Steelers to hire Redskins Danny Smith as special teams coach | ProFootballTalk (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/30/steelers-to-hire-redskins-danny-smith-as-special-teams-coach/)
I am happy about this. his coverage teams have been solid but I expect more from our return teams.
Schneed10
01-30-2013, 08:28 PM
I thought he was a good ST coach but to me the speed at the bottom of your roster, and depth in general, drives ST performance much more than the coach does. It's not like there's some big schematic secret on special teams that it takes a great mind to design.
mbedner3420
01-30-2013, 08:28 PM
See you later, Brandon Banks.
12thMan
01-30-2013, 09:01 PM
Yeah, no great loss in my opinion. He's definitely NFL caliber though. But there were times I wanted kick him in the nuts.
ethat001
01-30-2013, 09:35 PM
Anything that reminds me of the swinging gate needs to go. Good coach would've walked off the field when Zorn called it.. TWICE.
Me: "Sir, I just have one question for you -- did you or Zorn call the Swinging Gate play?"
Smith: "Well, we just wanted [the Giants] to call a timeout...which they did."
Me: "Yes."
Smith: "If you remember Suisham had just gone to the Cowboys, and we were playing them next week. He knew the play, and we knew we couldn't run it against the Cowboys."
Me: "Yes, makes sense."
Smith: "So, I told Zorn, 'Don't do it [after the timeout].' But, he called it b/c he wanted to use it and knew he couldn't against the Cowboys."
Me: "Yes, unfortunately, the thing that people remember is the one time you screwed up. You guys had a lot of success with the Special Teams on trick plays that year."
Smith: "Yes, that's exactly right."
Burgundy and Gold Banquet: My Conversations with Danny Smith, Shanahan, and Darryl Grant (http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?365514-Burgundy-and-Gold-Banquet-My-Conversations-with-Danny-Smith-Shanahan-and-Darryl-Grant)
GMScud
01-30-2013, 10:55 PM
Well, I know a lot of it has to do with personnel- you can only cook with the ingredients the chef gives you, so to speak. His coverage units were always good, but we've never had an explosive return threat and our kicking situation has never had any consistency either.
I just kind of shrug my shoulders at this move.
SmootSmack
01-30-2013, 11:09 PM
Well, I know a lot of it has to do with personnel- you can only cook with the ingredients the chef gives you, so to speak. His coverage units were always good, but we've never had an explosive return threat and our kicking situation has never had any consistency either.
I just kind of shrug my shoulders at this move.
At the same time, Smith has aggressively pushed for some of that personnel-Gano and Banks specifically.
GMScud
01-30-2013, 11:24 PM
At the same time, Smith has aggressively pushed for some of that personnel-Gano and Banks specifically.
Very true. I can see how he could have made the argument for Gano... But once the kickoff rules changed... well, to me it was a no-brainer to show Banks the door at that point.