How Do you Deal With Sproles on Punts?

[boysfanindc]

How do you deal with him on punts?

Angle kick out of bounds?
Angle kick roller in bounds?
Kick high and shorter to allow coverage to get there?
Kick to him as normal?
All of the above mixing it up?

Or just never get to 4th down

Sproles only touched the ball three times on offense against San Francisco. But he still had an impact on the game, returning a punt 82 yards for a touchdown. He touched the ball on offense just twice against Carolina but again had an impact, returning another punt 65 yards for a score. He also had a 43-yard non-scoring punt return against the Giants.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Score TD's on every single possession.

Then you don't have to deal with him returning punts at all.

That's the best way.

 

[Risen Star]

Yeah, don't punt.

 

[boysfanindc]

Special teams have been their trump card, I think it might be a big key in the game.

I for one would not kick to Sproles, I would make sure it was a angle kick out of bounds.

 

[JohnsKey19]

At worst, get some height on the punts and angle to one side of the field. Also if I'm Bailey, I kick every kickoff out of the end zone to eliminate Huff on returns.

 

[Bullflop]

Punt as infrequently as possible. Avoid kicking to Sproles by angling it away from him. If and when he gets it, stay in your lanes and wrap him up upon contact. Kick to one side of the field to limit his directional options. Punt it high and get there in a hurry, well before he gets going full blast. If all of that fails, wave bye-bye, lol.

 

[BigD5]

Go down and make the tackle

 

[CCBoy]

Keep Sproles bottled up well within their own 20...

 

[AsthmaField]

I would just as soon punt it out of bounds. Why give that little guy opportunities to do what he does?

 

[fifaguy]

Harris needs to get a hat on him...

 

[Chuck 54]

Make him fair catch it; the extra 5-8 yards isn't that important.

 

[manster4ever]

Yeah, don't punt.

in a perfect world. IN reality, I'd directional punt toward the sidelines and even out of bounds. Our coverage units are terrible.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Score TD's on every single possession.

Then you don't have to deal with him returning punts at all.

That's the best way.

 

[FLCowboyFan]

How do you deal with him on punts?

Angle kick out of bounds?
Angle kick roller in bounds?
Kick high and shorter to allow coverage to get there?
Kick to him as normal?
All of the above mixing it up?

Or just never get to 4th down

Tackle him

 

[8FOR!3]

You either kick it higher and shorter and make him fair catch it, or you just angle the kick out of bounds.

 

[crashintonickdm]

stop their special teams and you win. their offense only looks good because they add 14 points a game on ST.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Make him fair catch it; the extra 5-8 yards isn't that important.

Yep. No interest in letting him beat you. Returns are such momentum changers too.

 

[TheFinisher]

Cannot let Darren Sproles have an impact on punt returns. Force Sanchez to put drives together and eliminate the big plays on defense and we'll be in good shape. Philly has made their living off DEF/ST scores this year, we need to play a clean game.

 

[JBell]

I don't know if Chris Jones did it on purpose, or if he's just THAT bad, but his shanks against NYG were really effective. They would land well short of where ODB was expecting it to land, and then end up rolling a good 10+ yards.

 

[Plankton]

If you are going to kick it in bounds, it needs to be between the numbers and the sidelines - you can't give him room to operate.