Packers Ranked 5th At Football Outsiders

[Guiness]

The continued suckness of the STs just confounds me. Given that a number of ST players have stepped in and done a good job when starters went down, I have to think it's not a lack a talent. You have to hope MM will figure out that his ST coach is not doing the Pack any favors.

That's actually an excellent point. The only thing you could ask is if the guys on ST were more suited to 'regular' downs, but I don't think anyone would buy that.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Personally, I think our STs are looking better than they have in awhile.

KICKING
Mason Crosby is always going to look bad statistically because McCarthy trots him out there for long FGs regularly and he kicks in Lambeau. We have a built in disadvantage there. I'm convinced that he's a good kicker. Stat to think about: Crosby is 21 of 23 indoors (91.3%) in his career while Ryan Longwell is 113 of 129 indoors (87.6%). Also, think about the fact that a larger percentage of his kicks have been from 40+ or longer in his career (because of his leg strength) and you can see why his FG% is going to be lower than a lot of kickers. That's going to hurt the STs overall ranking.

PUNTING
Tim Masthay struggled badly early in the season, but he may have turned the corner. He's put in three strong games in a row. Let's hope that continues.

PUNT COVERAGE
As Masthay has gotten better, so has the punt coverage. In the last three games, the Packers have given up only 17 punt return yards on 4 returned punts--while also forcing four fair catches with just one touchback.

KICKOFF COVERAGE
Hard to evaluate. The Packers are middle of the Pack in kickoff return yards allowed. I think Crosby has actually struggled on kickoffs compared to what we are used to. Not sure if they are asking him to directional kick or kick for hang time.

PUNT RETURNS
Tramon Williams is a solid returner, but the blocking hasn't been there. This is the one phase I think we need to improve the most. I think Williams is capable of being a good punt returner.

KICKOFF RETURNS
Sam Shields has a chance to spark this unit.

I see hope amongst this unit--although Minnesota will be tough. I think the rank at or near the top in overall special teams play.

[pbmax]

Agree about Masthay (he has looked better recently). Crosby has to improve in the middle distances (covered in Patler's thread). Previously, it was the right hash issue, but that seems not to have carried over to this season. Regardless of use, a missed FG presents field position problems, esp. with long kicks. I have not seen the odds dissected on deciding where to kick recently. At some point, the points you will score (kicks*completion% at that distance*3) do not make up for the field position you surrender on misses (several sites have determined certain yardages/field positions to be worth a point value based on the overall odds of scoring from a specific spot on the field).

Kickoff coverage varies between good and abysmal. This is unfortunate, but Quarless on coverage after Lee was promoted was a step back. There may be others. Ignoring Crosby's OOB kickoffs (another great question to ask his coordinator), there are still too many drives started past the 30. But the unit looks like it had potential compared to last year when someone starting behind their own 20 meant that the returner had tripped.

Punt coverage has been improved with Masthay's upward swing, but like KO coverage, returners still escape too frequently with players in position to make a play.

There looks to be room to run on KOs. I agree, Shields has a change to make this unit above average. But that chance will be competing with the chance for a muff or turnover by the inexperienced Shields. Punt returns are hard to judge Tramon just loves to make two moves where one would be better. I don't see the PR blocking being as effective as on KO.