Special Teams 2021-22

[Voyageur]

I partially agree with you on putting some of the blame on MLF and Gute, but mainly just for hiring Drayton. Then they compounded that mistake by keeping him through the entire season, when it was obvious he was in over his head. It is the job of each coordinator to coach up his players. Not the job of MLF or Gute to do that. It is the job of Drayton to talk to MLF and if he needs something, try to make a change. Yes, we don't know what was being said or done in private, but most of us saw Drayton blowing sunshine up reporters as$ about how the Special teams is a process and they are improving each week.

Drayton obviously fell way short of the mark on this. The players he is given to work with, may not be NFL starters, but they sure the heck have NFL skills, otherwise they wouldn't be on the team. Yes, he has to work with a lot of rotations of players through the roster due to injuries, covid, etc. However, so does every other special teams coordinator.

If the Packers had to lose a playoff game, I am kind of glad that it came down to botched Special teams play. For once the Packer front office might actually see just how important it is to have a really good ST coach.

My point is, we don't know how much communication there was between Drayton and ML. We don't know who was withheld from Drayton for inclusion on the ST. We are not party to any of that, but we are aware that there was a lack of concern by either the front office, or upper coaching, when it came to switching both long snapper and holder as if it was just plug anyone in and it works. So, there's a hint there that they didn't think any of it mattered.

Drayton was obviously made the scapegoat, but I believe the responsibility for it should be spread to anyone and everyone in the organization who caused the ST units to be worthless. They should all be held accountable, and get involved in resolving the issue for the future so we don't see this again.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Drayton was obviously made the scapegoat, but I believe the responsibility for it should be spread to anyone and everyone in the organization who caused the ST units to be worthless. They should all be held accountable, and get involved in resolving the issue for the future so we don't see this again.

I think we agree, it is just a difference as to what degree we fault certain people in the organization. You are also correct, we have to make assumptions on a lot of it, since we don't really know what went on behind closed doors.

Your point about it was MLF and Gutes fault for changing snappers and holders is noted, but I am guessing that Drayton had something to do with replacing LS Hunter Bradley. Getting Bojo was the highlight of the year for special teams, he, Mason and Bradley should have been able to figure things out. I assume Drayton felt they couldn't and asked for a new LS. I doubt Gute just decided on his own that a LS they have had since 2018 was needing to be replaced. I actually think it was a mistake to make Bradley the scapegoat there and his replacement was even worse.

So yes, MLF and Gute hired the wrong guy for the job and should have tried to correct the mistake, before it cost them an important game. All that said, Drayton is out after only a year and I doubt he is going to want to put this years film on his resume.

 

[JKramer64]

Packers beat writer Tom Silverstein tweeted this morning that LaFleur has been in talks with ex-Raiders coach Rich Bisaccia to become ST coordinator according to two sources.

That would be a great hire but wouldn't be cheap. Hopefully Murphy will be willing to open the checkbook.

 

[Voyageur]

OK! Now that we have a great ST coach, there's one thing left. Draft a guy who can kicker a football the way everyone wants. Someone who exemplifies everything that people want. We're going to have to grab him in the first round of the draft! Cameron ****er.

Then we can have ****er the kicker, and everyone should be happy!

 

[OldSchool101]

Report: Packers targeting Rich Bisaccia for special teams coordinator - ProFootballTalk

After a disastrous year on special teams, the Packers are looking to improve the unit with one of the league’s best coordinators.According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur has been in talks with former Raiders interim head coach Rich...

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

If he can either play “Holder” or “Kicker” or “Blocker” or “returner” it would be an added benefit

 

[milani]

Special Teams is really a morphed unit of players who generally look to play at some point on offense or defense. There are exceptions. Guys that fail in a position sometimes become heroes on ST. e.g. Desmond Howard. Travis Jervey was a surfer who wanted to be a RB. But his skills were that of a gunner. Chester Marcol who actually won games as a Packer kicker made his one claim to fame by picking up his own blocked kick and taking it for a TD. Mistakes on ST are going to happen. But consistent breakdowns in fundamentals are the responsibility of coaches. And if you have players that cannot come close to executing them then they should not be on ST. The other piece is player leadership. It is not all on the coach. In his last season as a Packer Ray Nitschke played almost exclusively on ST, not MLB. Does anyone remember old Bill Brown of the Vikings? His years as a back were over and done in the 60s. But he made his living at the end of his career as captain of the ST unit. And he was good at it. But this has to start at the top. And there have been teams that are near the bottom on both offense and defense but near the top in ST. The KC Chiefs in the 80s lost more often than winning. Yet there ST under the command of coach Frank Gansz was one of the best for a number of years.

 

[Firethorn1001]

OK! Now that we have a great ST coach, there's one thing left. Draft a guy who can kicker a football the way everyone wants. Someone who exemplifies everything that people want. We're going to have to grab him in the first round of the draft! Cameron ****er.

Then we can have ****er the kicker, and everyone should be happy!

Not the guy to hit off the uprights.

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[Pugger]

OK! Now that we have a great ST coach, there's one thing left. Draft a guy who can kicker a football the way everyone wants. Someone who exemplifies everything that people want. We're going to have to grab him in the first round of the draft! Cameron ****er.

Then we can have ****er the kicker, and everyone should be happy!

Did we hire him yet?

 

[ARPackFan]

Report: Packers targeting Rich Bisaccia for special teams coordinator - ProFootballTalk

After a disastrous year on special teams, the Packers are looking to improve the unit with one of the league’s best coordinators.According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur has been in talks with former Raiders interim head coach Rich...

