Check it, The texans special teams unit in the preseason was. Nothing short of exceptional, that kid Holliday returned three for 6, we completely shut them down and made'em look silly. On the flip side, our secret little weapon Thigpen housed baby..I love the staffs decision to roster that dude, after his first preseason game I said that "if that dude does'nt make the team, something is really wrongs round here"..he did, and it payed off, that was a punt return as well, which is something we didn't really know about, he will house one in kickoff duty real soon. We have dominant special teams at this point considering who are first opponent was and our production that came from it. Running game..we're you guys seeing the same thing I was?, that oline was pushing mother grabbers out of the way, I saw five yard cushions, I saw space that I haven't seen in a long time, if this Martin kid becomes something, we have a very important part of the journey, solved, a young,strong, dominant oline, that's a big deal man. Ability to stop the run..I don't know what that punk Foster was babbling about, boy ran at about at 2. 5 average, Tate was no better..our strength vrs raider strength, Told y'all Misi improved, quicker, leaner, dude was flyin around..Dansby hadn't played in a month so I expect to see a better unit.. Their Dline is big and good, Kelly and Seymour our active and tall, so it will be a nice follow up game to see if our oline is for real. We are damn good in three important areas of the game, let's win this game, and get a little hype going into the jet game, we win that one, people will start to take notice.
A little OT, but when was the last time we returned a punt for TD prior to Thigpen's return? I know Ginn had 1 or 2 called back when he was here, but I can't recall anyone else.
Agree. Special Teams can give us a win in one column many weeks. The defense needs to win in it's column every week while the offense develops. Once Martin blocks better, and Tannehill finds his stride with a receiver or two who emerges we will be fine. But til then STs and D must carry us. First 8 games this season: Offense will average 13 points per game. So for us to win, STs must average 2-3 points per game and defense must hold opponents to an average of 16 points for us to win games. Second 8 games of season: Offense will average 22 points per game. For us to win, defense must hold opponents to 23 points per game while STs scores 2-3 points per game. In other words, to win games I think the first half of the season looks like this: Bottom 5 Offense 6th-8th ranked Defense And I can't find STs rankings, but they'd have to be scoring just under one TD per two games (or accounting for that much in field position). In the second half of the season, I think the Offense climbs to where our defense can get away with some bad days and still win. For now though, if the defense is not dominant, we don;t win.
When we talk special teams, lets not forget to include the whole package, I'll take caperter/ fields as the best the league has as a duo...Top to bottom son. I don't see a bad a little offense with Hart, Bess, Reggie, Fasano, Lane...there's some consistency there.
Gotta fist pump this Mother Grabber! We played a hell of a defense and shined in area, made some mistakes. Le'ts clean this up, beat the faiders and bring on the Jets. Cant wait till we see Lane pancake some fools over the goalline
Javorski " get the fu&$ outta my lane"... Or I heard another one, "The big Javorski" That dude has a chance to be something and take care of his family like he never knew he could.. There is some serious size and talent ratio going on there.. He had the most devastating block I saw in camp, and we know he's got good feet, hands, and power.
For some reason, I feel like Wes Welker returned one for Miami when he was here during Saban's days, so that would've been 2005 or 2006. I could be wrong, but I think Welker was the last one. I know Ted Ginn had one in 2007 against Philly, so that was probably the most recent.
These two teams mirror each other almost perfectly. pretty good D, good punter and kicker, no WR's, good RB's, monster fullbacks, and 1st year head coach. The only major difference being at QB, which is a tossup. So why am I so sure we'll win? because they're so undisciplined, still. I mean, it's still Oakland. They still look like a bunch of thugs on defense. I think their new coach is giving them identity problems. I don't think our team will get out tough-guyed by any team if the Houston game taught us anything. Henne used to save face after Oakland games. So should Tanne.
Your'e dead on. Add in the heat, the west-east travel, short week, etc I think we're in a good spot here
Our defense should dominate this offense, raiders better be hard pressed to score or it's gonna be a looong season.. They are the unit that is supposedly better than last year, lets see it, I expect no more than 10 points.
I still don't have much faith in our secondary due to our lack of pass rushers. Gotta see something out of Odrick.
Remember how Sparano would "save Ginn" from return duties. Y'know, limit his reps and keep him fresh. So awesome that Thigpen took one to the house. So nice to have a good return man. I still wanna see Lamar Miller back on kickoffs. It's simply a no brainer. Let the talent play.
While I understand the sentiment in regards to special teams, won't teams account for this and try to adjust?
i had to look it up...Ted Ginn Jr. 2007 against philadelphia [video=youtube;6MXb6GKh0y4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MXb6GKh0y4&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video] we lost that game 7:17.....lol
That's about it OH.. Overall speaking, all four phases of special teams have been very impressive, if it keeps up, should be interesting to see how great special teams play can impact football games and outcomes, and help a struggling team.
thing is, ST is good for 2 wins a year if they are above average, if they are dominant you have the Bears from 06. Bush has 5 straight games of over 100 yds as well
