Special Teams is the only concern right now

[romothesavior]

The offense is firing on all cylinders, and the defense looks like it might actually be pretty good. In virtually every statistical category, we dominated the game yesterday on both sides of the ball. That should have been a 20+ point victory.

But special teams blunders and some poor punting made it far closer than it needed to be. And the week before against Houston, special teams kept Houston in the ballgame with some boneheaded penalties.

It's a pretty awesome situation to be 5-1 and have nothing to complain about except special teams. But if Super Bowl is the goal (and I think it's a becoming a more and more realistic goal every week) then we have got to clean up these special teams mistakes. Hopefully the coaching staff figures out the kinks this week.

 

[erod]

It was a major strength last year, so I'm confident they'll get it sorted out.

The blocking penalties on punt returns are driving me crazy.

 

[Titleist]

I love the guy but Harris has to hold on to the dang ball. Especially when its a fair catch...

 

[JoeyBoy718]

It was a major strength last year, so I'm confident they'll get it sorted out.

The blocking penalties on punt returns are driving me crazy.

Yep. Disappointing considering we had probably the best special teams in the league last year, while we had a historically bad defense and an underachieving offense. Now, offense is rolling and defense is surprising, and our strength from last year is a major weakness. Go figure.

 

[JoeyBoy718]

I love the guy but Harris has to hold on to the dang ball. Especially when its a fair catch...

Harris has been disappointing. We know he's never been a great WR. He's a play maker on special teams and we want the ball in his hands on offense. He isn't a great WR so we'd devise plays just to get the ball in his hands. But this year, he hasn't been great at returns, he's been making poor decisions, and he's been fumbling returns. Very disappointing. Almost cost us the game yesterday. I'm also disappointed about his fair catch on the 9 yard line (or was it the 5?). You let that go. Fake the fair catch and step away.

 

[Cowboy06]

The special teams has to get better. I believe as your team gets better and there is quality depth you will find better returners and such. Just my opinion.

 

[big dog cowboy]

The main issue is Harris catching and holding onto the ball. Overall our punting is OK (which is good enough to win a SB) and the blocking error that caused the punt to be blocked needs addressed. Lucky those are minor things that can be taken care of easily. The Harris issue needs fixed and I'm confident it will be.

 

[Doomsday101]

The main issue is Harris catching and holding onto the ball. Overall our punting is OK (which is good enough to win a SB) and the blocking error that caused the punt to be blocked needs addressed. Lucky those are minor things that can be taken care of easily. The Harris issue needs fixed and I'm confident it will be.

Feel the same, Harris is a good special teams player and will get it going.

 

[conner01]

i hate fumbles but if not for the penalties on punt returns harris would be in the top 5 and he is 6th in kick returns.he has to get the fumbles taken care of but he has not been a big fumbler in his career. the biggest issue on special team is the penalties. the blocked punt was just a great play by thm that the coverage did'nt adjust to.
i'm not concerned about harris, by the end of the year he will be in the top 5 in both returns

 

[Aven8]

The past couple of weeks the ST's have really hurt us. The penalties last week really killed good field position. The coverage has still been excellent however. It can be fixed IMO.

 

[NickZepp]

Harris has been a play maker on special teams. So I'm not too worried there. And Chris Jones just had a bad game. He's had a solid season.

 

[romothesavior]

I'm not too worried about Harris, because he's a special teams stud. I'm a little worried about the punting. Obviously Bailey is a stud too. So the pieces are mostly there.

Our ST is frustrating so far, but their struggles give me some encouragement about where this team could go. The ST errors are a function of making mistakes, not a lack of talent, and I think it will absolutely improve in the next few weeks. If our special teams just eliminated the errors, we would be talking about three straight blowouts (New Orleans, Houston, Seattle).