Out there Kicking Question - Aubrey

[Chuck 54]

I’ll start by saying Sorensen may be keeping his job because special teams performances may not be viewed as all his fault. When your defense is as bad as ours was, just imagine how bad the guys on special teams must have been.

Aubrey - At the beginning of the season, he seemed to struggle on kickoffs, especially pooch kicks that were either way too short or into the endzone, giving the other team the ball on the 35. But then he and one other kicker started making a name for themselves by kicking line drives that landed inside the required landing zone but skipping into the endzone, so the other offense was taking over at their own 20 like on punts. It was very effective.

Then, suddenly, Aubrey abandoned that kick completely and went back to either having balls go deep, giving the team the 35, or kicking short where many returns were getting to the 35 or even 40 due to poor coverage.

What happened? Did the league change the rule that a ball that landed in the field of play and then into or through the endzone not have the team start at the 20? Did teams start setting up differently that made it a bad choice?

By the end of the year things were so bad that I started wondering why Sorensen didn’t just have Aubrey kick it into the endzone and let teams have it at the 35. I know he put 1-2 out of bounds, but I really liked the kicks that hit around the 5-10 and skipped into the endzone, putting the offense at the 20. I just don’t know why he stopped doing it.

 

[gimmesix]

Part of it was that teams adjusted where they put their return men. It's a game of chess. Most line them up around the goal line and have them come forward on shorter kick. But when kickers are kicking liners that bounce into the end zone, you have to move them up to narrow the gap and make that tougher to do. I think Aubrey tried to adjust his placement as that happened.

Hopefully, they will study all that and come up with a decent plan of attack.

 

[jazzcat22]

This was the 2nd year of the new KO rules. And then they even had rule changes already.
I would not doubt they tweak it again. All teams still making adjustments.

We will see how they adapt, and improve with better players.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Sorensen

I think I found the problem.

It's not over complicated.

 

[smoker]

Something I thought about - they should learn to kick in some work boots like Red Wings w/ Tuff Toe

 

[Coogiguy03]

I think I found the problem.

It's not over complicated.

You tell me this all the time and I still make your life miserable

 

[big dog cowboy]

You tell me this all the time and I still make your life miserable

Not just mine.

 

[SoupcanSam]

I’ll start by saying Sorensen may be keeping his job because special teams performances may not be viewed as all his fault. When your defense is as bad as ours was, just imagine how bad the guys on special teams must have been.

Aubrey - At the beginning of the season, he seemed to struggle on kickoffs, especially pooch kicks that were either way too short or into the endzone, giving the other team the ball on the 35. But then he and one other kicker started making a name for themselves by kicking line drives that landed inside the required landing zone but skipping into the endzone, so the other offense was taking over at their own 20 like on punts. It was very effective.

Then, suddenly, Aubrey abandoned that kick completely and went back to either having balls go deep, giving the team the 35, or kicking short where many returns were getting to the 35 or even 40 due to poor coverage.

What happened? Did the league change the rule that a ball that landed in the field of play and then into or through the endzone not have the team start at the 20? Did teams start setting up differently that made it a bad choice?

By the end of the year things were so bad that I started wondering why Sorensen didn’t just have Aubrey kick it into the endzone and let teams have it at the 35. I know he put 1-2 out of bounds, but I really liked the kicks that hit around the 5-10 and skipped into the endzone, putting the offense at the 20. I just don’t know why he stopped doing it.

I don’t think the rule changed, I think the risk just got too high.

The problem with that "skipper" kick is the margin for error. If Aubrey mishits that line drive slightly and it carries into the endzone on the fly, it comes out to the 30. If he mishits it short of the landing zone, they get it at the 40.

It requires a perfect hit every time. My guess is Sorensen got scared of a mi**** giving them the ball at the 40, so he went back to the "safe" kicks... which ironically ended up hurting us anyway.

 

[Ironicalicon]

You tell me this all the time and I still make your life miserable

 

[sunalsorises]

I hate the "new" kickoff rules. With the average starting position being the 30 now, it just makes sense to boot it all the way through the endzone. Concede the 30 since that is basically where teams start now anyway and take away any possibility of a big play.

 

[Whyjerry]

I hate the "new" kickoff rules. With the average starting position being the 30 now, it just makes sense to boot it all the way through the endzone. Concede the 30 since that is basically where teams start now anyway and take away any possibility of a big play.

College ball still has real kick offs. It's fine. The NFL is all about safety but plays Thursday games, expands the season, and sends teams to Rio. What a joke.

 

[DandyDon52]

College ball still has real kick offs. It's fine. The NFL is all about safety but plays Thursday games, expands the season, and sends teams to Rio. What a joke.

They are not really concerned about safety lol, but they do want to make it look like they care.

The new kickoffs are designed to give team the ball beyond the 20, and it worked, and this is done
to increase scoring.

 

[acr731]

I’ll start by saying Sorensen may be keeping his job because special teams performances may not be viewed as all his fault. When your defense is as bad as ours was, just imagine how bad the guys on special teams must have been.

