Awful Special Teams
November 9th, 2018
Not special.
Joe isn’t much of a fan of the PFF Tribe but in this instance, Joe has a strong hunch they are on to something.
Eric Eager of the Tribe decided to rank each NFL team’s special teams. While he seems to focus more on placekicking, his ranking of the Bucs’ special teams sure seems accurate. He has the Bucs at No. 31.
The ever-inconsistent Chandler Catanzaro has both won a game for Tampa Bay with a long field goal against Cleveland in OT, but took away any chance they had to win the Atlanta game with a missed PAT on their first touchdown.
Joe believes Eager has accurately tagged the Bucs. The special teams are just not special. Kick return stinks. The punt return is just meh unless DeSean Jackson returns punts. Why he doesn’t is a mystery. Bryan Anger is having a down year punting and we all know about the annual clown show at kicker, a Bucs tradition.
With all the Bucs’ problems, Joe isn’t sure how much of a priority cleaning this particular mess up should be made.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:11 am
It’s inexcusable DJax for punt returns when he is A. The fastest member on our team and B. has expressed willingness to do so. Kick returns are what they are, but I’d rather just leave Shaun Wilson there full time. Anger is still one of the best punters in the league, and Catanzaro for all his inconsistency has one of the strongest legs in the league. Not exactly sure how you could coach consistent accuracy into a kicker but here’s hoping.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:11 am
It’s inexcusable that DJax is not returning punts for us*
November 9th, 2018 at 8:21 am
Former Bucs Speciali Team coach Joe Marciano is available. Bucs probably had their best Special Teams seasons under him.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:27 am
Said it during the off season, ST coach should’ve been sent out when jay Hayes went walking. They have been terrible in this coaching regime (outside of a few plays from Ryan Smith and Josh Robinson, who they let walk.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:35 am
I will at least give credit to Chandler for kicking it out of the end zone….because we can’t cover kickoffs when he doesn’t.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:35 am
@Joe … “With all the problems the Bucs have, Joe isn’t sure how much of a priority should be given to clean this particular mess up.” Problems? We have problems Joe? You’ve become the Master of Understatement.
Actually, IF we fix some of our other problems, I suspect that many of our ST problems will disappear. Kickoff & punt coverage is mediocre IMO for 2 reasons: lack of quality players on coverage teams and coaching. In terms of Catanzaro, he’s not really doing THAT poorly. Chandler is 3-for-3 from 20-29 yds, 6-for-6 from 30-39 yds, 1-for-1 from 50 yds plus BUT 0-for-2 in the 40-49 yd range. His XP accuracy needs work obviously (23-for-27 is yuck), but no reason that can’t improve (based on him being 6-for-6 from 30-39 yds).
Bryan Anger is still an excellent punter. He’s averaging 44.5 yds through 8 games, which is not that shabby. Get better quality players in here and STs will be fine.
November 9th, 2018 at 8:44 am
“Joe isn’t a fan of the PFF Tribe” …….. but Joe has increasingly used their data to back up his opinions.
Just admit that you changed your tune Joe.
It will save you from having to type those extra words!
November 9th, 2018 at 8:56 am
What tune? Joe thinks the syndicate is upset they didn’t think of this con first.
November 9th, 2018 at 9:01 am
Anger has had two off years punting. Time to retool that position, too, and save some $$$. And I used to be a big Anger fan.
November 9th, 2018 at 10:24 am
Why this team isn’t just going for two point conversions is beyond me. I mean come on already!
November 9th, 2018 at 10:49 am
“Special” can be a dual-meaning word.
November 9th, 2018 at 1:23 pm
Fire the special teams coach – can’t hurt and based on that terrible fake punt design I think it will help.
November 9th, 2018 at 2:10 pm
What ST coach in their right mind would have come here when it would have only been a one year contract as the WHOLE LOT will be gone in January.