Have the Cowboys Fixed the Special Teams?

[Cowboyny]

X-Walker had a good post yesterday looking at each team loss last season, special teams or lack thereof came up often. Have the front office done enough to fix this unit?

-They hired one of the best ST Coaches in Fassell, who is replacing Quinn who I believe never coached ST's on the NFL Level.

-After they finally cut Maher last season, they brought in Forbath who didn't miss a kick. Fassell also brought his PK from LA, who is coming off an injury plagued season. No matter who wins, they both should be major upgrades.

-They did bring in several players via fa and the draft to help out this unit, Canday, Robinson, Bell to name a few.

-Who replaces Austin as the team's primary punt returner? Lamb/Diggs have the experience, but you would think they would rather have them being factors within their respective units. Dez did return punts as a rookie, so it is a possibility for Lamb.

-Fassell decided to keep Chris Jones, which was somewhat surprising as he had a very poor season

The Cowboys played many close games last season in which I believe they were 0-8 in such games. If they improve the Special Teams Unit, they will have more success winning these games.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Great thread!

Bringing in Fassell is a big time game changer. The special teams were the worst in the league last year and it impacted their record no question. The mismanagement of the kicker position is still mind blowing and cost the Cowboys at least 2-3 W's. While I'm not sure they will be top 10 this year I expect them to be in the top half of the league at least. I also expect competition for Jones to brought in at some point. He needs camp competition.

 

[glimmerman]

ST effected us all season. From our starting field position to the opposing teams starting field position. Seemed like everytime I turned around we were having to go a long way for a score. Could be a reason we had a #1 ranked Offense but only won 8 games. We had to move the ball a long way.

We had a bunch of missed FG that took points off the board. If JG wanted to do SJ ething to help he could have changed kickers way before he did. Should have fired the ST coach at the midseason break. May have helped save his HC job.

I think with the changes they make to the kickoffs perhaps we over looked the importance of ST.

 

[glimmerman]

Great thread!

Bringing in Fassell is a big time game changer. The special teams were the worst in the league last year and it impacted their record no question. The mismanagement of the kicker position is still mind blowing and cost the Cowboys at least 2-3 W's. While I'm not sure they will be top 10 this year I expect them to be in the top half of the league at least. I also expect competition for Jones to brought in at some point. He needs camp competition.

We should see a drastic change in ST. I did get spoiled for years having a really good kicker. You could go to the bathroom or make a drink during extra points or FG inside of 40 yards... Lol.

 

[G2]

One of the glaring mistakes the front office/staff made was not putting anything into special teams. There are some fans who align with this concept, as if special teams isn't essential. There was one particular fan who flat out said it wasn't needed.
An example of this is how long it took them to fix the Maher problem. They literally waited from 2018 when he was struggling, an entire off season prior to the 2019 season, and didn't replace him until December of 2019!
That is just simply idiotic.
That's one example. This new coaching staff won't be that challenged.

 

[Cowboyny]

ST effected us all season. From our starting field position to the opposing teams starting field position. Seemed like everytime I turned around we were having to go a long way for a score. Could be a reason we had a #1 ranked Offense but only won 8 games. We had to move the ball a long way.

We had a bunch of missed FG that took points off the board. If JG wanted to do SJ ething to help he could have changed kickers way before he did. Should have fired the ST coach at the midseason break. May have helped save his HC job.

I think with the changes they make to the kickoffs perhaps we over looked the importance of ST.

Poor field position, along with a defense who couldn't turn the ball over, made it very difficult for the offense to drive the entire field on a consistent basis.

 

[Future]

Depends on if the kicker makes kicks and, to a lesser extent, how good your return man is. The Cowboys had a poor kicker and poor returners last year. That has nothing to do with anything schematic.

Teams is mostly irrelevant otherwise. There's no such thing as "good" special teams, only ones who do what they are supposed to and bad ones. Dallas' generally did what they were supposed to last year.

 

[MyFairLady]

Have you seen the depth of our roster?

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

X-Walker had a good post yesterday looking at each team loss last season, special teams or lack thereof came up often. Have the front office done enough to fix this unit?

-They hired one of the best ST Coaches in Fassell, who is replacing Quinn who I believe never coached ST's on the NFL Level.

-After they finally cut Maher last season, they brought in Forbath who didn't miss a kick. Fassell also brought his PK from LA, who is coming off an injury plagued season. No matter who wins, they both should be major upgrades.

-They did bring in several players via fa and the draft to help out this unit, Canday, Robinson, Bell to name a few.

-Who replaces Austin as the team's primary punt returner? Lamb/Diggs have the experience, but you would think they would rather have them being factors within their respective units. Dez did return punts as a rookie, so it is a possibility for Lamb.

