Special Teams Not So Special
August 8th, 2013
Now when Joe learned earlier this year that Bucs coach Greg Schiano hired Dave Wannstedt as his special teams coach, it surely raised an eyebrow.
Wannstedt, since 1986, has been a defensive coordinator or a head coach on the NFL and college levels. Joe thought it was strange Schiano hired a guy who hasn’t coached special teams since perhaps he was a grad assistant at Pitt in the late 1970s.
Joe even thought that Wannstedt was going to be given some additional responsibilities, which Schiano denied to Joe at the NFL Combine last winter.
Thursday night in his debut as a special teams coach, the Bucs’ special teams were anything but special. Dropped returns, fumbles, blown coverages, you name it. Kicker Derek Dimke saved a would-be kickoff return for a touchdown by the Crows when he he had a one-handed tackle on Bobby Rainey, which was flagged for a horsecollar. Hey, any penalty beats giving up six points.
Granted, this was the first game, a preseason game. Many players on special teams will be teaching history come September. Some players were playing special teams maybe for the first time since high school.
While the players were likely new and rusty to their responsibilities, perhaps so too was their assistant coach, Wannstedt.
August 8th, 2013 at 11:56 pm
I was clearly disappointed in our Special teams the most, but we also have to keep in mind that a lot of the players on the special teams will be stocking groceries in another month. So you really can’t put much stock in it either. What did we have 11 starters on the bench tonight?
I posted this in the wrong thread earlier.
August 9th, 2013 at 12:03 am
Was also very disappointed in the special teams play. Just piss poor execution. A punt block for TD? Now, if it were Koenen punting, he probably would have had the awareness to bail on the kick and just fall down holding the ball, only giving up two points instead of seven. Also gotta compliment Dimke. That tackle saved a touchdown. Even if it was a penalty.
Hopefully this unit gets straightened out REALLY soon.
August 9th, 2013 at 12:09 am
Yes Joe I too thought Wannstedt was a strange choice to head up the SP.
August 9th, 2013 at 1:55 am
buc1987 says still early bro .. i am think after this game ,sp coach wannstedt handle that mess .
August 9th, 2013 at 5:18 am
The man is a disaster.
August 9th, 2013 at 8:31 am
The only alarming thing about yesterdays game was the injuries…and thankfully those were minimal.
Half the starters didn’t even play, and those that did mostly only played 2 series.
And special teams was musical chairs. Everytime ST was on the field half the players were different.
Preseason is about the individual players. Regular & Post Seasons are about the team.
I’m not concerned in the slightest. In fact, I think there were a couple bright spots. I thought three of the returners showed promise…Eric Page, Brandon Smith and Owusu (who did fumble in the rain but later did better with his second chance).
Eric Page and Brandon Smith looked confident on their returns. Fast. Maneuvered quickly and shot thru the openings. Of course, you can only do so much without a more stable set of blockers, but those two looked good.