No more unhappy returns for Dallas Cowboys?
By ALBERT BREER / The Dallas Morning News
abreer@dallasnews.com
IRVING – It didn't cost the Cowboys last week against Washington, and they didn't pay for it in Buffalo either.
But if the Cowboys' spotty kick coverage continues this week, the Jets – yes, the 2-8 Jets – may be the team that forces a collection at Texas Stadium.
While New York has sagged to 29th in total offense and 29th in total defense, its special teams have continued to shine. And it's a real concern for a Dallas team that ranks 20th in the league in defending kickoff returns and 31st in stopping punt returns.
The trouble starts with seventh-year special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who has been with the Jets through two coaching changes and was one of the few assistants Eric Mangini kept when he took over for Herman Edwards. The year before he arrived in New York, Westhoff was named NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year with Miami, and he's maintained that reputation since.
"What I'm always impressed with is that he's innovative. Some of the things he's created over the course of time have been adopted by other teams," Mangini said. "And he's done an excellent job teaching the technique, and understanding the opponent and getting that information to the players."
Of course, he's had good players, too, and one of the best was Justin Miller, who went to the Pro Bowl last year after averaging 28.3 yards and scoring two touchdowns on kickoff returns. But Miller injured his knee in Week 2 and was lost for the season.
The Jets haven't missed a beat. Leon Washington, the team's punt returner, stepped in on kickoffs and has averaged 32.7 yards per return with three touchdowns.
He's also had a direct impact on both of New York's wins.
Against the Dolphins in Week 3, Washington returned a kick 98 yards for a touchdown in a 31-28 win.
Then, against the heavily favored Steelers last week, his 33-yard punt return in overtime set up the game-winning field goal.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys were yielding 29.0 yards per kick return to the Redskins' Rock Cartwright, whose 36-yard runback at the end of the first half set up a go-ahead field goal.
"When things go bad, they go bad in a hurry," said linebacker Kevin Burnett, who's on the kickoff coverage team. "And that's what I think it's a case of. We haven't been that far off."
One issue has been replacing coverage standout Deon Anderson, who was lost for the season with a torn rotator cuff in the Eagles game. His physical presence and aggressiveness did as much to disrupt a return team's blocking as anyone could.
"He busts up the wedge like nobody I've seen," fellow kickoff coverage team member Justin Rogers said.
But the Cowboys claim, too, that the problem hasn't been physical as much as it has been mental. Burnett's assertion is that in most cases – be it allowing the Bills' Terrence McGee to return a kickoff for a touchdown, or the punt return for a score by the Rams' Dante Hall – the problem was one easily correctable mistake.
If players get the proper "fits" in those spots, covering the area assigned to them and taking on the blockers in their lanes, then players say the touchdowns would have never happened.
"If you're not in your fit, you get a big gap," rookie kickoff cover man Courtney Brown said.
"You gotta know which way the play's going. The offense will tell you which way the play's going, so you gotta read that, read your blocks and get your fit."
The Jets will test the Cowboys' ability to do that Thursday.
And as Pittsburgh learned last week, the difference between succeeding and failing in this area against the Jets can provide the difference between winning and losing.
Cowboys players use the example of their coverage on Chicago's all-everything returner, Devin Hester, in Week 3 as proof of what they're capable of.
"We just gotta go out and play like we did against Chicago with Hester," said kicker Nick Folk, who failed to get any of his five kickoffs to the end zone Sunday. "It's not about really zoning in on who the [returner] is, but worry about doing our job right."
abreer@dallasnews.com
IRVING – It didn't cost the Cowboys last week against Washington, and they didn't pay for it in Buffalo either.
But if the Cowboys' spotty kick coverage continues this week, the Jets – yes, the 2-8 Jets – may be the team that forces a collection at Texas Stadium.
While New York has sagged to 29th in total offense and 29th in total defense, its special teams have continued to shine. And it's a real concern for a Dallas team that ranks 20th in the league in defending kickoff returns and 31st in stopping punt returns.
The trouble starts with seventh-year special teams coach Mike Westhoff, who has been with the Jets through two coaching changes and was one of the few assistants Eric Mangini kept when he took over for Herman Edwards. The year before he arrived in New York, Westhoff was named NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year with Miami, and he's maintained that reputation since.
"What I'm always impressed with is that he's innovative. Some of the things he's created over the course of time have been adopted by other teams," Mangini said. "And he's done an excellent job teaching the technique, and understanding the opponent and getting that information to the players."
Of course, he's had good players, too, and one of the best was Justin Miller, who went to the Pro Bowl last year after averaging 28.3 yards and scoring two touchdowns on kickoff returns. But Miller injured his knee in Week 2 and was lost for the season.
The Jets haven't missed a beat. Leon Washington, the team's punt returner, stepped in on kickoffs and has averaged 32.7 yards per return with three touchdowns.
He's also had a direct impact on both of New York's wins.
Against the Dolphins in Week 3, Washington returned a kick 98 yards for a touchdown in a 31-28 win.
Then, against the heavily favored Steelers last week, his 33-yard punt return in overtime set up the game-winning field goal.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys were yielding 29.0 yards per kick return to the Redskins' Rock Cartwright, whose 36-yard runback at the end of the first half set up a go-ahead field goal.
"When things go bad, they go bad in a hurry," said linebacker Kevin Burnett, who's on the kickoff coverage team. "And that's what I think it's a case of. We haven't been that far off."
One issue has been replacing coverage standout Deon Anderson, who was lost for the season with a torn rotator cuff in the Eagles game. His physical presence and aggressiveness did as much to disrupt a return team's blocking as anyone could.
"He busts up the wedge like nobody I've seen," fellow kickoff coverage team member Justin Rogers said.
But the Cowboys claim, too, that the problem hasn't been physical as much as it has been mental. Burnett's assertion is that in most cases – be it allowing the Bills' Terrence McGee to return a kickoff for a touchdown, or the punt return for a score by the Rams' Dante Hall – the problem was one easily correctable mistake.
If players get the proper "fits" in those spots, covering the area assigned to them and taking on the blockers in their lanes, then players say the touchdowns would have never happened.
"If you're not in your fit, you get a big gap," rookie kickoff cover man Courtney Brown said.
"You gotta know which way the play's going. The offense will tell you which way the play's going, so you gotta read that, read your blocks and get your fit."
The Jets will test the Cowboys' ability to do that Thursday.
And as Pittsburgh learned last week, the difference between succeeding and failing in this area against the Jets can provide the difference between winning and losing.
Cowboys players use the example of their coverage on Chicago's all-everything returner, Devin Hester, in Week 3 as proof of what they're capable of.
"We just gotta go out and play like we did against Chicago with Hester," said kicker Nick Folk, who failed to get any of his five kickoffs to the end zone Sunday. "It's not about really zoning in on who the [returner] is, but worry about doing our job right."
posted by The Gryphon at 8:31 PM
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