Special Teams Not Miserable
January 23rd, 2015
There is no way to be polite about this without shameless spinning. Michael Koenen’s punting last year was horrible.
When a team sinks to the worst record in the NFL, fans nitpick every little thing that went wrong. And when a team has the worst record in football, that team gives fans tons of reasons to nitpick.
One area — surely not the lone area — Bucs fans grumbled about was special teams.
In particular, punter Michael Koenen stuck in the crosshairs of fans, and for good reason.
Koenen was ranked No. 34 among punters with an average of 40.4 yards per punt. No. 34! There are only 32 teams in the NFL!!
Despite the atrocious punting, sage NFL writer Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News, in his rankings of special teams, has the Bucs listed at No. 22.
Gosselin gives no detailed explanation for the ranking, as it is part of a Bleacher Report clickbait slideshow. Joe guesses the Bucs’ kick return rankings of No. 20 made up for the woeful punting game.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:06 pm
bleacher report sucks!
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:17 pm
Our special teams have sucked since Rich Bisaccia left.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Koenen was signed bc his kickoff abilities but even those are dwindling over the past few years. He will be cut and easily replaced this off season.
Let’s not even get started on our special teams return team.
22nd overall is shockingly high, I thought for sure bw Koenens punting and our lack of a return game we would be bottom.2 or 3.
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:31 pm
1st Rd Jameis Winston (FSU) QB
2nd Rd Cameron Erving (FSU) LT
3rd Rd Josue Matias (FSU) OG or John Miller (Louisville) OG
4th Rd Ramik Wilson (Georgia) MLB
5th Rd Lyden Trail (Norfolk State) DE
5th Rd Eric Rowe (Utah) CB
6th Rd Anthony Jefferson (UCLA) SS
7th Rd David Andrews (Georgia) C or Jake Smith (Louisville) C
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:53 pm
it’s very interesting how Michael Koenen’s punting changed after the media started drilling lovie about how bad his kicking was compared to last year. seems a lot of people on this team are stepping in front of live fire and taking bullets for this guy. I’ve been behind lovie from day one despite a lot of questionable decisions but the gloves come off this year. if he is the same coach from last year standing there all stoned faced while this team gets it’s teeth kicked in then im jumping off that bandwagon quickly
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:57 pm
#MariotaorBUST
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:01 pm
72impalabigblock Says:
January 23rd, 2015 at 4:31 pm
1st Rd Jameis Winston (FSU) QB
2nd Rd Cameron Erving (FSU) LT
3rd Rd Josue Matias (FSU) OG or John Miller (Louisville) OG
4th Rd Ramik Wilson (Georgia) MLB
5th Rd Lyden Trail (Norfolk State) DE
5th Rd Eric Rowe (Utah) CB
6th Rd Anthony Jefferson (UCLA) SS
7th Rd David Andrews (Georgia) C or Jake Smith (Louisville) C
—————
You’re not going to do this every time Joe posts a new story, are you? I player specific Buccaneer only mock draft is as about as useful as a doorknob on a football.
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:02 pm
still at a loss to explain how michael k started and finished the season as our punter. He was horrible, and expensive.
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:20 pm
I think we all know the answer to that….
January 23rd, 2015 at 5:49 pm
“Shameless spinning”…part of the life work of many people in media. Lol
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:09 pm
The big question will be who is on special teams next year?
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:12 pm
“player specific Buccaneer only mock draft is as about as useful as a doorknob on a football”
You could have left off the “player specific Buccaneer only” part
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:15 pm
@Celly Says:
“…I think we all know the answer to that….”
LMAO. Yes, yes we do…
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Doorknobs on a football makes adjusting pressure easier. Great idea–Tom Brady
January 23rd, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Personally, I see us taking a DE with the 34th pick. Lovie needs that badly and the draft is said to be deep in DEs. If we have to, Dotson was serviceable at LT, so they may stay with that for one more year then use a 1st rd pick for LT. We definitely need better guards, and can accomplish that thru “value” FA signings or in the 3rd rd – but I really see us using the 3rd rd to pick up a MLB. Of course, #1 is a QB, IMO Jameis.
I am not about to list names beyond round 1, only a crazy person would do that, lol
January 23rd, 2015 at 7:04 pm
That’s a silly headline Joe. OK – well maybe they weren’t “miserable” – but they certainly were not good, average or even decent. Let’s just go with “pretty bad” and call it a day.
Considering how “miserable” our punter was last year – I think we should let the new kicker handle kickoffs and punts as well (which he is capable of) and free up an extra spot on game day roster. Or would that be too innovative for Lovie?
January 23rd, 2015 at 7:56 pm
lol @ the Nole homer mock draft where the first 3 picks are Noles and the next 2 are Nole recruits that got away. There is a world outside of Florida.
January 23rd, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Wait a second. This dude ranked the Bucs 22. The Bucs should be closer to #32 but still, it’s not like they were placed in the Top 10.
P.S. We really do suck if we are talking about special teams now. Lord, we are awful.
January 23rd, 2015 at 9:00 pm
Here’s an idea for all the “can’t wait for Mariota to develop” How ’bout us using him in the Wildcat…..also as a KR/PR…..RB & Slot Reciever while he develops?
Or better yet….we can bring in Winston…..start him immediately and win the Superbowl in 2015…..
That seems to be the choice we are being fed on a daily basis…..
January 23rd, 2015 at 11:35 pm
I can not see how the Bucs were not ranked in the bottom 3 or 4 for special teams when one counts the poor punting, the big returns other teams turned on the Bucs, the blocked kicks, etc. I guess the fact that Patrick Murray actually had a good year offset a lot of the deficits on special teams. I have been one of the fans calling for O’Dea to get sacked but its pretty obvious that L&L must think the problem lies with the talent on special teams and not the coordinator as he is still employed while coaches like Marcus Arroyo are collecting unemployment…. Doesn’t that reflect badly on L&L’s own talent evaluation as they made the final call on the team roster????
January 23rd, 2015 at 11:43 pm
Goesslin rated the Bucs No. 22 on special teams. Not miserable — even with a pathetic punting game — but not good, either.
January 24th, 2015 at 12:15 am
Hopefully if nothing else we have our franchise kicker for the next 20 years.
January 24th, 2015 at 1:07 am
My Momma says, it was reported that Koenen had a bad case of mononucleosis as being the reason for the loss of strength in his whole body, and that they did everthing possible to overcome it.
Momma just slapped some truth into you boy’s and girl’s.
January 26th, 2015 at 11:42 am
Eric Page did better 2 years ago than all combined last year. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.