Final Grades: Special Teams

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Mark Eckel

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By BOB McGINN

This is the last of a nine-part series in which the 67 players on the Green Bay Packers’ 53-man roster and reserve/injured list at the end of the season are graded. Playing-time percentages are for special teams only.

SPECIALISTS (5)

MASON CROSBY (29.2%): The numbers didn’t look good but underlying factors generally served to exonerate Crosby. After six years (2010-’15) of teaming with just one snapper (Brett Goode) and one holder (Tim Masthay), he has had to deal with erratic help for two years. His field-goal mark of 78.9% ranked 25th; it was Crosby’s worst accuracy since his one awful year (2012). Of his four misses, however, one was blocked from 38 because of Derek Hart’s lousy snap and the other had no chance because Justin Vogel fumbled the snap. His other misses were short from 59 and wide left from 57. Of his two missed extra points, one was Crosby’s fault off the right upright and the other had no chance because of Taybor Pepper’s poor snap and Vogel’s bobbled hold. His best kicks were from 27 to beat Cincinnati in overtime and from 50 in the rain at Soldier Field. Even more impressive were his successful, perfectly-placed onside kicks in Carolina and Detroit. For years, left-footed Joe Nedney was regarded by special-teams coaches as the king of onside kickers. Crosby has become the latter-day Nedney. On his 65 kickoffs for distance, Crosby averaged 68.4 yards and 3.92 seconds of hang time. That hang time was his best since 2010. Grade: B.

BRETT GOODE (18.2%): The Packers tried to replace the aging Goode during the off-season, failed and brought him back Aug. 12 when Derek Hart flopped. Goode promptly suffered a hamstring injury in Game 3 and missed six games before the SOS call went out again. Performed adequately in the final seven games but, at 33, his snaps weren’t as accurate or fast as in the past. Never made a tackle, either. The season was only 48 hours old when the Packers announced the signing of another long snapper. Goode, an unrestricted free agent, probably will rest in the bullpen for another off-season. Grade: D.

TAYBOR PEPPER (8.3%): Former Michigan State player spent 3 ½ months on the 90-man roster last winter-spring before he was re-signed to replace the injured Goode for Games 4-7. Suffered a fractured foot in practice Nov. 2 and went on injured reserve. He had two poor snaps on conversions, one of which led to a miss. Time to move on. Grade: F.

JACOB SCHUM (0.0%): Put together a serviceable season in 2016, his only one in Green Bay. Gross average of 43.2 ranked 27th, net average of 39.1 ranked 24th. Suffered an undisclosed injury in the offseason and spent the season on injured reserve. Talented enough to find work somewhere else in 2018. Grade: Incomplete.

JUSTIN VOGEL (30.4%): Best of the Packers’ 25 undrafted rookies in 2017. Selected Green Bay over offers from Tennessee, Miami, Philadelphia and Kansas City. Flashed Pro Bowl potential in a tough place to punt. Gross average of 44.4 ranked 23rd, net average of 41.6 ranked seventh. His gross of 44.4 tied for seventh best in club history. His net of 41.6 broke Tim Masthay’s club record of 40.2 set in 2015 and the seventh-place ranking was the highest for a Packer since David Beverly tied for sixth in 1979 (34.8). In the last 18 years Vogel’s average hang time of 4.31 seconds was the team’s second best behind Masthay’s 4.35 in ’12. Ten of Vogel’s 71 punts had at least 5.0 hang time. His touchback percentage of 2.8% (two of 71) ranked fourth in the league. However, his inside-the-20 percentage of 26.8% (19 of 71) ranked just 31st. Marginal holder. Floridian did OK in first exposure to rough weather. Grade: B

The post Final Grades: Special Teams appeared first on Bob McGinn Football.

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Brett Goode got a D? His snaps weren't fast or accurate enough? Never made a tackle? Now that is some nitpicking if I ever read any.
 
eyecatcher said:
Brett Goode got a D? His snaps weren't fast or accurate enough? Never made a tackle? Now that is some nitpicking if I ever read any.
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How else do you grade a long snapper? The ball should be perfect when it gets to the holders hands, Goode has a history of doing this but did not this year. I think you also want that guy to get down and cover on punts. Derek Hart was able to do this but Goode was never around the ball. You can argue the letter grade I guess but IMO the criticism is warranted.
 
rpiotr01 said:
How else do you grade a long snapper? The ball should be perfect when it gets to the holders hands, Goode has a history of doing this but did not this year. I think you also want that guy to get down and cover on punts. Derek Hart was able to do this but Goode was never around the ball. You can argue the letter grade I guess but IMO the criticism is warranted.
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Derek Hart played two games and had one assisted tackle. He also had a bad snap so does he get an F. Yes you want your long snapper to get down field and cover punts but out of 71 punts by Vogel, 24 were fair caught, 2 were TBs and the 29 that were returned were only returned for an average of 5.7 yards. I'd say the gunners did most of the tackling. I want to grade a long snapper by did he cause any missed field goals or turnovers with bad snaps or block kicks/punts. I don't recall Goode being the cause of any.
 
There's so little reality in these evaluations. Saying Goode was a bad snapper makes me laugh. They sign him, and he ends up doing the long snaps after not even practicing with the guys he's going to work. Then he comes back after injury, and what was a disastrous string of games with other guys on the job, and once again takes over, with little practice.

Yet, no bad snaps, just not "good enough" for the writer. Got it! Style points are more important than result points.

Now the Packers are going to go the same route. Leave him sit, and then when they go through one clown after another, ask him to come back, and do the job, because everyone else failed. Then, have some writer give him a "D" for not being good enough.

Thus ends this evaluation of players on the roster. I agree with some of it, and disagree with some of it. But I do like the fact that he did it. It gives us food for thought.
 
eyecatcher said:
Derek Hart played two games and had one assisted tackle. He also had a bad snap so does he get an F. Yes you want your long snapper to get down field and cover punts but out of 71 punts by Vogel, 24 were fair caught, 2 were TBs and the 29 that were returned were only returned for an average of 5.7 yards. I'd say the gunners did most of the tackling. I want to grade a long snapper by did he cause any missed field goals or turnovers with bad snaps or block kicks/punts. I don't recall Goode being the cause of any.
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Our snappers basically sucked. I played 3 yrs of center including long snapper. Ours were functional nothing more at all.

I thought the grades on kicker and punter were dead on as well.
 
Seriously it's a long snapper ?? A or D this is the 2nd season the knuckleheads tried to replace Goode and it blew up on them. Go get 2 decent ones in the off season and let them battle in camp. It's damn embarrassing that it was an issue at all.

GB will have to replace Crosby soon he's also getting older. Might be a couple yrs but it's coming.
 
Time for Gutey to pull a Sherman and draft a long snapper in the 3rd round.
 
Mark87 said:
GB will have to replace Crosby soon he's also getting older. Might be a couple yrs but it's coming.
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Maybe, but 33 is still not terribly old for a kicker. I mean you have guys like Vinatieri, Bryant, Janikowski, others who are 40 or more and still getting it done. I agree though that you need to start watching for signs that he's losing it. He looked good last season so I think we are still OK for now.
 
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