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

If he can either play “Holder” or “Kicker” or “Blocker” or “returner” it would be an added benefit

Nothing beats waiting to fix a known problem until after the damage is done. I guess no one learned from 2014.

 

[Voyageur]

Nothing beats waiting to fix a known problem until after the damage is done. I guess no one learned from 2014.

I couldn't agree more. How many times do you have to be hit on the fingers by a guy who doesn't know how to use the hammer, before you get someone else on the hammer? We went through two seasons now of complete melt downs on the part of STs. It's like they didn't matter, because the rest of the team would "save the day."

Apparently none of them remember the fact that we won a Super Bowl because of a guy on STs, with Favre at QB. Desmond Howard was the offensive player of the game for darned good reason. Yet, years later, others "know better," and figure that was just another "ho-hum" moment.

Sometimes coaches and people in the front office can be as smart as a rock.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Nothing beats waiting to fix a known problem until after the damage is done. I guess no one learned from 2014.

I am assuming you mean the Seahawk debacle. Well they have tried to fix it with how many special teams coaches in the last 8 or so years? It really is nuts how bad these guys they are bringing in are. I might think it was a team issue, but none of the guys the Packers have failed with, are doing well elsewhere and some aren't even coaching anymore.

MLF should learn one thing from this, if there are issues with the coaching, you don't fire the top guy and put his second in command in charge.

 

[milani]

Not the guy to hit off the uprights.

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If we ever draft a kicker or a punter that high the organization will never hear the end of it. Remember a punter named BJ Sander. Alas, I knew him well.

 

[Team Ronny]

I couldn't agree more. How many times do you have to be hit on the fingers by a guy who doesn't know how to use the hammer, before you get someone else on the hammer? We went through two seasons now of complete melt downs on the part of STs. It's like they didn't matter, because the rest of the team would "save the day."

Apparently none of them remember the fact that we won a Super Bowl because of a guy on STs, with Favre at QB. Desmond Howard was the offensive player of the game for darned good reason. Yet, years later, others "know better," and figure that was just another "ho-hum" moment.

Sometimes coaches and people in the front office can be as smart as a rock.

They also had Don Beebe and Mike Prior returning punts.

 

[milani]

They also had Don Beebe and Mike Prior returning punts.

Along with a solid punter and place kicker.

 

[Team Ronny]

True. Chris Jacke. I like Crosby, but, I think he needs to retire.

 

[Team Ronny]

Craig Hentrich..I think was our punter. So hard to find a good one..for us it seems.

 

[milani]

True. Chris Jacke. I like Crosby, but, I think he needs to retire.

I think seeing an older kicker in Robby Gould beat the Packers in Lambeau may have pushed him to get back at it again.

 

[Team Ronny]

Let's hope so! I hope our new st coordinator gets him to kick it through the end zone, & not right to the best returner on the other team!

 

[Packerbacker1996]

Did we hire him yet?

Not yet. I think people are being optimistic.

 

[Poppa San]

Looks like the Packers have gotten what they paid for

But if the Packers are willing to reset the market for special teams coaches and offer Bisaccia around $2 million per year, it could tip the scales their way. It would be a complete reversal of the way the franchise has approached special teams, preferring not to invest a lot of money in coaching contracts.

If the Packers were to pay him $2 million per year, he would be the highest-paid special teams coordinator in the NFL, according to a NFL source. The Packers were paying far less than that to Drayton and his predecessor, Shawn Mennenga.

 

[Half Empty]

Hopefully, unlike many players, coaches, and FO personnel, this will be a case of "you get what you pay for".

 

[ARPackFan]

I am assuming you mean the Seahawk debacle. Well they have tried to fix it with how many special teams coaches in the last 8 or so years? It really is nuts how bad these guys they are bringing in are. I might think it was a team issue, but none of the guys the Packers have failed with, are doing well elsewhere and some aren't even coaching anymore.

MLF should learn one thing from this, if there are issues with the coaching, you don't fire the top guy and put his second in command in charge.

The article Poppa San points out in his post makes the statement "It would be a complete reversal of the way the franchise has approached special teams, preferring not to invest a lot of money in coaching contracts." Un-F'ing believable that an organization (Murphy, Gute and Thompson) would have this attitude towards a coach that is likely working with players, outside of the punter/kicker/long snapper, that are not good enough to start on offense or defense. Is there is any coach on a team that is expected to do more with less than the special teams coach? What reason is there to not pay what ever it takes to have a good coach?

Looks like the Packers have gotten what they paid for

 

[Phil Young]

Isn't part of special teams to develop players so they can step up if a starter goes down?

& lets be honest players are lost most games due to injury so a returner could be coached as a running back or receiver?

or am I missing something?

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Isn't part of special teams to develop players so they can step up if a starter goes down?

& lets be honest players are lost most games due to injury so a returner could be coached as a running back or receiver?

or am I missing something?

Pretty much every special teams player, besides the long snapper, punter and kicker are positional players on either offense or defense. Some are starters, some are backups.

 

[Packerbacker1996]

The article Poppa San points out in his post makes the statement "It would be a complete reversal of the way the franchise has approached special teams, preferring not to invest a lot of money in coaching contracts." Un-F'ing believable that an organization (Murphy, Gute and Thompson) would have this attitude towards a coach that is likely working with players, outside of the punter/kicker/long snapper, that are not good enough to start on offense or defense. Is there is any coach on a team that is expected to do more with less than the special teams coach? What reason is there to not pay what ever it takes to have a good coach?

100% with you on that man.
The building of a team should start with elite coaching stuff not players.
Coaches are just as important as franchise QB.

We need not look further them
NE 6 Superbowl wins.