Aubrey - At the beginning of the season, he seemed to struggle on kickoffs, especially pooch kicks that were either way too short or into the endzone, giving the other team the ball on the 35. But then he and one other kicker started making a name for themselves by kicking line drives that landed inside the required landing zone but skipping into the endzone, so the other offense was taking over at their own 20 like on punts. It was very effective.

Then, suddenly, Aubrey abandoned that kick completely and went back to either having balls go deep, giving the team the 35, or kicking short where many returns were getting to the 35 or even 40 due to poor coverage.

What happened? Did the league change the rule that a ball that landed in the field of play and then into or through the endzone not have the team start at the 20? Did teams start setting up differently that made it a bad choice?

By the end of the year things were so bad that I started wondering why Sorensen didn’t just have Aubrey kick it into the endzone and let teams have it at the 35. I know he put 1-2 out of bounds, but I really liked the kicks that hit around the 5-10 and skipped into the endzone, putting the offense at the 20. I just don’t know why he stopped doing it.

This is a rules problem, not an Aubrey problem. It makes sense that the NFL wants to reduce injuries, but the rule changes that were made were / are dumb.

If they're that concerned about player safety, which I don't think the NFL really is, then just eliminate kickoffs altogether and put the ball at the 20 or 25 to start every drive after a score

 

[Whyjerry]

They are not really concerned about safety lol, but they do want to make it look like they care.

The new kickoffs are designed to give team the ball beyond the 20, and it worked, and this is done
to increase scoring.

Virtue signaling is a disease

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I’ll start by saying Sorensen may be keeping his job because special teams performances may not be viewed as all his fault. When your defense is as bad as ours was, just imagine how bad the guys on special teams must have been.

Aubrey - At the beginning of the season, he seemed to struggle on kickoffs, especially pooch kicks that were either way too short or into the endzone, giving the other team the ball on the 35. But then he and one other kicker started making a name for themselves by kicking line drives that landed inside the required landing zone but skipping into the endzone, so the other offense was taking over at their own 20 like on punts. It was very effective.

Then, suddenly, Aubrey abandoned that kick completely and went back to either having balls go deep, giving the team the 35, or kicking short where many returns were getting to the 35 or even 40 due to poor coverage.

What happened? Did the league change the rule that a ball that landed in the field of play and then into or through the endzone not have the team start at the 20? Did teams start setting up differently that made it a bad choice?

By the end of the year things were so bad that I started wondering why Sorensen didn’t just have Aubrey kick it into the endzone and let teams have it at the 35. I know he put 1-2 out of bounds, but I really liked the kicks that hit around the 5-10 and skipped into the endzone, putting the offense at the 20. I just don’t know why he stopped doing it.

Honestly, I don't see why we don't use Anger on kickoffs. Kickoffs and field goals are very different kicks. Perhaps if we have our punter kickoff, Aubrey can focus just on field goals.

 

[FVSTONE]

College ball still has real kick offs. It's fine. The NFL is all about safety but plays Thursday games, expands the season, and sends teams to Rio. What a joke.

NFL Kickoffs today look more dangerous now, than they did when kickers would bang the ball out of the end zone. I witnessed some flat out "Snot Remover" kickoffs. receiving team's blockers and KRs were laid out after returning short kickoffs. I have never seen so many players grabbing their teammate's jerseys and pulling them up to their feet because they got ROCKED ON THE KICKOFF!

 

[KingCorcoran]

This is a rules problem, not an Aubrey problem. It makes sense that the NFL wants to reduce injuries, but the rule changes that were made were / are dumb.

If they're that concerned about player safety, which I don't think the NFL really is, then just eliminate kickoffs altogether and put the ball at the 20 or 25 to start every drive after a score

Three teams voted against the kickoff rule change. Jerry wasn’t one of them.

 

[Coogiguy03]

thanks for the support!!

 

[quickccc]

This was the 2nd year of the new KO rules. And then they even had rule changes already.
I would not doubt they tweak it again. All teams still making adjustments.

We will see how they adapt, and improve with better players.

so how many NFL teams adjusted ... and how many Did Not adjust ?

my concern is new special team coach Nick Sorenson.
- Aubrey despite his pro bowl vote, seem to unchracterstically go to a slump at end of season
- Turpin was a non factor in returns both kick and punt -albeit new KO rules that was suppose to aid his KO's
- the kickoff coverage was subpar this year.

- at least with Bones Fassel, we blocked punts, Turpin seemed much more effective in returns,
- and it was Bones that discovered and developed Aubrey into stardom, (when we panicked about not getting a new FG kicker)

- The only thing that remained was punter Bryan Anger.
- to this very day, i dunno what makes/helps CJ Goodwin continue on this team. He was invisible and seemed pure JAG on SP coverage.

 

[Adiba1977]

Aubrey sucks at kickoffs. Really bad actually .