BOLTS AND SEAHAWKS
- Thread starter 45park1904
- Start date
you dont really want to start cutting alot of players of the unit..Most of the players on special teams are 2,3,4 stringers. The problem last weekend was that alot of the studs on special teams were starters due to injury. They didnt play on kickoff coverage in order to decrease exhaustion and chance of injury. I bet we do start seeing more starters playing on special teams though. Norv needs to make a statement, bench someone or fire someone..
Changes coming on Chargers' special teams
Published: Today
The Chargers are the only team in the NFL to have its offense and defense ranked in the top 5. They are scoring more than all but seven teams. Their defense has allowed fewer points than all but six teams.
Yes, turnovers have stifled the offense’s progress toward points, and the defense would like a few big plays back.
But through three games, those two units have played well enough to have the Chargers being all they were expected to be.
And yet the Chargers have stumbled to another 1-2 start despite having assuredly outplayed inferior opponents through much of their two defeats.
Talk of “all three phases” is usually perceived as so much gobbledygook. But, oh, what might be if only the Chargers had a third phase.
“That’s the killer,” cornerback Quentin Jammer said Monday.
Jammer was among several veterans who since Sunday’s 27-20 loss at Seattle basically volunteered for kick coverage duties.
That willingness is fortunate, since it coincides with head coach Norv Turner saying that some starters will see action on special teams for at least the time being.
“We have issues to address in our coverage teams,” Turner said. “We have enough good players, we have a good enough scheme that we can address those issues … One of the ways to address it is to get some guys who have done a great job in the past who aren’t featured on the coverage teams. Obviously, I’m talking about guys who are starting players who have been good special teams players in the past
“We have some young guys that need to grow up, and while they’re getting ready to grow up, we need to put some guys in there that have done it so we don’t have the issue.”
A combined eight kickoffs and punts have been returned for touchdowns across the NFL this season. Three of those have been given up by the Chargers.
Dexter McCluster had the longest-ever punt return against the Chargers, 94 yards in the season opener. It was the Chiefs’ final touchdown in their 21-14 victory. Sunday in Seattle, Leon Washington became the first man to ever return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game against the Chargers. His first, 101 yards, was the second-longest the Chargers had ever given up. His second, 99 yards, accounted for the final points in a 27-20 Seahawks victory.
Monday’s special teams meeting at Chargers Park was crowded and unpleasant.
“It was worse on tape,” Jammer said. “It was bad. It was bad. It is embarrassing, and we will get it fixed, because as a football player and as a guy who has been here nine years, I have never seen that before in my life. That is kind of attacking our pride and attacking us as a team.”
Additionally, Chargers’ opponents’ average starting point after kickoffs is beyond the 37-yard line, best in the NFL. Opponents’ are average 25.5 yards on punt returns, making the Chargers punt coverage unit the league’s second-worst.
Next up for the Chargers is Arizona’s LaRod Stephens-Howling, who on Sunday returned a kickoff 102 yards.
While he will fill holes with players in different roles, roster moves were not ruled out by Turner, who huddled with general manager A.J. Smith and vice president Ed McGuire on Sunday night after the team returned to Chargers Park.
It is likely that cornerback Dante Hughes will be re-signed Tuesday after being let go last week to make room for running back Curtis Brinkley. With Ryan Mathews’ ankle apparently healthy, Brinkley can be sent back to the practice squad. Also available is practice squad receiver Richard Goodman, who is blazing fast and showed well both returning kicks and covering in the preseason.
“We’re going to do everything we can in the kicking game to get better,” Turner said. “We have the guys in our building that can go do what we need to do … We’re always looking for the next guy, someone out there that can help us whether it be a guy on our practice squad, whether it be someone who is not playing right now.”
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Published: Today
The Chargers are the only team in the NFL to have its offense and defense ranked in the top 5. They are scoring more than all but seven teams. Their defense has allowed fewer points than all but six teams.
Yes, turnovers have stifled the offense’s progress toward points, and the defense would like a few big plays back.
But through three games, those two units have played well enough to have the Chargers being all they were expected to be.
And yet the Chargers have stumbled to another 1-2 start despite having assuredly outplayed inferior opponents through much of their two defeats.
Talk of “all three phases” is usually perceived as so much gobbledygook. But, oh, what might be if only the Chargers had a third phase.
“That’s the killer,” cornerback Quentin Jammer said Monday.
Jammer was among several veterans who since Sunday’s 27-20 loss at Seattle basically volunteered for kick coverage duties.
That willingness is fortunate, since it coincides with head coach Norv Turner saying that some starters will see action on special teams for at least the time being.
“We have issues to address in our coverage teams,” Turner said. “We have enough good players, we have a good enough scheme that we can address those issues … One of the ways to address it is to get some guys who have done a great job in the past who aren’t featured on the coverage teams. Obviously, I’m talking about guys who are starting players who have been good special teams players in the past
“We have some young guys that need to grow up, and while they’re getting ready to grow up, we need to put some guys in there that have done it so we don’t have the issue.”
A combined eight kickoffs and punts have been returned for touchdowns across the NFL this season. Three of those have been given up by the Chargers.
Dexter McCluster had the longest-ever punt return against the Chargers, 94 yards in the season opener. It was the Chiefs’ final touchdown in their 21-14 victory. Sunday in Seattle, Leon Washington became the first man to ever return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game against the Chargers. His first, 101 yards, was the second-longest the Chargers had ever given up. His second, 99 yards, accounted for the final points in a 27-20 Seahawks victory.
Monday’s special teams meeting at Chargers Park was crowded and unpleasant.
“It was worse on tape,” Jammer said. “It was bad. It was bad. It is embarrassing, and we will get it fixed, because as a football player and as a guy who has been here nine years, I have never seen that before in my life. That is kind of attacking our pride and attacking us as a team.”
Additionally, Chargers’ opponents’ average starting point after kickoffs is beyond the 37-yard line, best in the NFL. Opponents’ are average 25.5 yards on punt returns, making the Chargers punt coverage unit the league’s second-worst.
Next up for the Chargers is Arizona’s LaRod Stephens-Howling, who on Sunday returned a kickoff 102 yards.
While he will fill holes with players in different roles, roster moves were not ruled out by Turner, who huddled with general manager A.J. Smith and vice president Ed McGuire on Sunday night after the team returned to Chargers Park.
It is likely that cornerback Dante Hughes will be re-signed Tuesday after being let go last week to make room for running back Curtis Brinkley. With Ryan Mathews’ ankle apparently healthy, Brinkley can be sent back to the practice squad. Also available is practice squad receiver Richard Goodman, who is blazing fast and showed well both returning kicks and covering in the preseason.
“We’re going to do everything we can in the kicking game to get better,” Turner said. “We have the guys in our building that can go do what we need to do … We’re always looking for the next guy, someone out there that can help us whether it be a guy on our practice squad, whether it be someone who is not playing right now.”
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