Kick-off and Punt Coverage, Worst Since 1949 & 1989

[Patler]

Wow, I knew it was bad, especially the kick-off coverage, but this surprised me:

Green Bay's coverage units were particularly brutal. Opponents averaged 26.0 yards per kickoff, the most allowed by a Packers team since 1948. Foes also averaged 13.1 yards on punt returns, the most against a Green Bay team since 1989.

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[red]

our ST coach isn't responsible for that area of the team

it was someone or something else that was responsible

[bobblehead]

The general theme is set. We suck at taking on blockers and making tackles both on ST and Defense. I have said it 20 times if I have said it once...we need to change the way we practice (and it will help with the injuries as well).

[Guiness]

13 yards on punt returns??? That seems insanely bad.

I feel Mathsay is a very good punter, so am curious how much he is to blame for this. One thing I noticed is that the Packers rank third lowest in PR attempts (made against them) Mathsay forces a lot of fair catches. Then I looked at punting attempts, and the Packers are also third lowest there! lol

[red]

13 yards on punt returns??? That seems insanely bad.

I feel Mathsay is a very good punter, so am curious how much he is to blame for this. One thing I noticed is that the Packers rank third lowest in PR attempts (made against them) Mathsay forces a lot of fair catches. Then I looked at punting attempts, and the Packers are also third lowest there! lol

yeah, i don't think you can put much blame on mathsay, i mean he's not like a young jon ryan when he's drilling low flying 70 yard punts where the coverage doesn't have a chance

plus the fact that the kickoff coverage is even worse makes me think its the coverage units, not the kickers

[Patler]

I just looked at his game by game breakdowns. In the last two games of the season, he punted 7 times. Three of the seven were returned for a total of 90 yards.

Masthay had four tackles on 19 kickoffs and 20 punts that were returned. I don't know the breakdown, but that seems like too many.

[Guiness]

I just looked at his game by game breakdowns. In the last two games of the season, he punted 7 times. Three of the seven were returned for a total of 90 yards.

Masthay had four tackles on 19 kickoffs and 20 punts that were returned. I don't know the breakdown, but that seems like too many.

I thought he made a tackle during the wild card game as well, but don't see it on the stat sheet.

[red]

so our punter is making tackles 20% of the time

thats horrible

[HarveyWallbangers]

I'm guessing the kickoff coverage stat is completely overblown because of the new kickoff rules.

[red]

I'm guessing the kickoff coverage stat is completely overblown because of the new kickoff rules.

i don't know, even if that were the case we ranked near dead last out of all 32 teams in that category this year

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

I'm guessing the kickoff coverage stat is completely overblown because of the new kickoff rules.

That was my first though too. Sample size is probably to small for a real comparison to previous years. I'm sure its still bad, but probably not as bad as it might seem.

[red]

shouldn't the new kickoff rules have helped the kicking teams more then the return teams?

i would think the rules would have reduced kick return yardage, not set it to all time record highs

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

shouldn't the new kickoff rules have helped the kicking teams more then the return teams?

i would think the rules would have reduced kick return yardage, not set it to all time record highs

You're right if you are talking about total yardage, but not averages which is what Palter presented. For example, say team A returns 20 punts for an 8 yard average and team B returns 40 punts also for an 8 yard average. Then say the next return for each team (number 21 of team A and number 41 for team B) was a 60yard return. The new average for team A is 10.5 yard average and team B's new average is 9.3 yard average.

The team with fewer opportunities to return punts will have its average affected more by a few big returns.

[red]

that makes sense

but we had the second most KO returns allowed. so wouldn't our big returns allowed have been diluted?

punts i can understand it on, we were 3rd lowest for returns allowed

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

that makes sense

but we had the second most KO returns allowed. so wouldn't our big returns allowed have been diluted?

punts i can understand it on, we were 3rd lowest for returns allowed

Well maybe so, but the average is being compared to other packers team of the past (teams that didn't have the rule change all together=a lot more returns). I'm willing to bet even though we allowed the second most KO returns this year, its still considerably less than packer teams of the past. Either way we can agree the sp. teams still suck...lol