Read blaming Folk for kickoff returns

[MichaelWinicki]

Rooks and scrubs wanting to make a play instead of doing what their told. JMO.

I think your opinion is spot on.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Tashard Choice looks like someone who could end up being a ST leader.

That guy has heart, attitude and makes plays!

 

[Disturbed]

Bruce Read has always sucked as special teams coach...and Phillips has always covered for him. The reason our special teams are not better is not due to punter or kicker, it is solely on the coach. Bruce does not appear to know what he is doing...change players, teams, etc. but always the same results.

So the one constant is Read = poor special teams. Too bad he is a good friend to the head coach who will buy any excuse. Maybe when Garrett takes over he will fire Bruce Read and get a real ST coach in Dallas.

 

[Smith22]

Tashard Choice looks like someone who could end up being a ST leader.

That guy has heart, attitude and makes plays!

Yeah, Choice has had a pretty good preseason. It's hard not to like the guy after hearing his speech on the youtube clip.

 

[Hostile]

Who were our kickers in 2006 when we were 2nd in the NFL in kickoff coverage? Oh yeah, 5'2" Martin "Cannon Leg" Grammatica and Mike "Thunderfoot" Vanderjagt. No wonder we were so good. You know, I might buy the "it's the kicker" excuse more, if our punt coverage teams weren't awful last year with the best punter in the NFL.

And does Wade honestly believe he's the only team in the NFL using rookies and unseasoned players in coverage units in preseason? I'm pretty sure every team in the NFL is using them, but I'm not sure every team is giving up at least one (sometimes multiple) 50 yard returns every single game.

Aside from Read's coaching, I think what we have here is a problem with organizational philosophy. There is absolutely no reason why this team should be this bad at covering kicks with their athletes. We've had great special team units under head coaches who put an emphasis on special teams. When you treat special teams like the throwaway units, you get throwaway performances and throwaway results. I don't think any of our 2nd stringers and role players are truly scared of the possibility of losing their jobs to someone behind them on the defensive or offensive depth chart because they were outperformed on special teams, like they were under Jimmy and Parcells.

There is no way on this earth that I am going to let this post go ignored.

Abso-freaking-lutely.

 

[Smith22]

There is no way on this earth that I am going to let this post go ignored.

Abso-freaking-lutely.

The special teams coach will just blame the punter for outkicking the coverage. :laugh2:

 

[TNCowboy]

Who were our kickers in 2006 when we were 2nd in the NFL in kickoff coverage? Oh yeah, 5'2" Martin "Cannon Leg" Grammatica and Mike "Thunderfoot" Vanderjagt. No wonder we were so good. You know, I might buy the "it's the kicker" excuse more, if our punt coverage teams weren't awful last year with the best punter in the NFL.

And does Wade honestly believe he's the only team in the NFL using rookies and unseasoned players in coverage units in preseason? I'm pretty sure every team in the NFL is using them, but I'm not sure every team is giving up at least one (sometimes multiple) 50 yard returns every single game.

Aside from Read's coaching, I think what we have here is a problem with organizational philosophy. There is absolutely no reason why this team should be this bad at covering kicks with their athletes. We've had great special team units under head coaches who put an emphasis on special teams. When you treat special teams like the throwaway units, you get throwaway performances and throwaway results. I don't think any of our 2nd stringers and role players are truly scared of the possibility of losing their jobs to someone behind them on the defensive or offensive depth chart because they were outperformed on special teams, like they were under Jimmy and Parcells.

As usual, IR makes the most relevant points in the thread.

 

[bbgun]

It'd be nice if "Hard Knocks" filmed a ST meeting or practice, because we really need to know what's going on. For all his brilliance, Jimmy couldn't do squat in 1989 without the right players, so maybe it's the players.

 

[J-DOG]

Here's a newsflash for the Cowboys coaching staff...The Cleveland Browns have Joshua Cribbs as thier kick returner.
We keep covering kicks like this and I can easily predict us losing the special teams phase in our season opener.
We don't look even close to having a mediocre coverage unit and we face one of the best kick returners in week one.

 

[Jack-Reacher]

Read should be praising Folk as the Special Teams leading tackler. He seemed to be in on most of the tackles last night.

