Tom Brady’s return to Foxboro proved triumphant, as the Patriots overcame some early struggles to dominate the Bengals in the second half, leading to another solid win. With the Broncos, Raiders, and Steelers all losing, the Patriots now have sole possession of first place in the AFC, and special teams have certainly played an important role in the team’s early-season success. This week, I chose to focus on the “Core 4” special teams units, the kickoff and punt coverage units and the kick and punt return units, and the strengths and weaknesses of them.
First, the kickoff coverage unit is off to an outstanding start, allowing just 16.5 yards per return on average, good for second in the NFL, trailing just Denver. Belichick certainly has great trust in the unit, and has used the new strategy of forcing opponent to return kicks instead of kicking it through the end zone for a touchback several times a game, due to the unit’s tremendous ability to get down the field and gang-tackle.
The Patriots rank third in kickoffs returned with 15, and the two teams ahead of them, Houston and Buffalo, rank 9th and 16th, respectively, in average kick return yards. These statistics show that the Patriots have adapted to the new touchback rule better than just about anyone else in the NFL, and a huge part of that success has to be credited to the work of the coverage
The punt coverage unit is not far behind its counterpart on kickoff’s, averaging just 7 yards per return , good for 9th in the NFL in 2016, and the unit has forced the 7th-most fair catches in the leauge. Obviously, a fair catch is not always a good thing; for example: a mis-kick that travels only 30 yards or so, but is high enough that it allows the gunners to apply enough pressure to the returner, because the punt was so short, that he is forced to call a fair catch. However, the vast majority of the time, a fair catch indicates two things: 1) a high, booming kick that forces the returner to back-peddle, and/or 2) tremendous work by the gunners to get to the returner in time to force him to call for a fair catch, both of which are positives for the coverage unit.
The punt coverage unit has not been quite as dominant as the kickoff coverage unit, but it still ranks in the top 10 in average return yards allowed and has been a bright spot throughout the season.
However, the same cannot be said with the punt return unit. Going into Sunday’s game, the Patriots averaged just 7.1 yards per punt return, which was 7th-worst in the NFL. Julian Edelman was able to inject a boost into the stagnant unit Sunday, averaging 16.3 yards on his three returns against Cincinnati, which would be good for 5th in the NFL thus far this season (obviously this is just one game, but it offers context for Edelman’s stellar performance yesterday). In total, Edelman had 49 return yards, almost as much as the Patriot’s season punt return yard total (63). On the year, Edelman has 61 yards on five returns, good for a 12.2 average, opposed to Danny Amendola’s (who leads the Patriots thus far in punt returns) measly 6.8 yards per return so far in 2016.
Edelman’s performance against Cincinnati did bump the Patriots to 18th in average punt return yards, but there is still major room for improvement for the unit, seeing as they finished 8th in average punt return yards in 2015. Now that Edelman seems to be the Patriots main punt returner, the punt return unit as a whole should see a steady increase, seeing as in Edelman’s six seasons serving as the primary punt returner, the Patriots average punt return yards position is 7th, including two finishes in the top five. The punt return unit has underperformed thus far, but look for the resurgence of Julian Edelman as the primary punt returner to spur the unit to better production.
Unfortunately, we now go from bad to worse; one unit who has struggled mightily this season, and lacks a simple remedy like Julian Edelman, is the the kickoff return unit. Going into Sunday, the Patriots ranked 30th in the NFL in average kick return yardage, with just 16.6 yards per return. Yesterday, DJ Foster and Julian Edelman combined for 46 yards on two returns, good for a 23-yard average, greatly improved from the paltry return yardage seen in the first five games. However, even after this effort, the Patriots still rank 27th in average return yardage, a good 13 yards behind the league-leading Philadelphia Eagles. This has been a weak-spot for the Patriots for years, ranking just 22nd in the NFL on average of the past five years.
If I were the Patriots, I would give Foster, the undrafted rookie running back from Arizona State, a shot to take hold of the role. While he only returned one kick in his time in Tempe, he received Pro Football Focus’s second-best receiving grade for running backs in the country in his breakout junior season, forcing 13 missed tackles and averaging 8.3 yards after the catch on his 63 receptions. His elusiveness and ability in the open field, not to mention his speed (4.57 40 yard dash time at the combine), makes him an intriguing candidate to fill the role of primary kick returner for the Patriots. Hopefully, Foster will be active again next week in Pittsburgh, and get a chance to showcase his ability on special teams.
