Quote Originally Posted by mraynrand View Post
I hate to always bring up the injuries, but they are 1/2 of the two-headed monster that makes life difficult for any Packer ST coach. That and the very young roster. Both are endemic problems for special teams in Green Bay. Not excuses, perhaps could find a coach better able to deal with them, but they are realities to be sure. But to be fair, I would need to careful look at the age and experience of other special teams league wide. Right now, I'm just guessing that the Packers STs are a lot younger (less experienced) and less talented due injury and roster composition.
A couple years ago I read an article about ST coaches, which basically said the NFL schemes are minimal and everyone knows them. The difference between the best ST coaches who always do well, and the others who are up and down is how quickly they can get players ready and their ability to adapt to personnel changes, because that is the life of all ST coaches. Basically, all teams change 10-15 players from season to season, and during a season, if it isn't injuries that are changing the bottom of the roster it is the GM cutting players and signing others in an attempt to get better. All ST coaches deal with a lot of personnel changes both from season to season and during the season, it's part of the nature of the job. The bulk of their units are always players on their first contracts.

I don't think Slocum has an excuse this season or any of his seasons in GB.