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Anybody want to talk about catching kickoffs?

Runner

Runner

Hubcap Diamond
Staff member
It was so funny as to be laughable watching our kick returners try to catch a kick-off in the first quarter. Another one of those unexpected twists in the game - having to catch the ball with the sun in the player's eyes.

Seriously though, do all teams have problems like that or is there something fundamentally flawed with our system? Lack of attention to fundamental details frequently causes our errors.
 
Flat out awful. Not sure where the disconnect was - practicing for that liklihood, adjusting after the first miscue, etc.
 
It was something wrong with our specific team. Here's how I know:

1) Buffalo had no problems catching kick offs/punts when they were in that situation.

2) The guys who catch the practice punts at half time were able to catch them 60-70% of the time.

It was really embarassing.
 
Runner said:
It was so funny as to be laughable watching our kick returners try to catch a kick-off in the first quarter. Another one of those unexpected twists in the game - having to catch the ball with the sun in the player's eyes.

Seriously though, do all teams have problems like that or is there something fundamentally flawed with our system? Lack of attention to fundamental details frequently causes our errors.
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I am not sure, but sitting in the Bull Pen, I didn't lose sight of the ball. It sucked looking into the sun but I could still see it, and those guys get paid to do it.... Sign me up!
 
Runner said:
It was so funny as to be laughable watching our kick returners try to catch a kick-off in the first quarter. Another one of those unexpected twists in the game - having to catch the ball with the sun in the player's eyes.

Seriously though, do all teams have problems like that or is there something fundamentally flawed with our system? Lack of attention to fundamental details frequently causes our errors.
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Funny, I watched the game last night with one of my old friends (Bills fan, sry) and he was laughing his rump off watching that kickoff. He kept asking me if our returner needed shades... I remember mentioning to him that they should just keep the lid on the Reliant, that open roof seems to be a huge problem for our guys.

You would think that kick/punt training in Texan sun would make you BETTER at it, not worse. :)
 
Could it be that our ST'ers are horrible at getting in the way of opposing players? What I mean is, how much initial help and protection does our returner actually get? I guess someone watching the actual games live at the stadium can shed some light on this, televised all I see is the ball and the returner, not what is going on further up the field.
 
Malloy said:
Could it be that our ST'ers are horrible at getting in the way of opposing players? What I mean is, how much initial help and protection does our returner actually get? I guess someone watching the actual games live at the stadium can shed some light on this, televised all I see is the ball and the returner, not what is going on further up the field.
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They weren't in any immediate danger - they were kick-offs, not punts.

Other issues.
Our punter, although he kept them pinned back last game, isn't doing well overall.

Our kicker makes field goals an adventure.

A week or two ago a punt returner signaled for a fair catch and than ran with the ball for a penalty.



Maybe it is a special teams coaching problem, but it certainly isn't isolated there. For instance, our QB fumbled on play action when the runner ran into the ball on the fake.

Are the coaches so busy looking for exotic blocking schemes where the center and both tackles get help, or how to manufacture some sort of pressure when blitzing, that they can't be bothered with the simple things?

Some of these players were hand picked by this staff too.
 
Runner said:
They weren't in any immediate danger - they were kick-offs, not punts.

Other issues.
Our punter, although he kept them pinned back last game, isn't doing well overall.

Our kicker makes field goals an adventure.

A week or two ago a punt returner signaled for a fair catch and than ran with the ball for a penalty.



Maybe it is a special teams coaching problem, but it certainly isn't isolated there. For instance, our QB fumbled on play action when the runner ran into the ball on the fake.

Are the coaches so busy looking for exotic blocking schemes where the center and both tackles get help, or how to manufacture some sort of pressure when blitzing, that they can't be bothered with the simple things?

Some of these players were hand picked by this staff too.
Click to expand...

I belive that what we're seeing may be coach mistakes. Not that all the coaches are newbies, but all coaches might not be on the same page, players might be getting different instructions from different coaches.
Many have pointed to the fact that often our players (at least some of them) are look confused. This may or may not be because they're having trouble understanding the game, but because they're getting multiple different instructions.

I guess coaches need time to 'gel' too, just like players. How long that will take I don't know, if it'll happen at all.
 
Runner said:
They weren't in any immediate danger - they were kick-offs, not punts.

Other issues.
Our punter, although he kept them pinned back last game, isn't doing well overall.

Our kicker makes field goals an adventure.

A week or two ago a punt returner signaled for a fair catch and than ran with the ball for a penalty.



Maybe it is a special teams coaching problem, but it certainly isn't isolated there. For instance, our QB fumbled on play action when the runner ran into the ball on the fake.

Are the coaches so busy looking for exotic blocking schemes where the center and both tackles get help, or how to manufacture some sort of pressure when blitzing, that they can't be bothered with the simple things?

Some of these players were hand picked by this staff too.
Click to expand...


Marciano is used to having designated guy on returns. A guy he has worked with in training camp. Each week we have experimented with different guys. Wynn was supposed to be okay for the Eagles, but I guess he is not used to that angle. Nor David Anderson.

I took a picture of what the roof looked like at that moment, and to be fair, I wouldn't have wanted to be look up for the ball then either, but they get paid to do that.

Stanley is a placement punter. He is good at placing the ball, but not so much in booming it.
 
I was at the game, the angle of the sun in the first quarter was just right to make it easy to loose the ball from where it came down. I think that is obvious since 2 different guys missed the ball by 5 yards 3 times in a row. By the second quarter the angle was different. The only thing that made me mad was after the second miss, the coaches put David Anderson in as if the Return guy was the problem...
 
Malloy said:
So we're looking for a second punter, a boom-punter?
We should ask the NFL to allow us to suit up more players on Sundays :)
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We don't have to have more roster spots. Moulds is a big receiver, therefore he can also swing to tight end. Cut a tight end, carry a second punter. It's easy. :rolleyes:
 
dantem said:
I was at the game, the angle of the sun in the first quarter was just right to make it easy to loose the ball from where it came down. I think that is obvious since 2 different guys missed the ball by 5 yards 3 times in a row. By the second quarter the angle was different. The only thing that made me mad was after the second miss, the coaches put David Anderson in as if the Return guy was the problem...
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So basically it was an impossible catch? Nobody's fault? I don't want to accept that answer.
 
gtexan02 said:
1) Buffalo had no problems catching kick offs/punts when they were in that situation.
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I remember at least one punt that the Buffalo PR wouldn't even field that ended up on the 2 or 3 yard line.

Seems to me that both teams were havig a tough time with the sun.

Could be wrong, though. It's happened before.
 
Luckily, I think there is a strong chance that we will Jerome Mathis back. Our roster is really banged up, so there are roster spots available.
 
dantem said:
I was at the game, the angle of the sun in the first quarter was just right to make it easy to loose the ball from where it came down. I think that is obvious since 2 different guys missed the ball by 5 yards 3 times in a row. By the second quarter the angle was different. The only thing that made me mad was after the second miss, the coaches put David Anderson in as if the Return guy was the problem...
Click to expand...

I was at the game, and have been at all games since we started back in 2002. Many of those games were at the same time as this one, and never before have i seen such poor play on the kickoffs. Today was not the first day the sun was shining, did not hurt us before. It's the players.
 
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