Costa Rican Gopher
Mind of a Scientist
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
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What an amazing job by Special Teams. I remember Brew saying that Special Teams is on the field for roughly 1/3 of the total plays in any given game. If you have excellent Special teams it's a huge advantage & last night we were great in every aspect.
Santoso crushing those kickoffs through the end zone is a huge advantage. The one they did return late in the 4th quarter went to the 23 or 24. Not bad on it's own merit, but starting the opposing team at the 20 is going to save us a few yards per kickoff. More importantly we take away the opportunity for momentum changer by their return team. To a lesser degree it feels (just my feeling, not a stat) like a lot of guys get injured on kickoffs & this eliminates that as well.
Deep in our own end, 3 & out I believe (?), Mortell comes in and launches one 60 yards, completely robbing EI of the great field position they should have had. He launched another long one too that was downed inside the 20 & had a couple where our coverage guys were one stride away from being downed at the 1 or 2. On the night he AVERAGED 51.2 per punt! I've always maintained that while punter isn't a sexy position it's hugely undervalued. If your punter can pin the opposing team at the 5 instead of starting at the 20, that's as valuable as a 15 yard sack. Now consider our punter is capable of doing that multiple times per game & he becomes a real game changer. The 60 yard punt is a good example too. Think of it as a 40 yard punt, followed by a 20 yard sack. That's the type of impact a good punter can have on opposing field position.
The blocked punt really broke EI's spirit imo. We were winning 14-0 at that point, but that was the play where EI realized they'd lost. They were slow as molasses getting the punt off, but Murray executed that block in a textbook fashion & then the experienced (5th year Sr) Logan Hutton was right where he needed to be to take it in for the TD. Game changer.
Marcus Jones handled the ball very well aside from the one bobble late in the game. It's still a bit of a worry when he fields the ball, but he is a very good returner & there was one return down the right sideline where he was able to shift gears & almost turn a ho-hum return into a breakaway.
Santoso crushing those kickoffs through the end zone is a huge advantage. The one they did return late in the 4th quarter went to the 23 or 24. Not bad on it's own merit, but starting the opposing team at the 20 is going to save us a few yards per kickoff. More importantly we take away the opportunity for momentum changer by their return team. To a lesser degree it feels (just my feeling, not a stat) like a lot of guys get injured on kickoffs & this eliminates that as well.
Deep in our own end, 3 & out I believe (?), Mortell comes in and launches one 60 yards, completely robbing EI of the great field position they should have had. He launched another long one too that was downed inside the 20 & had a couple where our coverage guys were one stride away from being downed at the 1 or 2. On the night he AVERAGED 51.2 per punt! I've always maintained that while punter isn't a sexy position it's hugely undervalued. If your punter can pin the opposing team at the 5 instead of starting at the 20, that's as valuable as a 15 yard sack. Now consider our punter is capable of doing that multiple times per game & he becomes a real game changer. The 60 yard punt is a good example too. Think of it as a 40 yard punt, followed by a 20 yard sack. That's the type of impact a good punter can have on opposing field position.
The blocked punt really broke EI's spirit imo. We were winning 14-0 at that point, but that was the play where EI realized they'd lost. They were slow as molasses getting the punt off, but Murray executed that block in a textbook fashion & then the experienced (5th year Sr) Logan Hutton was right where he needed to be to take it in for the TD. Game changer.
Marcus Jones handled the ball very well aside from the one bobble late in the game. It's still a bit of a worry when he fields the ball, but he is a very good returner & there was one return down the right sideline where he was able to shift gears & almost turn a ho-hum return into a breakaway.
