Let's not try to pour butter on manure and call it mashed potatoes, folks. There's nothing special about the
Dallas Cowboys special teams unit. As a matter of fact, to be more accurate, they're the worst you had the displeasure of watching in 2019. That's not speaking hyperbolically, either, because they were literally ranked 32nd in average yards per kick return (16.3), tied for last in number of kick returns greater than 20 yards (10), and ranked 26th in average yardage per punt return -- mustering a measly 5.7 yards per touch with their longest punt return having been just 15 yards.
For contrast, the
Chicago Bears and
Indianapolis Colts ranked first in kick returns and punt returns last season, respectively, with the former averaging 26.6 yards per kick return and the latter logging 17.4 yards per punt return. Those are numbers the Cowboys haven't seen in a very long time.
There were several reasons for such a poor output by special teams, and some simply couldn't be overcome by the good old fashioned "next man up" mantra. Many underestimate the value and impact of a player like safety
Kavon Frazier -- arguably the best player on the unit and one of the best in the
NFL in that phase of the game -- who went to injured reserve with a torn pectoral muscle in late September. Frazier's absence as the team's top-flight gunner on returns was immediately felt, but ultimately made worse when fellow special teams ace and safety
Jeff Heath began battling a multitude of injuries.
Heath battled through to remain available for the defensive unit as best he could, but his injuries were so severe the Cowboys removed him from special teams duties on the back end of the season, leaving the special teams unit without their top two players for much of the 2019 season. The result was an abysmal showing over their 16-game stretch, and rookie speedster
Tony Pollard exacerbated the issue with ill-timed mistakes that can only be attributed to rookie jitters.
After all, Pollard was a dynamo as a collegiate returner, twice named AAC Special Teams Player of the Year at Memphis. He took a massive step in the wrong direction under the tutelage of Keith O'Quinn, as did the unit as a whole, which led to talks of moving on from Quinn as special teams coordinator in 2019.
It didn't happen then, but it has now, with O'Quinn reassigned to the scouting department under Will McClay and new head coach Mike McCarthy stealing John "Bones" Fassel away from the
Los Angeles Rams to serve as his replacement. And while Fassel won't point a finger (or eight, not counting his thumbs) at the causes for the Cowboys failures on special teams -- he's ready to take the wheel and turn the ship in the right direction.
Namely, away from the iceberg.
"
I can't answer to [what the problems were]," he said in January. "I'm going into this with a blank slate for myself and for every person who has been on this team. I look forward to building it how I want to build it. What's happened here in the past, I can't speak of that.
"I look forward to teaching the players and getting them to be prideful in what they do."
With both Frazier and Heath entering unrestricted free agency, there's as much a chance they return to the Cowboys as there is they won't, and that makes things a bit more difficult for Fassel as he tries to rebuild the unit going forward. Those two contractual question marks aside, the good news is Fassel has been in this situation before. When he took the role as special teams coordinator for the then St. Louis Rams in 2012, there was much to improve upon, and only two years later the Rams had gone from being ranked 20th in the league in average yardage gained per kick return to No. 1 in that category, first in punts returned for touchdowns (2) and tied for second in average yardage gained per punt.
https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ory-goal-under-mike-mccarthy-and-john-fassel/