 

[Disturbed]

It'd be nice if "Hard Knocks" filmed a ST meeting or practice, because we really need to know what's going on. For all his brilliance, Jimmy couldn't do squat in 1989 without the right players, so maybe it's the players.

I don't buy "it is the players" because Phillips/Read special teams always suck...no matter the team. And this team is loaded with talent, more than most other teams who are not struggling with special teams units. So it has to be the coaching -- period.

The only way to see that would be to show Bruce coaching players and communicating his game strategy. Then have a real special teams coach watch practice, Bruce's coaching of players, and analyze what he did and did not do.... Putting players in the wrong roles, coaching the wrong scheme/technique/etc...not making proper adjustments during game...the list could be endless....

Somehow Jerry needs to wake up and see this is getting worse not better. If Phillips won't address it, then Jerry needs to step in and force the issue to change.

 

[Ashwynn]

Time to put SP into hang time.

 

[stealth]

Bruce read wasn't the guy Wade got fired over is he?

 

[bbgun]

Somehow Jerry needs to wake up and see this is getting worse not better. If Phillips won't address it, then Jerry needs to step in and force the issue to change.

It's almost unheard of to fire a position coach in-season. That goes double for head coaches. I don't think Jerry is fond of humiliating staffers. If anything, he's too loyal. If we get better, it will be under Read's guidance.

 

[Disturbed]

Read should be praising Folk as the Special Teams leading tackler. He seemed to be in on most of the tackles last night.

Yeah, every time Read opens his mouth he confirms to the world what we all know....how utterly clueless he is regarding special teams coaching.

 

[Disturbed]

Bruce read wasn't the guy Wade got fired over is he?

YES.

Jerry should have hired Wade with one firm rule -- Bruce Read can not be hired because he sucks. Bruce Read is a good friend of Wade's.

 

[Disturbed]

It's almost unheard of to fire a position coach in-season. That goes double for head coaches. I don't think Jerry is fond of humiliating staffers. If anything, he's too loyal. If we get better, it will be under Read's guidance.

He should have been fired after last season....we should not have to suffer for another year. Better to own up to it now and fix it.

 

[MrMom]

Bruce read wasn't the guy Wade got fired over is he?

YES.

Jerry should have hired Wade with one firm rule -- Bruce Read can not be hired because he sucks. Bruce Read is a good friend of Wade's.

No, he wasn't. He was fired over ST Coach Ronnie Jones.

Wade Phillips was fired as coach of the Buffalo Bills after refusing to give up on the special-teams coach he hired in the wake of the Jan. 8, 2000, loss to Tennessee that eliminated the Bills from last year's playoffs.



The Bills' owner, Ralph Wilson, said yesterday that he considered the firing of Ronnie Jones, in his first year as special teams coach, imperative for the improvement of our team.



Buffalo's special-teams record was among the worst in the National Football League last season, Wilson said. I felt we needed a change and that my request was reasonable. I did not want to release Wade, but his refusal left me with no option.


Phillips was fired Sunday night. Jones was hired during the off-season to replace Bruce DeHaven in the wake of a playoff loss decided by a wild and controversial special-teams touchdown. This season, the Bills finished 8-8 and, for the first time since the 1997 season, missed the playoffs.
Phillips's dismissal followed the firing of General Manager John Butler last month.



The Bills were 29-19 in three seasons under Phillips. Buffalo was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round two seasons ago by Miami.
Jones, a close friend of Phillips, was hired despite having no experience coaching special teams. The Bills finished at or near the bottom of the league in nearly every major special-teams category.



''It wasn't a total shock,'' the defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell said of Phillips's firing.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

There you go letting facts get in the way, MrMom.

I still say... LBs are your core special teams players and we lack good ones beyond our starters. And Spencer and Burnett are obviously out right now.

It's a big problem. I'd be looking at the final waiver wire for sure.

 

[bbgun]

There you go letting facts get in the way, MrMom.

I still say... LBs are your core special teams players and we lack good ones beyond our starters. And Spencer and Burnett are obviously out right now.

It's a big problem. I'd be looking at the final waiver wire for sure.

The kicker, punter, and guys who return kickoffs and punts are excellent. Everything else scares me.