Teams
Forum List
Toggle sidebar

Special Teams

S

Stormin

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
45,811
15,287
113
Thought the Special Teams were great against UNI. A lot of times the special teamers might be good athletes who don't see the field on offense or defense because they are way down the depth chart.

So just want to say that they are a very important part of our team and are often overlooked. Their efforts make the difference between winning and losing in games.

This team seems to have a great attitude. Players buying in to playing the roles they are asked to play. And giving great effort. Our coverage and blocking on special teams was great and look forward to continued success.
 
Our kicker missed 2 fgs and their punter was bad. Not sure I'm ready to mark the special teams great.
 
Lazard taking back punts, albeit a potential injury risk, is still a great idea. He looked comfortable doing catching them, was very patient with his blocks and routes (blocks giving great credit to the rest of the ST guys), and he was not afraid to destroy someone with a stiff arm. I like it.

It's worth pointing out that UNI's ST were not that great, especially their punter repeatedly kicking line drives... But, our ST still looked vastly improved from last year.
 
The field positioning helps without a doubt and is always one of the most crucial battles in a game. The coverage was great considering the field kicks were a little shallow each time. Obviously our return game and blocking was killing it.

All that said though, leaving points off the board can ruin momentum fast against better teams. They have to execute in all phases.
 
ISUME said:
Our kicker missed 2 fgs and their punter was bad. Not sure I'm ready to mark the special teams great.
Click to expand...

Yes. Netten missed 2 FG's. I am not concerned. He will iron it out.

Our coverage on kickoffs was great. Guess you missed that. Coverage on our punts was great. Guess you missed that.

You just keep focusing on Netten's missed FG's. Keep dwelling on anything negative that you can. We would not want to give anyone a compliment, would we? We just need to keep ******** and ******** and ********.

How are you and Clonedude related?
 
I think that Rhoads said we had 13 walk ons that played on the four special teams, (maybe it was just that we had 13 that played somewhere on Saturday). Not sure if some of them are scholarship guys now, but I thought that was interesting in a couple ways.
One, we had guys walk on to this program that are very productive. (I think this proves that we are developing talent)
Two, it seems a lot of teams are putting starters all over special teams as they know how important this phase of the game can be for field position, so to have this many walk ons is strange. But if we can be productive with WO players and save the starters, that's a big positive.

But I agree that this past week's MVP was UNI's punter.
 
Stormin said:
Yes. Netten missed 2 FG's. I am not concerned. He will iron it out.

Our coverage on kickoffs was great. Guess you missed that. Coverage on our punts was great. Guess you missed that.

You just keep focusing on Netten's missed FG's. Keep dwelling on anything negative that you can. We would not want to give anyone a compliment, would we? We just need to keep ******** and ******** and ********.

How are you and Clonedude related?
Click to expand...

Their punter was terrible!!!!! Did you miss that part of my post. When the punter is kicking line drive punts it is going to make your punt return look great.
 
ISUME said:
Our kicker missed 2 fgs and their punter was bad. Not sure I'm ready to mark the special teams great.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. I think Netten will be fine, though. He has a pretty solid track record. I have really high expectations for special teams units -- they need to be great this year.
 
Stormin said:
Yes. Netten missed 2 FG's. I am not concerned. He will iron it out.

Our coverage on kickoffs was great. Guess you missed that. Coverage on our punts was great. Guess you missed that.

You just keep focusing on Netten's missed FG's. Keep dwelling on anything negative that you can. We would not want to give anyone a compliment, would we? We just need to keep ******** and ******** and ********.

How are you and Clonedude related?
Click to expand...

This might have been a slight overreaction to the comment at hand. I'm noticing this trend a lot in other threads, too.
 
JHUNSY said:
The field positioning helps without a doubt and is always one of the most crucial battles in a game. The coverage was great considering the field kicks were a little shallow each time. Obviously our return game and blocking was killing it.

All that said though, leaving points off the board can ruin momentum fast against better teams. They have to execute in all phases.
Click to expand...

This is by design. We try to have the other team receive the kick inside the 5 yard line and in one of the corners. Then get down and make the tackle before they reach the 25. Our coaches believe we can cover kicks well enough that we can stop then before the 25 so there is no point kicking touchbacks and giving them the 25 as a starting point.
 
