Special Teams have been bad

Aside from Dickson punting, which hasn't been as amazing as some of us hoped so far, we aren't looking good on special teams. Seabass concerns aside, I'm mostly talking about returning and coverage. Lockett had one really good return, but I think he lost yards on every other kickoff return relative to the touchback. Coverage was also terrible, especially in the first half.

I'm kind of surprised with the coaching house-clean that Brian Schneider is still on the staff. ST has been declining since 2013 and I'm sure we all know how bad they were last year. Punting is better with Dickson, but overall we aren't that good.

Thoughts?

It's not a great sign when we have to use wacky gimmick drop kicks, willing to let the opponent start around the 35, to make up for bad return coverage.

Lockett has been running backwards far too many times for someone not a rookie. :34853_doh:

Granted, blocking hasn't been the best, but having No-E trying to make something out of nothing by adding 5 or more yards to every kick is kind of stoopid.

Have Penny return kicks....Looks like he lost his job, might as well protect Locket.

With regard to drop kicks, the hang time is much greater than a standard kickoff so we should be able to get our return guys down there. We're experimenting with distance and who gets the ball not just to keep it from their return man, but to bring into play some of the guys who aren't used to catching balls.

A drop-kicked ball behaves a bit differently to one kicked off a tee. This matters when it comes time to catch it, and given the drop-kick is pretty much unique to us, we can hope for a few more turnovers on kickoffs.

Also, the on-side drop kick looks no different to the regular drop-kick except when the ball is actually kicked. This gives very little opportunity for the opposing team to respond to a surprise drop-kick. In Rugby, the drop-kick is usually targeted between 10 and 15 metres deep, and has a LOT of height on it, such that it becomes a jump-ball. The general plan is to have the intended receiver bat it back toward his teammates rather than trying to secure it. Pete watches a bit of rugby, as seen by his tackling videos, so don't be surprised if we see more of it, and don't be as surprised as our opponents will be when we use it for an on-side kick.