It's time to talk about Special Teams

[2D_]

The last few weeks of the season have been rough for our special teams. Missed kicks, blocked kicks, missed tackles, poor returns. As much as I like LeVar Woods, our special teams are becoming a detriment when it used to be one of the best aspects of our team. Is this simply because of the absence of Cooper? What's going to happen next year when Coop and Tory are both gone? We never got to see if Drew got back into his rhythm either.

Has this just been a hiccup, or can we expect our special teams to get worse? I think Wetjen is the guy for PR. He's got incredible speed. Let's also hope that we can get another Aussie punter!

 

[NLhawk62]

Maybe because they’re human and can’t be perfect all the time?

 

[2D_]

Maybe because they’re human and can’t be perfect all the time?

An incredibly poor response. But I'll bite. The question I presented was; why has our special teams, who have been great for years, suddenly been a lot worse?

I understand this forum is full of disingenuous posters, but c'mon. This is a legitimate concern going into next year.

 

[gamedayron01]

Woods has a good overall track record. If this trend continues it will be a concern however.

 

[Hawkeyes4Life32]

Drew Stevens is having a bit of a Sophomore slump and Cooper is out. We will be fine on Special Teams

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Taylor has not been himself.

Stevens looked rough in warmups. Multiple misses.

Blocked kicks were bad.

The punt and kick team have been pretty good. Just got split with the gunners.

 

[uihawk82]

Taylor has not been himself.

Stevens looked rough in warmups. Multiple misses.

Blocked kicks were bad.

The punt and kick team have been pretty good. Just got split with the gunners.

Taylor averaged 50 yards per punt last saturday. No shanks. Teams are not letting him boom kicks over their returners head anymore. His first two years he got some tremendously long punts by getting them over their head.

Also, the NFL coaches want a consistent 45+ yards or 50 but more than that they want high punts with good hang time so as not to give up big returns

 

[uihawk82]

The last few weeks of the season have been rough for our special teams. Missed kicks, blocked kicks, missed tackles, poor returns. As much as I like LeVar Woods, our special teams are becoming a detriment when it used to be one of the best aspects of our team. Is this simply because of the absence of Cooper? What's going to happen next year when Coop and Tory are both gone? We never got to see if Drew got back into his rhythm either.

Has this just been a hiccup, or can we expect our special teams to get worse? I think Wetjen is the guy for PR. He's got incredible speed. Let's also hope that we can get another Aussie punter!

Part of it is the law of averages leveling out which happens in all kinds of sports. It is also November with cold winds. Cooper being out is part of it as he just made plays at a higher level whether covering or returning punts. If you look at the recent placekickers, shudak, Koehn, duncan, etc they all had a few kicks that came off the foot wrong. But you would have to be in the room to hear if it was snap, hold, or kicking mechanics. Geez I think Shudak had one in Ames that look like it got stuck in the turf, it was chunked way to the right.

It has been a long time the hawks gave up a big punt or kick return. And I think Wetjen is doing pretty well when he has a chance to return.

Blocked kicks, yeah and I will say those Nebby blockers were some leaper, they got penetration and height. The blocked PAT against ILL had a lot of penetration up the middle. Law of averages, baseball hitters, golfers putting, BBall shooters, etc etc. Hell golfers, I play a lot, have a motionless ball but a 20 foot putt rolls over hundreds or more blades of grass with the grain pushing it all which ways and little bumps etc that can wash off speed and most fairway shots are not level.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Wetjen is fast but I don’t see him having the vision looking for holes or being able to cut through crowds that you’d want from a punt returner. Not sure he’s the answer next year.

 

[Hawkfan_08]

Taylor averaged 50 yards per punt last saturday. No shanks. Teams are not letting him boom kicks over their returners head anymore. His first two years he got some tremendously long punts by getting them over their head.

Also, the NFL coaches want a consistent 45+ yards or 50 but more than that they want high punts with good hang time so as not to give up big returns

His last one was a bit of a shank that was only 35 yards. Not terrible but it wasn't his best. That average was helped out by that monster 65 yard bomb on his 2nd or 3rd punt.

It's all good. I love Taylor and am super appreciative of his efforts at Iowa.