The Ravens housecleanng started before ours, gone are Sb winning HC Brian Billick, Def Cord Rex Ryan, and Special Teams Coach Frank Ganz jr. Rex Ryan is interesting, the son of Buddy Ryan, he runs the "46" defense fairly well, I think he is a bit more dynamic then Dom Capers, so he may be worth a look. Billick is a ego driven sort of guy, I would pass on him. Ganz jr is a Top Flight Special Teams Coach, he has developed units in both KC and Baltimore, with Yamon Figures and BJ Sams becoming legitimate game breaking kick returners for the Ravens, each scored at least 2 Td's on returns under Ganz, and Stover also was as accurate as he ever was even late in his career. Ganz also developed Ken Stills in KC, not a house hold name, but he is the Nfl's All time leader in Special Teams tackles. All in all, with our poor play on ST, along with having Ginn, and needing more consistentcy from our punter, we should serious look at hiring Frank Ganz jr, he would be worth the coin, has a long track record of results, and we are sort of desperate on that Unit at the moment. Granted ST is not what most fans look at in the offseason, and the Coaches who handle that job are obscure, but we lost 1 game due to ST blunders (the Jets) and very nearly lost to the Ravens by pooch kicking against them.... The man is a quality Coach, he is available, we should try to hire him.
I whole-heartedly support this idea and concur with your reasoning! Excellent post! Now we just need to get him a few "toys" to play with!!
We've got Ginn, if he can help Figures to take two back for the ravens, surely he could help Ted Ginn or even better Lorenzo Booker. As for the "Gunners" he would have to develop them himself, but his track record in that regard is top notch with Ken Stills, we have Ed Miles who played pretty well, Ganz may be able to take him up a notch. Feeley doesn't need much help. Fields was a disaster at Punter, 4 fair catches? 4? For me, improving the St's is a high priority...
ST is overlooked at your peril in the NFL. One thing about Jimmy, he emphasized every aspect of the game including special teams (big oops by Leon Lett a memorable exception!) How important is special teams when you lose a few games by three points? Padre giving good Parcels-like advice for free!
Agreed, we HAVE to put a little more emphasis on our ST's. An excellent kick-off/punt return team can be a HUGE advantage in every game. It shortens the playing field for the offense, and could lead to some quick points on the scoreboard. Adversely, a strong punt/kick-off coverage team puts the opponent in a longer field, thereby making them have to work much harder. I really don't care if we use starters on ST's, as long as we put the strongest unit possible on the field.
I'll second that, question is, will Bill hire the complete staff if Cam's gone, or will the new HC pick is own staff?
Or, if Cam is kept, can Tuna just hire Coaches and tell Cam to "Deal with it"? If we start over with clean decks, will Tuna just find some guy to coach the ST on OL, or will he choose the best Coach available? We do know that Tuna places a high value on ST play, Ganz can deliver improved play on the unit, but will Tuna want to find his own guy?
Great post Padre31, because ST is the THIRD critical phase of everygame. How many games are won or lost by kick or punt returns (Devin Hester- just an example of the top of my head) , or just setting up field position. I still remember when Mike Westoff went to the Jets in 2001 and thought that was one of the major losses for this organization as an assistant coach. I'm for hiring Frank Ganz, Jr too ! Good bye Keith Armstrong.
7. Still bad but it's actually 7. Only 10 punts out of 77 were inside the 20. I would keep the guy and see if he develops but he needs some real competition.
While I can understand the general frustration about this year's special teams play (yes, it was painful to watch at times), keep in mind that Keith Armstrong is a highly regarded position coach and did an outstanding job for five or six years here. Read up on his stats from the years he actually got some good ST players to work with. Give Ganz our ST corps and he won't do much to write home about either - quite simply because you can't succeed on punt or kick return coverage when you've got virtually no gunner. Likewise, you can't succeed on the return game when you've got virtually no blockers. Give Armstrong some guys who are actually able to do that you you've got a top 10 unit - see each and every one of his seasons where he got some quality players. As a sidenote, take a look at the kicking position. Mare declined from an already bad 72.2 percentage to an abysmal 58.8 in New Orleans. In the meantime, Jay Feely had by far the best year of his career under Armstrong.
Great choice and post Padre. Armstrong has overstayed his welcome and with Gantz' track record it seems it would be an excellent hire. We have two potential very good returners so it would be nice to set up better ST to take advantage of it. AND as far as coverage is concerned, anything, and I mean anything would be considered an improvement. Lastly, Fields turned out to be exactly would most two bit analysts said he would be. Great leg, but wildly inconsistent. Obviously doesn't put much hang time on the ball and needs a ton of work and hanging a ball inside the 20.
