"Special" Teams

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What's the deal?

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

Well, our punt unit is terrible. That's inexcusable for a team that used a draft pick on a punter, regardless of whether or not he makes the team. Our field goal kicker's struggles are well accounted for in these stats also, although he's doing a better job on kickoffs than most give him credit for.

We know that Joe Gibbs put a high quality on special teams when building his rosters, and perhaps Cerrato didn't get the memo here. But were there signs of trouble in the past?

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Football analysis and NFL stats for the Moneyball era - Authors of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

Last year, our punt team was one of the better punt teams in the league. This year, we're punting a lot more and have the second worst punt coverage team in the league (thank god for Minnesota), which is a bad combination. We've always had a poor PR unit, and a great KR unit, but it's how we are kicking and covering kicks that is making all the difference.

Ultimately though, this seems more like a gradual decline than something that we just ignored this off-season. We have the same special teams coach, so it looks like the players we currently have on teams aren't getting it done. Considering that we are using a lot of defensive starters on coverage units, it's clearly not a deficiency in the talent of the player, rather how well they do the job that's the issue.