When Moss was traded from the Pats, Brandon Tate was the WR that was touted to step up and replace Moss as the Pats' deep threat.
He holds the record for Kick and Punt return yards in NCAA history.
When Shields was matched up on him, you could see Tate could match Shields in the speed department.
Tate is a dangerous return man. He has proven that throughout this year. If given the choice between kicking it to him or to a O-linemen, I take the O-linemen each time. The kick itself from Crosby and the decision to actually kick away from Tate were not the problem.
The decision backfired because our Special Teams players had pathetic execution; the problem was that our Special Teams players could not bring the guy down because they made mistakes during covering of said kick.
Hard to blame the coaches for screw-ups by the players. I fail to see how McCarthy or Slocum should be fired because Bush lost contain, or Peprah took bad angles, or Quinn Johnson decided to act like an idiot.
Coaches stress angles, the concept of contain, etc.; it's not like the problem is that the coaches are unaware of simple terminology for the Special Teams. Yes the coaches might need to do a better job of coaching, but that does not mean they have not conveyed fundamentals to their players.
Frankly, you have to start the blame with the players; they should have gone out and executed. We've seen the idea of containing, of taking right angles and so on displayed properly by these players before - they are capable of doing these things. That they failed to do so should be blamed largely on the players. Frankly, our special teams - and I am talking about our core players here such as Bush, Johnson, and Peprah - need to play smarter and more fundamentally sound.
The NFL: Where Greg Jennings Happens.