Special Teams Work

Kenny Bell was doing nothing on punt returns, only have a C because Pierson-El had a 15 yard return. Both kickers made 45 yard field goals, Bondi needs to get more touchbacks on kickoffs because our kick coverage allowed a few big returns. Foltz was ok on punts and Moore did nothing with the one kick return we had.

 
I missed some of the game on Saturday.

What grade would you give our special teams?
Field Goals - A

Punts - B

Punt Returns - C

Kick Return - D

Coverage - C
I think you're being generous by giving Punt Returns a C grade but I'll admit I'm frustrated by how bad we are at this aspect of the game. Even the announcers talked about how it was a point of focus in the off-season and it looked like almost the same thing as last year.

Kenny Bell muffed a punt that could have easily been a turnover had he not swatted it out of bounds. We fielded four punts with a total of 19 yards in returns which is fairly poor considering the opposition and that most were being fielded around the 20-25 yard line. These weren't short field punts where our guy is trying to do something while standing on his own 5 yard line.

We did pressure their kicker one time when he tried to roll out and do a rugby style punt. The only big change I saw was that our players were hustling back towards the ball to help block. I think on every kick there was more than just a lone NU player on the TV screen surrounded by a sea of opposition.

 
I missed some of the game on Saturday.

What grade would you give our special teams?
Field Goals - A

Punts - B

Punt Returns - C

Kick Return - D

Coverage - C
I think you're being generous by giving Punt Returns a C grade but I'll admit I'm frustrated by how bad we are at this aspect of the game. Even the announcers talked about how it was a point of focus in the off-season and it looked like almost the same thing as last year.

Kenny Bell muffed a punt that could have easily been a turnover had he not swatted it out of bounds. We fielded four punts with a total of 19 yards in returns which is fairly poor considering the opposition and that most were being fielded around the 20-25 yard line. These weren't short field punts where our guy is trying to do something while standing on his own 5 yard line.

We did pressure their kicker one time when he tried to roll out and do a rugby style punt. The only big change I saw was that our players were hustling back towards the ball to help block. I think on every kick there was more than just a lone NU player on the TV screen surrounded by a sea of opposition.
I would look at it this way.

Bell - D

Pierson El - B

 
Bell actually had a chance to return two, but he let them go. They were set up almost identically to the one Pierson-El had a return on.

 
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