SmashMouth

When the New Orleans Saints opened training camp, one of the expressed themes was improvement, even marginal. There are areas in which every team can get better, Coach Sean Payton declared, and one clear such zone for New Orleans was kick coverage.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans Saints punt returner Larry Beavers miscue on this punt could have been the final straw in his being cut. Special teams play has been anything but special for the Saints.
Payton's target was certainly a fat one. New Orleans was the best team in the NFL in 2009, but they achieved that level while ranking 29th in kickoff coverage and 32nd -- dead last -- in punt coverage.

Halfway through the preseason, that challenge can be labeled as unmet.
The Patriots returned a punt 40 yards and a kickoff 52 yards in the first preseason game, and then, as Payton said after the Saints beat the Texans last week while surrendering kickoff returns of 66 and 53 yards, "every time we kick off, you're holding your breath."
Saints special teams players and coordinator Greg McMahon said this week that, unfortunately, the problem isn't confined to one or two players. Were that the case, the culprit could be cut and the problem solved. Instead, the kick coverage units are hampered by one player making a mental error or a missed tackle on one play, and a different player doing so on the next.

read more

Attached Thumbnails