MeowingCows said:
This might have been a slight overreaction to the comment at hand. I'm noticing this trend a lot in other threads, too.
Click to expand...

At what point do we confront the negative A-holes who continue to go on and on and on with their negative dribble. They just can't let Cyclone fans voice any enthusiasm for our football team.

They continue to prop up the Hawks for their win against Illinois State and bash the Cyclones for their win against UNI. It makes no sense.
 
Stormin said:
At what point do we confront the negative A-holes who continue to go on and on and on with their negative dribble. They just can't let Cyclone fans voice any enthusiasm for our football team.

They continue to prop up the Hawks for their win against Illinois State and bash the Cyclones for their win against UNI. It makes no sense.
Click to expand...

I took a lot of positives away from the game this past Saturday. Our kick off coverage was great and I loved that Lazard was receiving punts, the more he touches the ball the better. I'm just trying to be realistic because with the number of close games we have had over the last couple of years, missing 2 fgs is going to lead to a loss sooner or later.
 
Great job getting the UNI punter rattled into the worst punting display in decades. Hopefully all other future opposing punters also wilt under the immense pressure of our punt block unit.
 
swarthmoreCY said:
Great job getting the UNI punter rattled into the worst punting display in decades. Hopefully all other future opposing punters also wilt under the immense pressure of our punt block unit.
Click to expand...

Yeah he was absolutely terrible. Basically kicked line drives.
 
Stormin said:
At what point do we confront the negative A-holes who continue to go on and on and on with their negative dribble. They just can't let Cyclone fans voice any enthusiasm for our football team.

They continue to prop up the Hawks for their win against Illinois State and bash the Cyclones for their win against UNI. It makes no sense.
Click to expand...

Truth be told, focusing on positivity is great but requires balance. Not everything is milk and cookies, there were still mistakes and other things needing improved upon in the future. Was it a good start? Absolutely. As for special teams, ours played very well. That's great. The bar set by UNI wasn't really that high in all honesty, but the good news is we played above their level, and not down to their level. That's the big positive here.

The comparisons to UI/IllSt are fair in some cases, as UNI and IllSt are very similar teams. It's only fair.

As for ISU, again, positivity is good, and the negative points are focuses for future improvement. We need both.
 
ISUME said:
I took a lot of positives away from the game this past Saturday. Our kick off coverage was great and I loved that Lazard was receiving punts, the more he touches the ball the better. I'm just trying to be realistic because with the number of close games we have had over the last couple of years, missing 2 fgs is going to lead to a loss sooner or later.
Click to expand...

Netten's 2 misses are uncharacteristic. He missed 3 FG's the entire 2014 season. And Netten virtually never misses from 40 yards and closer.

Netten is not a concern IMO.
 
Stormin said:
Netten's 2 misses are uncharacteristic. He missed 3 FG's the entire 2014 season. And Netten virtually never misses from 40 yards and closer.

Netten is not a concern IMO.
Click to expand...

I hope that's true for the Vikings too. Having the exact same issue with Walsh.
 
MeowingCows said:
Truth be told, focusing on positivity is great but requires balance. Not everything is milk and cookies, there were still mistakes and other things needing improved upon in the future. Was it a good start? Absolutely. As for special teams, ours played very well. That's great. The bar set by UNI wasn't really that high in all honesty, but the good news is we played above their level, and not down to their level. That's the big positive here.

The comparisons to UI/IllSt are fair in some cases, as UNI and IllSt are very similar teams. It's only fair.

As for ISU, again, positivity is good, and the negative points are focuses for future improvement. We need both.
Click to expand...

Constructive criticism and Negativity are 2 different things. I have repeatedly said that Sam was tentative and indecisive in the first half. But then added that in the second half he responded and played better.

That is an example of Constructive Criticism. Like you pointed out, some criticisms combined with some positives.
 
I think it is perfectly fair (and correct) to point out that UNI's punter was awful. Which of course led to some really easy returns for Lazard. There were times he was able to run 10 yards before a UNI player was even close to him. That likely won't happen again the rest of the season.

Kick coverage and punt coverage were very solid. We tackled well and swarmed to the ball. UNI's kick returner not knowing the rules also helped.

Not worried at all about Netten. More worried about our offense not finishing drives and having to settle for FG's, especially after a turnover deep in UNI territory gave us all the momentum in the world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron
Top Bottom