denverYooper
12-24-2010, 03:39 PM
Decent read by Wilde on Slocum. It's mostly listing the positive things that have happened this year, things that I've failed to notice given the obvious problems.
http://www.espnmilwaukee.com/includes/news_items/40/news_items_more.php?id=5146§ion_id=40
I thought this was interesting b/c they seem (to me) to draw a lot of penalties:
There are areas where the Packers special teams have improved this year. The penalty epidemic that plagued the units last year has been virtually eradicated, with the group having gone four straight games without a penalty earlier this year. Entering Sunday’s penultimate regular-season game against the New York Giants at Lambeau Field, the Packers have committed 17 special teams penalties (down from 30 last year) and only five combined holding/illegal block penalties (down from 18 last year).
The article also notes the changing personnel argument that has been hashed over here fairly often, Masthay is an upgrade from last year, as is Shields.
And they were mediocre on KOR teams, apparently:
At midseason the kickoff coverage unit ranked a respectable 14th in opponents’ average starting field position. Kicker Mason Crosby appears to have rebounded from last year’s disconcerting slump.
One last thing, not necessarily a 'positive':
Having grown up in a coaching family – his dad, R.C. Slocum, coached Texas A&M from 1989 through 2002 and is the school’s winningest coach – Slocum recognizes that criticism comes with the job. He also knows what life is like out of the profession.
After starting his coaching career volunteering under his dad in 1989 and working with McCarthy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990, Slocum coached special teams at Texas A&M (1991-’97, 2000-‘02) and USC (1998-’99) before leaving coaching to start his own custom home building and commercial development company in Texas. He then returned to coaching in 2005 at the University of Mississippi before McCarthy hired him as Stock’s assistant in 2006.
I found it interesting that he worked mostly for his dad at Texas A&M with a few short stints elsewhere. He's probably a good guy and seems popular with the players (and M3) but those paragraphs make me wonder if that's the only place he could hold a job until McCarthy had an opening on his staff.
There are many positives that get washed over this year and this article did a good job of emphasizing them but in the end it's hard to get over the fact that they have seemed to break down at key times, costing games.
http://www.espnmilwaukee.com/includes/news_items/40/news_items_more.php?id=5146§ion_id=40
I thought this was interesting b/c they seem (to me) to draw a lot of penalties:
There are areas where the Packers special teams have improved this year. The penalty epidemic that plagued the units last year has been virtually eradicated, with the group having gone four straight games without a penalty earlier this year. Entering Sunday’s penultimate regular-season game against the New York Giants at Lambeau Field, the Packers have committed 17 special teams penalties (down from 30 last year) and only five combined holding/illegal block penalties (down from 18 last year).
The article also notes the changing personnel argument that has been hashed over here fairly often, Masthay is an upgrade from last year, as is Shields.
And they were mediocre on KOR teams, apparently:
At midseason the kickoff coverage unit ranked a respectable 14th in opponents’ average starting field position. Kicker Mason Crosby appears to have rebounded from last year’s disconcerting slump.
One last thing, not necessarily a 'positive':
Having grown up in a coaching family – his dad, R.C. Slocum, coached Texas A&M from 1989 through 2002 and is the school’s winningest coach – Slocum recognizes that criticism comes with the job. He also knows what life is like out of the profession.
After starting his coaching career volunteering under his dad in 1989 and working with McCarthy at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990, Slocum coached special teams at Texas A&M (1991-’97, 2000-‘02) and USC (1998-’99) before leaving coaching to start his own custom home building and commercial development company in Texas. He then returned to coaching in 2005 at the University of Mississippi before McCarthy hired him as Stock’s assistant in 2006.
I found it interesting that he worked mostly for his dad at Texas A&M with a few short stints elsewhere. He's probably a good guy and seems popular with the players (and M3) but those paragraphs make me wonder if that's the only place he could hold a job until McCarthy had an opening on his staff.
There are many positives that get washed over this year and this article did a good job of emphasizing them but in the end it's hard to get over the fact that they have seemed to break down at key times, costing games.