return skills, he was known more as the fast deep threat wimpy receiver that didn't do well if hit during/after reception. Toughness in traffic was not his forte and he was therefore seldom used across the middle. And he was definitely not known for his blocking skills or desire.......something that may limit his use with Kubiak unless changed.
 
Old eyes. I read Mario to Return Both Kicks and Punts and thought "Well, I guess that's one way to get your $100 million dollars worth out of him"
 
I really like Martin. Dude is really quick and speed. He looks like a play maker. Getting him more touches is a great thing IMO.
 
I wasn't impressed in preseason with Martin. Holliday showed some promise then, but his regular season performance has been terrible, but that is as much on his blockers as it is on him.

I don't see Martin improving things much if we can't block better.
 
hradhak said:
I wasn't impressed in preseason with Martin. Holliday showed some promise then, but his regular season performance has been terrible, but that is as much on his blockers as it is on him.

I don't see Martin improving things much if we can't block better.
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If Martin just makes better decisions about when to run it out and when to take a knee, he'll improve our kick off return average by a good deal.
 
The Pencil Neck said:
If Martin just makes better decisions about when to run it out and when to take a knee, he'll improve our kick off return average by a good deal.
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I expect to see a bunch more touchbacks. Keep in mind, Holliday made the team as a returner only. If he made too many fair catches and touchbacks, the Texans would have eventually cut him. Holiday's only chance at sticking was to return everything and try to make big plays.
 
at least they are not risking manning.

why dont they let posey return kicks? lets get some use out of our draft picks. this is what i dont like about kubiak he doesnt maximize the talent on his roster. guy takes forever to make roster adjustments and doesnt get creative with his roster like a bill belicheck.
 
DaTruthExplodes said:
at least they are not risking manning.

why dont they let posey return kicks? lets get some use out of our draft picks. this is what i dont like about kubiak he doesnt maximize the talent on his roster. guy takes forever to make roster adjustments and doesnt get creative with his roster like a bill belicheck.
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I suspect it could be because Posey's sum total punt returns in college numbered 4 in 2008 (4 yd avg) and 1 in 2009 (1.2 yd), with a sole 1 kick return in 2009 (24 yd). [No returns for 2010 or 2011]:kitten:
 
DaTruthExplodes said:
at least they are not risking manning.

why dont they let posey return kicks? lets get some use out of our draft picks. this is what i dont like about kubiak he doesnt maximize the talent on his roster. guy takes forever to make roster adjustments and doesnt get creative with his roster like a bill belicheck.
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Doesn't maximize the talent? What the hell does that mean? Martin and Lestar Jean have played a decent number of snaps this year and haven't shown much yet. Posey was out of football last year, so expecting him to immediately come in and have a great season as a rookie may be asking a little much. We're 5-0 with a pretty dominant offense. There's not much more Kubiak can do right now to make this team better.
 
I'm pretty excited about Martin getting a chance to return kicks and punts and was hoping he was going to be the choice to do so. I'd like to see what he can do when he gets more opportunities to make plays, whether it be on offense or special teams.
 
Wow, thanks for the video link!

I love Martin's return at 00:45. He just runs straight, using his speed to beat everybody.

Also noticed that the Texans run the exact same play with Martin at 1:08.
 
I'd like to point out that after 1 week, we moved up from 32nd to 30th in the league for average kick-off return.

The Broncos are 31st.
 
Hopefully, we will get to see a bit more of Martin returning punts this week instead of kickoffs. :mariopalm:

At that point, anyone would have been an upgrade over Holliday, but I do think Martin looks promising as a return man.
 
C Madd said:
Hopefully, we will get to see a bit more of Martin returning punts this week instead of kickoffs. :mariopalm:

At that point, anyone would have been an upgrade over Holliday, but I do think Martin looks promising as a return man.
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I agree and will add that I think we'll see more and more improvement as a receiver as well. It's been said here and other places it takes a receiver a while to get accustomed to the pro game. He will only get better. I think the same of Posey. We need to give it a little time to come together. I don't think Rick Smith just threw darts at a board. There's a reason these guys were drafted and we will see the benefits. It will take a little time though. Hope AJ can hang till then.

Thanks for tuning in. :)
 
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