Turning Weakness into Strength...Special Teams

by jmark82 on Nov 8, 2010 8:03 PM EST

On Sunday, the Giants seemed to have officially turned the corner in their special teams unit.

Dodge punted once...for a 50 yard net. Against Dallas, he had a 55 yard net avg. Now, even though his stats were in the middle of the pack prior to this, there were awful lapses in coverages as the Giants could not field and contain the returner effectively. These new stats say a lot about how far he and the punt coverage unit has done. It seems like things are falling into place.

Tynes, after not having touchbacks for the first few weeks of the season, has been kicking the seams off the ball. Coughlin himself said Tynes is "smooth as silk" in his FGs and kickoffs lately. There are some obvious changes in his mechanics and, at this point, he has become one of the better kickers in the league. Yesterday, we saw Tynes, outside of one return, take one of the best kick returners in the league out of the game.

Both of these players are young in terms of kickers/punters, and can remain solid for a long time going forward. While we have certainly ragged on Tom Quinn, deservedly so, for some time, we can be certain that this unit is coming into its own and may very well become a strength as the season progresses. Before we call Quinn out, as well, we need to understand a lot happens in every defensive return; there are a whole lot of things going on at once, and it might be difficult to point the finger at one guy - even if he is the coach.

Poll

Is the weakest link for the Giants, special teams, getting better?

Yes, the kickers are kicking well and guys are where they need to be.

9 votes

Possibly...the jury's still out, though.

41 votes

No, they're getting lucky lately. It's bound to catch up with us.

4 votes

54 votes | Poll has closed

FanPosts are written by community members. This is simply a way for community members to express opinions too long to be contained in a comment.

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Comments

Dodge is playing better but

the covering team on special teams scars me, too many miss tackles and long returns……….Tynes is solid

by Jermal on Nov 8, 2010 11:02 PM EST reply actions

coverage will not improve this year

neither will the return game

Our kickers are playing well though

by mclaren_is_the_best on Nov 8, 2010 11:06 PM EST reply actions

Disagree

With the addition of Blackmon the return game has the potential to improve.

Good post jmark, I voted “Yes.” I don’t think anyone who has watched the Giants last two games can deny the Special teams have improved in SOME areas. While the coverage teams still leave a lot to be desired, Tynes, and Dodge have both improved drastically, the value of which can not be underestimated.

I stated this in another thread before, but is there any coincidence Tynes has not missed a field goal since Sage has been holding? I think not.

"We’re going to hit the quarterback as many times as possible, and if he doesn’t make it through the game, then that’s unfortunate for him."
-Barry Cofield

by tito (eight and oh) on Nov 9, 2010 9:01 AM EST up reply actions