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The Grand Poobah
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Inside the mind of a kickoff kamikaze
2:09 PM Wed, Dec 26, 2007 | Permalink
Tim MacMahon
Keith Davis has established himself as one of the league's best kickoff coverage men over the last four seasons. His job description is pretty simple: Find the ball, get there quickly and make a tackle. But actually covering kicks is a lot more complicated.
You need to be fast and fearless to do the job as well as Davis does. But the key, Davis told me, is spending extra time in the film room to figure out which way the return is going and who is going to try to block him. He watches film over and over again, searching for a player who will give him a pre-kick read.
"You'll find a guy who is going to give it away pretty much every time," Davis said. "If you find that guy, you'll be in a pretty good situation. Once you do that, it's all about really defeating the one-on-one battles. I don't ever feel like one guy can block me, no matter who he is. Once you defeat the one-on-one battle, then you just find the ball and make the tackle."
Davis said his pre-kick read is right the majority of the time. If you're going to fool him, better do it on the first kickoff of the game. He offered an example from the last game against the Eagles.
"They ran a trap, and I didn't see the guy coming," Davis said. "Boom! My helmet rolled off. So I said, 'OK, I got you. That was a good one.' The next time, they ran a middle wedge. I split the wedge and made the tackle. So I knew immediately after I split the wedge and made the tackle that they were going to come back to the same return they ran on the first one.
"Sure enough, they ran the exact same return. I blew the guy up that time. I’d seen him coming, and I ran down there and got in on the play."
2:09 PM Wed, Dec 26, 2007 | Permalink
Tim MacMahon
Keith Davis has established himself as one of the league's best kickoff coverage men over the last four seasons. His job description is pretty simple: Find the ball, get there quickly and make a tackle. But actually covering kicks is a lot more complicated.
You need to be fast and fearless to do the job as well as Davis does. But the key, Davis told me, is spending extra time in the film room to figure out which way the return is going and who is going to try to block him. He watches film over and over again, searching for a player who will give him a pre-kick read.
"You'll find a guy who is going to give it away pretty much every time," Davis said. "If you find that guy, you'll be in a pretty good situation. Once you do that, it's all about really defeating the one-on-one battles. I don't ever feel like one guy can block me, no matter who he is. Once you defeat the one-on-one battle, then you just find the ball and make the tackle."
Davis said his pre-kick read is right the majority of the time. If you're going to fool him, better do it on the first kickoff of the game. He offered an example from the last game against the Eagles.
"They ran a trap, and I didn't see the guy coming," Davis said. "Boom! My helmet rolled off. So I said, 'OK, I got you. That was a good one.' The next time, they ran a middle wedge. I split the wedge and made the tackle. So I knew immediately after I split the wedge and made the tackle that they were going to come back to the same return they ran on the first one.
"Sure enough, they ran the exact same return. I blew the guy up that time. I’d seen him coming, and I ran down there and got in on the play."
