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Special Teams

Special teams SUCKED. Horrible tackling and blocking. Fortunately most of the time it will just be a "Set it on the twenty" situation.
 
edo783 said:
Special teams SUCKED. Horrible tackling and blocking. Fortunately most of the time it will just be a "Set it on the twenty" situation.
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Which is a win for the Texans whether they're kicking off or receiving.

Special teams (other than Rackers) was a huge problem last season, and I'm very skeptical whether a new punter fixes much. Sure won't fix punt and kick returns.
 
I gotta say, the rule isn't THAT bad, I mean if you wanna play a return there's a decent chance you get a great starting field on D. Just kick it a little short. For all the offense catering penalties and rules a defensive change to the game is not so bad.

Someone will figure out a better way to block this element of the game. Is that someone Joe M?
 
After his first return, my immediate reaction was that Demps is clearly not the answer for the return game. Lots of other potential in camp. I think our future KR is on the current roster, waiting for his chance.
 
I wasn't impressed again.

on a side note, I wonder when the regular season starts, how many kicks will teams run out of the endzone. I am thinking not much.
 
Wolf said:
I wasn't impressed again.

on a side note, I wonder when the regular season starts, how many kicks will teams run out of the endzone. I am thinking not much.
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I expect most teams to go back to their old "rules" about when to run a kick out. Right now, they've got to see their fringe players on returns to figure out who to keep and who to let go.

But it's going to be interesting to see if teams start changing their strategies to figure out different ways to approach the kick.
 
I don't remember who kicked it because the Texans have been trying several players at kicker for kickoffs, but someone kicked a kickoff through the uprights.
 
Yeah, Hartman has a boot on him. I wonder if they are asking him to change it up with all the line drive stuff or if he is having trouble squaring it up consistently. I'm leaning towards the former.
 
How has Hartman done with his punts compared to Maynard. My hope is that the Texans keep the best punter, and that he is able to takeover the Kickoff duties from Rackers, so long as he has a strong enough leg to be able to consistently kick it out of the endzone. If this happens then we won't have to be so concerned with our poor kickoff coverage team. Of course, that still leaves our punt coverage team as a concern.
 
Maynard's talent is directional punting, such as coffin-cornering those punts inside the 10. And he showed he can do it.

If Kubiak feels like his offense is good enough to get out of our own end of the field, and at least near the 50 most of the time, he might go with Maynard for the simple fact that Maynard has shown an ability to pin opponents deep inside their own territory.

If he wants to go with OPTIONS, he goes with Hartmann--The guy kicks off and kicks 'em deep, he can punt (has a leg on him), and he can FG kick if Rackers pulls a groin or quad or hammy, etc.

I think Hartmann has the edge, but I've seen Kubiak make calls on roster cuts that left many of us perplexed as to his reasoning. So we'll see.

As far as the ST as a whole? Yeah, it's really bad. It's like those guys are going through the motions. Up until last season, it wasn't like that. Up until last year, the ST was actually a consistent "bright spot" for us. It's gone downhill in a hurry.

The blocking is atrocious. The return guys who return the kicks, they make wrong reads and get hammered quickly. The gunners aren't wrapping up and finishing a tackle. How many times is our punter or kicker making that tackle? I've got it at 2 times thus far, at least. Braman, the LB, made a great stop on a punt return vs. Saints--Other than that, it's been bad.
 
GP said:
Maynard's talent is directional punting, such as coffin-cornering those punts inside the 10. And he showed he can do it.
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He has been killing it on these. I don't think we have had a guy close to his skill level in this area. His other punts have had some distance on them as well. When we signed him I was in Hartman's corner big time and wanted him to win the job but I will now be content either way. Each has their advantages.
 
ChampionTexan said:
Which is a win for the Texans whether they're kicking off or receiving.

Special teams (other than Rackers) was a huge problem last season, and I'm very skeptical whether a new punter fixes much. Sure won't fix punt and kick returns.
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How do you see that as a win? If we don't punt out of bounds or kickoff out of the endzone, if I'm the opposing coach and know a teams' coverage sucks, I'm returning it everytime. Also, If I know the return team sucks, I'm making it returnable everytime. To say that it is a win for the Texans is misguided, because a good coach will take advantage of the weaknesses of opponents.
 
Perki-Perk said:
How do you see that as a win? If we don't punt out of bounds or kickoff out of the endzone, if I'm the opposing coach and know a teams' coverage sucks, I'm returning it everytime. Also, If I know the return team sucks, I'm making it returnable everytime. To say that it is a win for the Texans is misguided, because a good coach will take advantage of the weaknesses of opponents.
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Because what I was saying is a win was the following:

Fortunately most of the time it will just be a "Set it on the twenty" situation.
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Based on your comment it would appear you agree.
 
AJ's Blog

You always hear NFL coaches talk about three phases of the game and if you consistently beat your opponent in two of the three phases, you're likely to win more games than you lose.

Offense isn't a problem for the Texans as long as everyone stays healthy.

Defense was a major issue last season - or has it been every season? - but things might actually be looking up in that department. It can't get worse.

Special teams? They're not so special going on a couple of years now. What's up, Coach Joe?

Yes it's only preseason but after two games the Texans are next to last in the league in kickoff returns with a 16.9 yard average on seven returns, and 25th in the league in punt returns with a 3.7 yards per return average on three returns.

One could say there's no reason for alarm (yet) because the Texans are obviously trying out new players to see what they have on special teams. But there is reason for concern given it's more of the same poor performance we saw on kickoff returns last season.

In the first two preseason games, kickoff return duty has been split between Quintin Demps, Derrick Townsel and Shiloh Keo who you could all classify as bubble players at this point. Demps, Townsel and Jacoby Jones have split punt return duty although Jones has only a fair catch and no returns to his credit in preseason.

Following the Texans win over the Saints, Gary Kubiak acknowledged the problems with the Texans return game, specifically on kickoffs, and suggested we may see something different this week.

"Obviously we have been poor in the return game," said Kubiak during his Sunday afternoon presser. "We’ve got to make some vast improvements in there and just settle down. We’ll really settle down this week with the people that we use in the aspect of that game." (houstontexans.com)

I'm not sure what to make of Kubiak's words about how 'we'll really settle down this week with the people that we use."

It could mean that we'll see Jacoby Jones on punt return duty and Danieal Manning returning kicks Saturday night against the 49ers. Or it could mean something else.
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Continue reading on Examiner.com Texans return game not so special - Houston Houston Texans | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/houston-texans-in-houston/texans-return-game-not-so-special#ixzz1Vtkry6oR
 
I want to see what Trindon can do...Lot's of people have written him off, but if he can produce some big returns I think he will make the team.

Also, I get why a return mans value would diminish, but at the same time I think that a guy that could make the most out of limited opprotunities would be a valuable asset.

I look at it kind of like a closer in baseball...If you can provide a big impact in a limited amount of action you can be an invaluable commodity.

And honestly, I'd rather not have Manning returning kicks because I'd rather he not get injured and be fresh enough to play defense at a high level throughout the game/season. Kinda the same thing for Jacoby.

If Trindon comes out and bust of some long returns or scores I don't see how he doesn't make the team.
 
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