12-06-2021, 12:11 PM
(12-06-2021, 11:31 AM)FastEddie Wrote: What has happened to the Bengals special teams? I used to expect Brandon Wilson to get at least one good runback per game. I know he's on IR but his replacements have not taken up the slack
Now We have Darius Phillips losing yards on every punt trying to run backwards rather than just taking a few yards.
Yesterday, Pooka Williams cost them yards every time he caught the ball on a kickoff. On the kickoff after the field goal to make it 9-0, the ball was going out of bounds and he picked it up and returned it to the 12. All he had to do was step out of bounds and catch the ball and it would have been at the 40. Or just let it go. There was 28 yards and it would have been great field position at the 40 but we had to start at the 12.
The special teams used to be one of the advantages on this team, now they seem to be a big liability. I saw Simmons on the sidelines a few times yesterday and he seemed pretty ticked off.
The reason you see kick returners do so well then start running backwards is because the hits they get on kick returns are some serious hits, probably the worst you'll get in an NFL game. Phillips was wowing everyone and getting the yards running full speed, but I'm sure after steadily doing more returns, the hits started taking a toll and started runing more to avoid players rather than run full speed ahead and get as far as you can. The way the NFL changed the kick offs (kicking team closer to the receiver) means the lanes all get jammed in the same spot and few lanes for them to run through, back in the day, it was spread out through out the field as many players would be scattered all over depending on their running and how well the team block their advance. That's why there were more yardage returns back in the day, or so it feels that way, I don't know the stats though. Hope that gives some better insight.
