Have the Cowboys Fixed the Special Teams?

KJJ

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We won’t know if anything is fixed until the regular season starts. That’s when all the patchwork and new parts are put to the test.
 

Whyjerry

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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.

A real coach with a real plan is going to do wonders. ST was an afterthought for Garrett.
 

Alexander

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The hiring of Fassel cannot be lauded enough.

The ST coach has a big say on who makes up the bottom fourth of the roster. If that coach is in over his head, then the whole team's depth suffers.
 

MyFairLady

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This is totally wrong. BJ Goodwin and Ventrell Bryant were both active because of their ability on Teams.
LOL I am going to assume that this was a joke cause those two names sure did make me laugh. Meanwhile the Patriots have honest to goodness NFL football players running up and down the field on special teams who could start if need be because they are deep. meanwhile we are held hostage to the notion that our starters dare not play special teams because the cupboard is bare behind them.
 

Future

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LOL I am going to assume that this was a joke cause those two names sure did make me laugh. Meanwhile the Patriots have honest to goodness NFL football players running up and down the field on special teams who could start if need be because they are deep. meanwhile we are held hostage to the notion that our starters dare not play special teams because the cupboard is bare behind them.
Ah yes. Super talented WR Mattthew Slater only plays teams because of how much depth the Pats have at WR.
 

Future

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So you are saying there is no difference between getting the ball at your own 22 yard line versus your own 47? Still the 25 yard difference in returns and can have a meaningful impact on the game.

By the way, returners do not act in a vacuum. The blocking, reads, and reactions the rest of the special teams unit makes are nearly just as important to the success of the return. You said a returner can go from worst to first overnight (and vice versa), do you not think the improvement of the unit as a whole does not influence that?

A QB does not throw a long pass without good blocking, recognition by multiple other players, route running, etc. So are you saying on offense or defense you either are bad at it or just doing what you are suppose to be doing?

Because if you aren't saying that about those units, I don't understand how those units can be "good" but a special teams unit cannot. Every play is dynamic, its how the unit positively or negatively reacts and attacks it that separates the good from the bad, no matter what phase of the game. IMHO of course.
No, that is not even in the ballpark of what I'm saying. The point is that those 25 yard returns are such anomalies and happen so infrequently that no team is good at them.

Returners are in a vacuum. The only time they aren't is when coverage units lose their lanes. Kickoff return blocking has been basically legislated away, and punt return opportunities have been strategized away. There's no such thing as a strong blocking return unit.
 

Cowboyny

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As with ANY special teams coach,..the team has to give him the proper personnel to operate in all aspects of the special teams .the coverage game, the kicking game, the return game.

- that's why fringe guys like Justin March Liddard, CJ Goodwin, Darian Thompson etc. were re-signed.
Jeff Heath was a top special teamer but he has taken his act to Casino City.

- Another reason why useless blocker FB Jamele Olawale is likely to have a
good chance to make the team ? He's supposedly noted as a fine special team guy - one of the leading tacklers on the team.
But hell, i'm trying to get a Keith Smith type -a violently physical blocker who can catch a little, run inside a little while also being
a big special teams helper.

- Now Here is the big deal package about new special teams coach John Fassel,

.. not only is he known as a strong disciplinarian fundamentalist, ..he also a master at fronting and stunting games at you ,
He will pressure and challenge the opposing special teams unit.
He will look for weaknesses, openings, and opportunities to draw opponents off sides for big penalty 1st downs, look for poorly designed
blocking-alignment for punt blocks,

- He'll move multiple formations around pre-snap to confuse and keep opponents off balance and out of sync in adjusting.
Fassel has been known to work misdirecting and misleading games in the return game and has been known to have punter
actually throw to wide open targets for surprise big 1st down momentum. o_O

Til this day, i am still quite surprised we were able to sign him away from the Rams.



-Yes, it was very surprising the Rams allowed him to leave. I believe he was a holdover from the Fisher Staff, so perhaps McVay wanted to bring in his own people.

-Just from the eye test, playing against them, it seems they would always hurt us on special teams. Long returns, fake punts, believe our new kicker made 6 plus FG's in the last home loss in Dallas.

-Question have we done enough in overhauling the unit? It's not a simple question to answer. Yes, we do have some special teams only type of players on the roster, but are they any good? In Jimmy's days, we saw some starters on the special team units, can we see the same, even with risk of injury?
 

quickccc

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-Yes, it was very surprising the Rams allowed him to leave. I believe he was a holdover from the Fisher Staff, so perhaps McVay wanted to bring in his own people.

-Just from the eye test, playing against them, it seems they would always hurt us on special teams. Long returns, fake punts, believe our new kicker made 6 plus FG's in the last home loss in Dallas.

-Question have we done enough in overhauling the unit? It's not a simple question to answer. Yes, we do have some special teams only type of players on the roster, but are they any good? In Jimmy's days, we saw some starters on the special team units, can we see the same, even with risk of injury?

Overhaul ..or add on ?

