Shawn Slocum is taking the Green Bay Packers back to basics on kick returns, and why shouldnt he?
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No team has fared worse on them in recent years than the Packers, whose 20.10-yard average last season again put them at the bottom of the NFL.
Working as departed coordinator Mike Stocks assistant, Slocum had a first-hand look at what players say they saw: a unit featuring too many guys who either didnt understand the fundamentals of special-teams blocking or simply failed to execute.
So, it should be no surprise there has been a noticeable difference in how players are being drilled this offseason, with Slocum shrinking down everything to one-on-one battles and focusing on technique.
Last year or even in previous years, (players) were just given the return, as opposed to Coach Slocum is actually teaching the guys technique on how to block the guy, return man Will Blackmon said last week. They can just follow whats on the sheet and run over there (but) it doesnt mean necessarily theyre going to make the block. It seems that simple, and yet its not that simple.
Which is one reason a returner as dangerous as Blackmon can go an entire season without breaking one longer than 45 yards.
Unlike the controlled chaos of punt returns on which Blackmon has a respectable 11.5-yard average and three touchdowns in his career there is little room for free-lancing on kick returns, which require the returner to hit precise aiming points behind his blockers. If one blocker misses his mark, the play can be blown to bits.
Coach Mike McCarthy met with Slocum soon after promoting him in January and made clear the kick-return game had to become a strength, rather than a major weakness that contributed to the Packers 4-yard deficit in average starting field position last season.
What Slocum is asking blockers to do isnt complicated get square on a man, making it harder for him to come off and giving the returner the option to cut either way but its far from a given that he can turn around a unit that has struggled so badly for so long.
The Packers ranked dead last on kick returns in 2005 (18.9-yard average) and 31st in 2006 (19.7), Stocks first season with the Packers. They improved slightly during their 2007 playoff season, ranking 22nd with a 21.8-yard average and getting 60-plus-yard returns from Tramon Williams and Koren Robinson. But they plummeted again in 2008, ranking dead last in average and extending their streak to eight seasons without a kick-return touchdown.
Last year, we lacked in some of the areas, like blocking and setting up your guy to block him, linebacker Danny Lansanah said. Thats been a big emphasis this offseason.
The drop-off in the kick return game coincided with an overall drop-off in the Packers special-teams play last season, preceding Stocks retirement on Jan. 2. Along the way, they cut special-teams ace Tracy White; lost another core special teamer, Kenny Pettway, to a season-ending injury; and fielded a revolving cast on the coverage and return units, as a slew of injuries elevated other core special-teamers into expanded roles on offense or defense.
What remained was a group with no clear leader and many contributors unaccustomed to extensive special-teams duty. It was evident in several phases but especially on kick returns, where the combined average for Blackmon and Jordy Nelson dipped from 21.6 in the seasons first half to 19.9 in the second.
Slocum, who, at age 44, is a quarter-century younger than Stock, also has aimed to create accountability by making players see special teams as part of the big picture. His catchphrase in the meeting rooms and on the practice field is click in as in the sound a chinstrap makes when a player clips it to his helmet before a play.
Coach Slocum did a good job of getting us to buy in to what hes teaching us, Lansanah said. Hes a young coach, and he gets in there with you. He gets motivated off us. I think that plays a big part.
An NFL rule change barring three-man wedges will spread out every teams kick returns this season. Slocum hasnt tipped his hand about other schematic changes, only saying that he wants to make opponents defend the entire field and be predictably unpredictable.
It starts with the 10 guys in front of Blackmon, who is in line to remain the primary kick returner for a second straight season.
Ive seen a great returner back there with guys in front not doing well, and he wasnt productive, said Slocum, a 15-year college coaching veteran before joining McCarthys staff in 2006.
Ive seen an average returner back there with guys in front of him doing a great job blocking, and hes productive. Its just a function of everyone working together.