-Fassell decided to keep Chris Jones, which was somewhat surprising as he had a very poor season

The Cowboys played many close games last season in which I believe they were 0-8 in such games. If they improve the Special Teams Unit, they will have more success winning these games.

I think you fix special teams, by paying it attention. seems like they hired the right coach and are paying attention to the special teams. this past couple of years, it was totally ignored.

 

[G2]

Depends on if the kicker makes kicks and, to a lesser extent, how good your return man is. The Cowboys had a poor kicker and poor returners last year. That has nothing to do with anything schematic.

Teams is mostly irrelevant otherwise. There's no such thing as "good" special teams, only ones who do what they are supposed to and bad ones. Dallas' generally did what they were supposed to last year.

Of course there are good special teams.

 

[Future]

Of course there are good special teams.

No, there are good returners and good kickers. ST units either cover or cover poorly. There's no such thing as good punt coverage just the same as there's no such thing as a good long snapper. You either do the job, or you don't.

 

[Bullflop]

The Cowboys needs in regards to their special teams were clearly obvious last year. The place kicking with Maher left much to be desired, in terms of his inconsistency. The coverage problems they experienced for kickoffs and punts was one of the worst in the NFL, in my opinion. If that wasn't enough, Chris Jones had his worst year in 2019, as well. I'm hoping for something to be done well before the season begins. Hopefully, the Cowboys Special Teams Coach, John Fassell, will be able to provide more focused attention for this unit in 2020. He's generally regarded as one of the best to serve in that capacity, so there's certainly hope for improvement.

 

[DanA]

I think a good special teams unit looks like the 2017 team:
Protectors: Hanna, Swaim, K.Smith, R.Smith, Wilbur, D.Wilson
Gunners: Fraizer, Heath, X.Woods, A.Brown
ST Players: Bailey, Jones, Ladouceur
Return Specialists: Switzer, Beasley, Lewis

Protectors: Top tier
Gunners: Good top end
ST players: Excellent
Return specialists: Terrible

Compare that to the current team:
Protectors: Bell, March, Olawale, Pollard
Gunners: Thompson, R.Robinson, T.Diggs, V.Bryant, Goodwin
ST Players: Zuerlein, Jones, Ladouceur
Return Specialists: Lamb, Diggs, Pollard, Lewis

Protectors: Depth very worrying
Gunners: Excellent
ST Players: Very Good
Return Specialist: Promising

Obviously the coaching is an upgrade with Fassell but we really need to find two more protection guys. At the moments they are probably Shultz and Gifford but neither are proven quality ST players. I suspect we might see McKeon take Shultz's spot and possibly another LB added but none of the options look too good as things stand.

 

[G2]

No, there are good returners and good kickers. ST units either cover or cover poorly. There's no such thing as good punt coverage just the same as there's no such thing as a good long snapper. You either do the job, or you don't.

I disagree with discounting the importance of the units. Field position is one of the most underrated things in the NFL. Trapping a returner at the 5 yard line is great. Allowing them to return to the 30 is bad. Returning a kick to the 30 greatly improves your offenses percentages of a driving score.

 

[Future]

I disagree with discounting the importance of the units. Field position is one of the most underrated things in the NFL. Trapping a returner at the 5 yard line is great. Allowing them to return to the 30 is bad. Returning a kick to the 30 greatly improves your offenses percentages of a driving score.

Field position is the product of offense/defense, not special teams. I guess you could say that the punter, like the kicker, can be good too, in that regard.

Returns are anomalies. You can go from the worst to the best in one year without changing a thing.

 

[charron]

When you are last in the league you can only go up. The 2 biggest areas we improved on is Coaching and PK (and we actually have 2 solid options when healthy). Would like to see more competition at punter.

 

[glimmerman]

Poor field position, along with a defense who couldn't turn the ball over, made it very difficult for the offense to drive the entire field on a consistent basis.

It would make it hard for any team to drive the length of the field all day. Explains why we had a very high ranked Offense on paper.

 

[jazzcat22]

I think Jones will be fine. He was battling some of those minor nagging injuries last season, or so it was reported.
New coaching will be a huge plus in the improvement of ST's in all the areas.

O'Quinn was in over his head, and had no help from Garrett. It was like well, you are the ST's coach, and they put him on an island with no survival skills (new coaching experience) and a bunch of young people with no experience either.

They stuck with Maher way too long as we all know. Coaching will help this unit more than anything, like coaching in all 3 phases will help the entire team.

 

[glimmerman]

I think you fix special teams, by paying it attention. seems like they hired the right coach and are paying attention to the special teams. this past couple of years, it was totally ignored.

JG way. If it wasn’t Offense then he didn’t seem to care.

 

[Ranched]

JG way. If it wasn’t Offense then he didn’t seem to care.

So true. How many times have we watched the ball trickle over the goal line with no return?! That was coaching, not the players.

Oh wait, IT WAS DAK'S FAULT! ---------> runs