Is Brian Schneider's job safe on Special Teams?

I haven't heard anything out there on our special teams coach?

We weren't stellar on ST, but maybe good enough for him to keep his job.

What, nobody cares about Special Teams anymore, no posts in several days?
I for sure was appalled at our Special Teams getting torched excessively this season, especially the last handful of games.
Sherman played on ST so that was a loss, but doubt that was a major factor.

I'm sure this is/was being reviewed as well by Pete, John, & Co, just maybe lower priority than fixing the offense.

Definitely something that needs to be addressed. We have good gunners but that is about it.

If Brian Schneider is the problem there is no solution.

Special Teams was awful this season. Really surprised he's still the special team's coordinator.

His special teams cost our team a couple games this season alone.

Special Teams are always the first cap casualty and key injuries show up here first. Want to know how deep your team is at WR/LB/DB? How good are your kicking units? As the injuries started to pile up the team lost more and more flexibility. The team had Eddie Lacy soaking up a roster spot all year because they did not have the depth on the roster or cap flexibility to cut him. At one point this season the team did not even dress the minimum number of players for a game. That is why the special teams sucked.

olyfan63":3lvzp1di said:

What, nobody cares about Special Teams anymore, no posts in several days?
I for sure was appalled at our Special Teams getting torched excessively this season, especially the last handful of games.
Sherman played on ST so that was a loss, but doubt that was a major factor.

I'm sure this is/was being reviewed as well by Pete, John, & Co, just maybe lower priority than fixing the offense.

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Well I brought it up recently. I know it is not cool to quote oneself but it is still a concern I have.

seahawkfreak":3lvzp1di said:

When does Brian Schneider and the Carroll brothers get 86ed?

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Thought the STs looked good in the beginning of the season. IMO helped us beat the Rams in LA. Then they just shit the bed. Penalties, poor kicking (including kicking touchbacks), punting and poor punt coverage. All consistently bad. There was occasionaly great punt coverage with Lane (ironically) but there was more bad than good.

STs might be a more of a victim to FA and FO decisions than any other section of the team and I'm guessing Brian is a good guy and that is why he is still here.

I don't think Special Teams were quite as bad as some have made out to be. Here's some stats -

2nd in kickoff return yards

20th in punt return yards

6th in opponent punt return yards

12th in opponent kickoff return yards



Whereas looking at the kickers themselves these stats stand out -

31st in longest field goal made (49 yarder)
30th in field goal conversion percentage (72.4%)
8th in extra point conversion percentage (97.4) - Interestingly, 8 teams were below 90% on extra point conversions, 5 of them playoff teams.

I suspect it is greatly unfair to judge how lousy the ST play was with the kicker the team had last season.

Had our forgettable kicker made his missed kicks, the team would have had at least an 11-5 record and the ST play would not be unde the same scrutiny. Coach Schneider is likely pretty aware his unit needs improvement, the kicking game at both punter and PK is their area biggest present weakness, thereafter punt coverage could stand some real improvement.

sdog1981":3htngu5t said:

Special Teams are always the first cap casualty and key injuries show up here first. Want to know how deep your team is at WR/LB/DB? How good are your kicking units? As the injuries started to pile up the team lost more and more flexibility. The team had Eddie Lacy soaking up a roster spot all year because they did not have the depth on the roster or cap flexibility to cut him. At one point this season the team did not even dress the minimum number of players for a game. That is why the special teams sucked.

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I'm going with that theory. Too many roster spots used by players who are not good special teamers on "cover" teams, Lacy, PRich, etc, and loss of key players (Sherman) who also play on ST.

The biggest weakness area* of our Special Teams, IMO, was the Punt Coverage unit. Sherman typically plays on that unit IIRC.


* This is excluding our FG/PAT unit, and the Blair Witch Project. Plus they did good on PATs. I'm going with the recurring poor FG results being 99% kicker related, not the whole unit.

Too many special team players coming and going for maintenance of special teams consistency.

However, there continues to be on going developments in other areas.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/alexmarvez/status/955913536856879105[/tweet]

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20th in special teams DVOA. I believe we were top 5 during our reign of dominance. Need to get back to that. I'm surprised Schneider is here mostly because of how many people they've already let go.