So I thought I would take a minute to discuss the special teams on this roster. They suck. When we get that QB next year, I hope who ever is in charge makes it a priority to upgrade the special teams. We haven't had a game breaker at KR since Leon Washington, or a homerun threat at PR since Santana Moss. They cut a long snapper who has been perfect for 7 years to save like 300,000? If they want to pull a Wilpon and save every penny, why did they sign Catanzaro when they could have just got an undrafted rookie FA for the minimum. Not like Catanzaro is the second coming of Adam Vinateri anyway. Our kick coverage has been mediocre for years, at least since Westoff. We always seem to get penalized on ST plays as well. I didn't mind the Loc Edwards pick and I am willing to forgive him for that embarassing snap that he just missed last year but he needs to show improvement. It just seems to me that Special Teams is the easiest facet of the team to improve. The guys in the return game and coverage units are usually young, hungry players that shouldn't break the bank. The specialists aren't as important as a QB or DE or anything but they can impact the game in a major way. I wish they could bring Westoff back but he might be too old and wouldn't be interested anyway. The Jets would be well served to find someone knowledgeable and passionate like him.
special teams suffer the most when the roster is devoid of talent. bad starters make for worse specials. and we sorely miss westhoff designing plays. guy was a wizard
Special teams have sucked ever since Westhoff left. No matter what coach comes in, we still suck. But talent from top to bottom is a big reason why we suck on special teams. Our punting with Ryan Quigley was atrocious, Lac Edwards - inconsistent, but showed improvement in the 2nd - 4th preseason game. Kerley will be fair catching a bunch so I don't expect an explosive special teams group. No large returns or return for touchdowns, but I'll take fair catches and 5 yard returns over Jalin Marshall coughing up the ball. In the future, when our roster hopefully becomes more talented, our special teams should follow suit.
no need to worry about kickoff COVERAGE--the jets will not be kicking off very often--PUNT coverage will be needed early and often.
With the exception of FG kicker, special teams can't win games for you, but they can lose them. The Jets have never had an exceptional FG kicker and never seemed interested in acquiring one except for the Mike Nugent fiasco. Nick Folk wasn't bad, but the Jets in their infinite wisdom, let him go. Maybe they didn't want him winning any tight games this year. Same goes for punter, Jets never seemed to view that position as important as evidenced by the long list of unexceptional punters to grace this roster. Kick coverage is important but the coverage team is mostly made up of 2nd and 3rd teamers anyway. Jets 2nd and 3rd teamers are probably no worse than 2nd and 3rd teamers on any other given team so no reason to think coverage will be impacted by the rebuild. Finally, it is extremely rare to get a returner like Devon Hester. Even if a team had one, any extra yards or TD's scored by a returner should be considered gravy, and not counted on as part of the offense. If I was a coach, I would want my kick returner, first and foremost, to catch the ball and then protect it. Anything over that would be nice but I could live without. Jets need to concentrate on improving the offense. That's where the difference between winning and losing lays..
Chad Morton,Leon Washington,brad smith all won games for us. Dante hall won games for the chiefs. Devin Hester win games for the bears. he practically had coaches shitting themselves on the sideline every 4th down. Specials win games
Mike Westhoff explained once that when you overpay for free agents and have a handful of guys eating up all your cap, you hollow out the bottom of the roster where you make your bones on STs and leave it bereft of talent. Which is where the Jets have been for five seasons at least.
I should rephrase. I didn't mean to say they can't win games. I meant to say that you shouldn't count on them to win games. If you do then there's something wrong with your offense. Pats have been winning for decades without the need for a great kick returner. Nevertheless, I'm sure any Pat returner coughing up the ball would be in Belichick's doghouse for a while.
Once the Jets traded for Ross Martin's long snapper at Duke, I thought surly Catanzaro was out. But nope........ Kinda a head scratcher there if it was indeed a money thing. I think I read Bowles saying they wanted to upgrade on Purdums downfield coverage ability?......I hope I read that wrong. Edwards is going to be getting a lot of work this year. Keep that leg loose!