The loss of the previous ST players is a shallow reason vendigo, those three were gone for months before Camp opened, Armstrong knew in advance that Bowens Morris and Minor needed replacements developed and it never happened, in fact, the Team digressed as the season went along. That failure to develop players is the reason why I am down on Armstrong, toss in those disasterous pooch kicks vs the Jets (TD Washington the difference in the game) and the Ravens (a missed FG saved us from going winless...thanks Keith) So basically Armstrong went 6 months and developed...no one...to cover kicks for us. Ganz developed 2 Kr in Baltimore, he also developed Stills in KC, the all time tackles leader, Armstrong is onsides kicking to Will Allen...stone hands... Mare declined under Armstrong, Feeley might as well, better to not find out if that is the long term trend... Adios Coach Armstrong...
Let's see: Under Keith Armstrong, the Dolphins had a top 10 punt or kick return coverage unit five of seven seasons. They had a top 10 unit regarding opponent's average drive start six of seven seasons. They allowed just one kickoff or punt return TD in six years (making them #1 in that category). And you want to fire the guy because he failed to turn a piece of junk into a pile of gold in sixth months? Hillarious.
That's purely on Mare and all his touchback kicks. People really underestimate what that does for special teams.
Very true. But it's a tad bit silly not to give the kicker's coach credit for such outstanding numbers. Especially when said kicker all of a sudden declines rapidly after leaving for a dome team.
Now I'd give you he had some success with the put returns, but much of what you state above is the result of the strong leg of Mare. Most of us would take giving up a few more yards on kick returns and have a guy not miss critical kick after critical kick. We finally get a guy that can make field goals and the return game goes straight to sh!t absent Mare. We definitely lost some special team players but hardly ones I would have viewed as irreplaceable. The league is made up of average football players turning into great special teamers with a good scheme and a lot of heart. However, lack of heart, wasn't solely lacking on ST. Saw a lot of it on the O and D too.
Morris and Minor were amongst the best gunners in the league. Why do you think the Pats gave Sammy so much money? Take away the best five players of any good return unit and replace them with a lot of rookies and you'll have the very same result we saw in Miami. Besides, you talked about track records earlier on. Here we have a position coach with one of the best track records in the league the past ten years or so and we call for his head because he had one bad season with an even worse unit? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
Good to start the new year with some humor Vendigo... So while you were twilling out those past stats, you seem to have missed the last two years, and the pooch kicks, and the onside kicks to players who cannot handle the ball, and the lack of developing players. To try and say "well gee, he didn't see those losses as needing priority replacements" seems a bit daft, the ST this year was a slow motion car wreck, why didn't he develop anyone for the unit Vendigo? And how many kick returns did we have for Td's under Armstrong? 2 or so? Ganz's has taken both BJ Sams and Yamon Figures and gotten that in one season on different occasions, it took Armstrong 5 years just to have 2 td's..... In that respect, Ganz is an excellent coach, the only other ST guy I'd want is Brisbey in SD, his players have led the NFL in ST tackles the last 3 years, each year a different player who did that (Mulligan, Osgood, Siler)..... Mulligan went to the Cardinals, Osgood was bumped up on Offense and Siler is just making his mark, yet each one was developed, Armstrong has -0- excuse in that regard.
Let's say I'll take a guy whom has had a track record making ST in to top three as they had in KC and Baltimore, vs a top 10 in Miami. Gantz also did it without having the best kickoff kicker in the game. Vendigo, you make some reasonable and strong points, but at this point it's all about improvement. IMO, Gantz is an improvement over Armstrong.
I support your reasons for why we should hire Ganz, but I think you are referring to Gary Stills, not Ken Stills.
My mistake, it is Gary Stills. Interesting that everywhere Ganz has gone, a top flight Kr emerges, I'm not sure if it was Ganz jr or Ganz sr that developed Dante Hall in KC. He wasDevon Hester before there was a Devon Hester..
The guys I liked were Greg Pruit, washed up Rb who set the NFL record for Punt Return yds for the 84 Raiders after the Browns cut him. And of course, Billy "White Shoes" Johnson....that dude was fun to watch return kicks..
You are really showing your age now Marty. It was Noland Smith btw. I remember him too. 5'6" & 155 lb dynamo. He held the record for years for longest KO return at 106 yards. A favorite KO returner for me was Travis Williams of the Packers
I aim to please. Although I have to admit that you got me beat. There's simply no way I can argue against BJ Sams and Yamon Figures who combined for <gasp> 2 (two!) TDs during Gansz' tenure in Baltimore and averaged 11 yards per punt return and 24 per ko return - never mind that those numbers are eerily similar to those of a certain Ted Ginn and Wes Welker combined.
Actually I was the one offering the humor, and Sams and Figures had 2 Td's..each for 4, 2 per season.. Figures was the reason Armstrong called for the disasterous pooch kick against the Ravens...ditto the Jets game....squib kick..TD L. Washington....
