Film Room: Let’s Fix The Steelers Kick Return Game

[polamalubeast]

We love talking special teams around here. Often, yes, it’s to add context and sometimes defend the bad rap the unit gets. But other times, the criticism is more than fair. Nowhere is that more true than when it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ kick return game. It’s been baaaaaad.

In 2017, they finished 29th in kick return average, 19.1, even with a 97 yard touchdown by JuJu Smith-Schuster in the finale against Cleveland. So they traded for Ryan Switzer last summer, an accomplished return man at North Carolina and his rookie year in Dallas (averaged 25 per return in 2017) to try and fix the problem.

Instead, things stayed about the same. They averaged 19.3 yards per return and their ranking fell to 31st in the league, barely above the Chicago Bears. After the season, Switzer remarked it was the first time as a football player he didn’t finish a season with at least one return touchdown. Since Smith took over as the Steelers’ ST coach in 2013, the KR game has ranked no higher than 14th and most years, finishes somewhere in the 20s.

read more

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/06/fi...k-return-game/

[hawaiiansteeler]

are we firing Danny Smith?

[pczach]

are we firing Danny Smith?

[86WARD]

This guy keeps writing about Danny Smith and the Special Teams over and over and over. The only way special teams gets better is getting rid of Danny Smith. You could have ARE, Dante Hall, Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson and Devin Hester back there returning punts and kicks and the unit would get maybe, MAYBE a little better...maybe...

[polamalubeast]

This guy keeps writing about Danny Smith and the Special Teams over and over and over. The only way special teams gets better is getting rid of Danny Smith. You could have ARE, Dante Hall, Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson and Devin Hester back there returning punts and kicks and the unit would get maybe, MAYBE a little better...maybe...

The Blocks without penalty are of course very important too!

[munchy]

i took a quick look at some stats and this is typically what i saw each year
there is roughly 10 yards difference from being first in the league to last
5 yard increase moves you up half the league average, last to middle, middle to top etc.
since the new kicking rules, it looks like you might get 30 kick returns a seasons
so roughly 2 a game
2 kick returns X 10 yards is only 20 yards a game total.
so being the worst in the league to the best is only worth roughly 20 yards a game
maybe that why the steelers dont take special teams very serious and maybe we shouldnt either

[teegre]

i took a quick look at some stats and this is typically what i saw each year
there is roughly 10 yards difference from being first in the league to last
5 yard increase moves you up half the league average, last to middle, middle to top etc.
since the new kicking rules, it looks like you might get 30 kick returns a seasons
so roughly 2 a game
2 kick returns X 10 yards is only 20 yards a game total.
so being the worst in the league to the best is only worth roughly 20 yards a game
maybe that why the steelers dont take special teams very serious and maybe we shouldnt either

This is a great example of statistics being used properly.

[86WARD]

i took a quick look at some stats and this is typically what i saw each year
there is roughly 10 yards difference from being first in the league to last
5 yard increase moves you up half the league average, last to middle, middle to top etc.
since the new kicking rules, it looks like you might get 30 kick returns a seasons
so roughly 2 a game
2 kick returns X 10 yards is only 20 yards a game total.
so being the worst in the league to the best is only worth roughly 20 yards a game
maybe that why the steelers dont take special teams very serious and maybe we shouldnt either

20 yards per game could be the difference between a win and a loss...

It’s a big difference in FG position. 10 yards at the end of a kick could also swing field position going the other way.

[polamalubeast]

The kickoff return is another reason why our field position has been so bad for several years

The Steelers will often have this problem if this problem is not fixed.

[munchy]

20 yards per game could be the difference between a win and a loss...

It’s a big difference in FG position. 10 yards at the end of a kick could also swing field position going the other way.

yes it could be.
that is 20 yards if the steelers were dead last every year
it would also mean the steelers would have to be number 1 every year to have that advantage over the other teams
the last 5 years the steelers average per game is actually 12 yards
so realistically, if the steelers could elevate their kick return game to top 10, we would probably only improve from 12 yards per game to about 7?

in certain situations that 7 yards could be the difference between winning and losing but i cant remember anyone ever blaming the kick returner for not getting boz 12 yards closer on those kicks he missed last year
im not against improving, but i can see this kicker return stat meaning less and less going forward.
teams will get kickers that can routinely put the ball into the end zone

[86WARD]

You’d have to look at each drive a special teams penalty occurred to see what happened on that drive. It’s quite possible that they scored on every drive that followed a penalty...probably not, but without actually breaking it down, we don’t know.

[munchy]

You’d have to look at each drive a special teams penalty occurred to see what happened on that drive. It’s quite possible that they scored on every drive that followed a penalty...probably not, but without actually breaking it down, we don’t know.

true.
we did lead the league in ST penalties last year. not sure how many occurred on kick returns compared to punt returns, kick offs, punt returns. regardless, being last in the league is inexcusable.
fwiw, im all for firing that useless POS smith for the overall state of our special teams. i just wanted to look up and post some stats of the actual topic