- If we are talking about mediocre contributors ala Tavon Austin, and FG kikcer Brett Maher being overhaul,..yes.

- If the tape shows CJ Goodwin special teams marks are pretty well, and he's very cheap, then why would he need to be overhauled?
if its a regarded special teamer that stands a chance of making out SP units better, and he is at the tail end of a 55 man roster, i don't
have any question with that.
Guys like Cannaday Worley Bell, Kirk, Francis and a healthy Wilson and Gifford could be invaluable additions. But its' a scrape for those

Jimmie had a few starters like Woody, Marion and Darren Smith contributing to SP, but Jimmie also had great primary lead special teams only guys
like Bill Bates and Kenneth "the Shark "Gant. They were pro bowl caliber in that field.
And Jeff Heath was a starter but still contributed mightily on special teams. i recall using ex-starter LB Damien Willson on special teams
Wasn't Xavier Woods a starter that also still contributed on special teams?
 

Cowboyny

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Overhaul ..or add on ?

- If we are talking about mediocre contributors ala Tavon Austin, and FG kikcer Brett Maher being overhaul,..yes.

- If the tape shows CJ Goodwin special teams marks are pretty well, and he's very cheap, then why would he need to be overhauled?
if its a regarded special teamer that stands a chance of making out SP units better, and he is at the tail end of a 55 man roster, i don't
have any question with that.
Guys like Cannaday Worley Bell, Kirk, Francis and a healthy Wilson and Gifford could be invaluable additions. But its' a scrape for those

Jimmie had a few starters like Woody, Marion and Darren Smith contributing to SP, but Jimmie also had great primary lead special teams only guys
like Bill Bates and Kenneth "the Shark "Gant. They were pro bowl caliber in that field.
And Jeff Heath was a starter but still contributed mightily on special teams. i recall using ex-starter LB Damien Willson on special teams
Wasn't Xavier Woods a starter that also still contributed on special teams?

-I believe the Cowboys Special Teams Unit was ranked 30th in the league last season. It was a factor why they were 1-6 in one score games.

-You cannot expect any offense to be consistently successful when they have to drive a full football field. If they couldn't produce a Touchdown, their PK would miss an easy FG and give up great starting field position to the opponent. Our punt net average was among the league worst.How many times have we see our offense start within their own 5, but rarely did our opponent. Our return units, were more about not fumbling, then making an impact plays.Having a defense that struggles creating defensive turnovers also plays a role with starting field position. From top to bottom was a total disaster.

-How do they go about fixing such a poor unit? They brought in an coach with an successful track record. Many believe Special Teams is about the want to, perhaps Fassel can motivate his group. You also need the right personnel. They have brought in a quality PK competition, added a few special team players who should help, but is it enough? They need to find that Bates/Gant to lead this group, not sure if Goodwin fits the bill.
 

Runwildboys

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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.
But yet, they were really quick to get rid of one of the most accurate kickers ever, in Bailey.
 

Runwildboys

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-I believe the Cowboys Special Teams Unit was ranked 30th in the league last season. It was a factor why they were 1-6 in one score games.

-You cannot expect any offense to be consistently successful when they have to drive a full football field. If they couldn't produce a Touchdown, their PK would miss an easy FG and give up great starting field position to the opponent. Our punt net average was among the league worst.How many times have we see our offense start within their own 5, but rarely did our opponent. Our return units, were more about not fumbling, then making an impact plays.Having a defense that struggles creating defensive turnovers also plays a role with starting field position. From top to bottom was a total disaster.

-How do they go about fixing such a poor unit? They brought in an coach with an successful track record. Many believe Special Teams is about the want to, perhaps Fassel can motivate his group. You also need the right personnel. They have brought in a quality PK competition, added a few special team players who should help, but is it enough? They need to find that Bates/Gant to lead this group, not sure if Goodwin fits the bill.
The piss poor blocking was a large part of why the return game was terrible. I don't think the coverage aspect was too, too bad though.
 

conner01

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I think we fixed ST coaching
Time will tell if you have the players
Lamb has returned punts and was decent
I don’t know if diggs has
Wilson didn’t return many but he did a solid job on kicks and punts
Coaching helps returns and coverage
We may not have the take to the house guy but 2-3 more yards per return still helps
 

Redball Express

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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.
Jimster always said STs was 1/3 of the game.

We do have to find a PR and KO returner.

Beasley was pathetic.

Lamb needs to play on Special teams and he needs to get his touches as much as possible.

I also think ST has to be more creative. We need more reverses on kickoffs and direct snaps to the up back in punt formation, laterals on kick returns, etc.

We used to do this stuff and moved away from it over time.

If we are going to win constantly, we need to be more sudden and unpredictable.
 

Runwildboys

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Top to bottom the whole unit was a disaster. It's a major key to turnaround this team.
I agree, it was horrible, but I think the coverage team was about average.

I believe they were 26th on kickoffs, and 15 on punts. So a bit worse than average, but not worst in the league.
 
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