SPECIAL TEAMS WERE SPECIAL THIS WEEKEND

by Love Without Nagel, The Meaningful Collateral

Perhaps NFL coaches have not read the 'Complete Guide to Special Teams.' We all know coaches for the most part aren't geniuses, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they skimmed the foreword by Frank Beamer but must have skipped the techniques, drills and training. The Broncos this week announced they were not scared of Devin Hester. Care to re-think that strategy Todd Sauerbrun and Broncos Special Teams coach Scott O'Brien? In the linked article above Sauerbrun said-

"We're not going to kick away from him [Hester]," Sauerbrun said. "Hey, we respect him and he's the best, but we have guys on our coverage teams that are paid to make big tackles."

Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, look for Scott O'Brien to be in line at your nearest soup kitchen.

To make matters worse, after Hester had returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns, the badass Broncos shrunk away from their game plan and attemped to angle a punt out of bounds. The only problem was that no one informed the punt team to block the outside rush. The result: A blocked punt and field position that even Rex Grossman was able to convert into points.

The stats are staggering.

Chicago's Offensive Stat Line- 293 total yards (122 rushing, 171 passing), 4/15 on third down conversions, 4 turnovers, Grossman was a lackluster 17/33. By the way, the Broncos were better in every statistical category, including time of possession. Amazing that the Broncos were able to lose a 14 point lead with under six minutes left in the game.

While this loss may be considered a simple arrogant oversight by the Broncos coaching staff and a kicker who was once suspended for use of steriods, the enigma that is Neil "Small Game" Rackers continues to boggle my mind.

For the life of me, I cannot understand how Neil Rackers cannot kick well when the game is on the line. Does anyone remember last year against the Bears when Neil whiffed on a 40 yard field goal to beat Chicago on a Monday night game in the tastefully named Universty of Phoenix Stadium? Rackers threw his helmet a good twenty yards after the kick.

Remember when Neil Rackers missed a 51 yarder against Kansas City to win the game last year?

Remember when Neil Rackers missed a 32 yard field goal on Sunday after making one from 27 only to have it not count due to a delay of game penalty on the Cards? This was in overtime and should be well within his range. Rackers has been known to show off during warm-ups easily kicking 60+ yarders while barely breaking a sweat. If he keeps up his flubbing in tight game situations, he might soon be standing in the soup kitchen line next to Scott O'Brien. Unless he can make a living kicking an oblong pigskin through a big "U" at the state fair.

Let's take a closer look at Neil Rackers:

From his official bio-

• Selected to his first pro bowl in 2005
• Set a franchise record with 23 touchbacks in 2004
• Established a franchise record for field goal percentage (95.2), field goal attempts (42) and field goals made (40) in 2005
• The Pro Football Hall of Fame received the shoes worn by Rackers on 10/24/04 when he earned a spot in the NFL record books. By connecting on field goals of 55, 55 and 50 yards in the Cardinals 25-17 win vs. Seattle (10/24), Rackers earned a share of the NFL's all-time record for most field goals of 50+ yards in a single game, tying Morten Andersen who set the record in 1995. The Hall of Fame also received the shoes and ball from his record setting 40th field goal of the 2005 season.
• Has "date night" with wife Rachel on Mondays. Presumably because the Cards never play on Monday.
• Has a mean streak.
• When interviewed, he starts responses to questions 11 out of 15 times with "Well....."

So it wouldn't be out of the question to suggest that if he were asked why he missed that second field goal in overtime he would respond, "Well, I am looking forward to date night with my wife. If you have problem with that I will drag you to the ground by your face."

**Other special teams snafus this weekend-

1. Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes sends his first offering out of bounds instead of kicking to the illustrious Mewelde Moore.
2. The vile Patriots of New England caught off guard by a David Akers onside kick.
3. Rams special teams let some guy on Seattle named Josh Wilson take one to the house.

I'll leave you with a few quotes about kickers.

"Two point-blank field goals for the win and couldn't make those," a seething coach Bill Parcells said afterward a Cowboys preseason loss.

Lou Groza, NFL Hall of Fame kicker: "Old place-kickers never die, they just go on missing the point."

"When in doubt, punt!" -- John Heisman

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