National Football League

Green Bay Packers: Week 3 Special Teams Recap

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Week 3 brought the Green Bay Packers a return to what we used to see all the time.

This was their best offensive day since early last season, with the team scoring on their first five drives in an eventual 34-27 victory.

The defense also started well, but issues in the secondary allowed big plays that let Detroit make a furious comeback attempt in the second half.

But what about the special teams?

Let’s look into it.

Sep 11, 2016; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Green Bay Packers kicker Mason Crosby (2) made a field goal as punter Jacob Schum (10) holds the ball during the second half against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field. Green Bay Packers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 27-23. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Kicker

Kickoffs:

Scoring:

Mason Crosby sure got some work this week.

After seeing little time on the field due to the subpar play of the offense — which took away possible kickoff, field goal, and extra point chances — Crosby got plenty of opportunities to try making an impact last Sunday.

He kicked two field goals when the Green Bay offense started to slow down before Detroit’s comeback began, and he made all four of his extra point kicks.

Most of his seven kickoffs were strong, going deep into the endzone; though three of those saw returns, none reached the touchback line (the 25, as of this year) and two didn’t even get outside the 20.

The one kickoff he could have done differently was his 6th; it didn’t reach the endzone and was returned to the DET 23. A big portion of that can be put on the coverage unit, but had he managed to add better hangtime he may have helped out that part of the unit better.

Fantasy owners are sure to be happy at his production — and so are the Packers. With the team’s subpar offensive play since 2015, he hasn’t had many chances to showcase his leg, but when he does have to he proves yet again to be one of the league’s more reliable kickers.

Sep 18, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Green Bay Packers punter Jacob Schum (10) against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings defeated the Packers 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The Punter

Punts:

With the offense playing better, we didn’t get to see much of Schum against Detroit.

From what we have seen so far, that is probably a good thing.

Schum had just two punts in this game, but somehow he still managed to not do all that well.

His first punt matches the best we’ve seen from him: a punt from near midfield let him have a good chance to pin the opposition deep.

Technically he did (putting the ball at the 12 with enough hangtime for his coverage unit to get to the returner is an OK play; better than a touchback for sure), but it would be nice to see the opposing team trapped way back on their own endzone for once — just like we have seen Green Bay’s offense have to deal with far too often already this year.

The second punt takes us right back to the same issue we’ve already seen become routine for Schum so far in his Packers tenure — and really, it’s the exact problem that the team had to deal with for years with Tim Masthay.

Schum had more room to work with for this punt, so you could hope to see more leg punt behind it than the first one. Unfortunately that was not the case, as he only added 3 yards onto what his first punt had, leaving the ball to be caught outside the DET 20.

Even worse, he did not put nearly enough hangtime on it, which did no favors to a coverage unit that eventually allowed a 15 yard return.

Now, it must be mentioned that the snap wasn’t great, but you would still hope for more than what Schum got behind the ball.

Most people usually overlook the impact of punters, but the yardage they chalk up tends to have a mostly indirect effect on the game.

Case in point: Detroit followed up the return made off this punt to score another touchdown to cut their deficit to 34-27 with over three minutes remaining as well as all their timeouts and the two-minute warning; had they made a stop defensively, this could easily become a tie game and who knows what happens in OT.

A good punt in that situation sets the opposing offense back and makes it harder on them; bad punts like the one Schum delivered can give a team the spark they need to finish off a comeback.

Schum better use the bye week to strengthen that leg of his; if things don’t change soon, he probably won’t be around long.

Oct 11, 2015; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers wide receiver Ty Montgomery (88) rushes for a touchdown after catching a pass during the first quarter against the St. Louis Rams at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Return Units

Punts:

Kickoffs:

It is becoming increasingly difficult for the return games of teams to make a significant impact in games. Green Bay has been about as low on the totem pole as there is recently with even trying to attempt one, and rarely made things happen when the returners do take a shot at creating some free yardage for their offense.

This game, we got to see them make a much-welcomed impact.

There were only two punts to the Packers in the game.

The first was a simple fair catch, but the second was an exciting 34-yard return by Trevor Davis to move the ball well into Detroit territory. Unfortunately, that play got called back due to a penalty by the Packers, moving it all the way back to the Green Bay 26.

Those kind of penalties need to be cleaned up; in this case it undid a great return.

The return itself is promising though, and if guys like Davis keep getting opportunities out there we should see more of these positive gains — we just have to hope they come without the yellow flags flying.

As for kickoffs, due to touchbacks there were only two of six kicks that even had a chance to be returned, but the returner made the most of it. Ty Montgomery made a nice return on a short kick late in the game, but it was his play on the 2nd Detroit kickoff where he really made a major play.

On that kickoff, he didn’t even actually return it, but instead he made what appeared to be a strange move to let the ball bounce into the endzone and then back out into the field without touching the ball at all as the coverage team barrelled towards him.

While it bounced around, he shimmied his body out of bounds and then reached out for the ball with his feet still out.

This probably seemed crazy and/or stupid to the vast majority of us, but he was actually making an intelligent move: the NFL has a rarely-utilized loophole in their rulebook regarding kickoffs, which basically states that if a player first touches the ball from out of bounds while it is in the field of play, it will be treated the same way as if the kicker had just kicked it out himself.

This isn’t the first time we’ve actually seen this either; according to Evan Western at Acme Packing Company, Randall Cobb did pretty much the same thing in a game against Tennessee in 2012.

People like to give McCarthy and Co. heat for their decisions over the years, but plays like this provide a look into just how much minutiae NFL coaches deal in, and their preparation in this facet of the game paid off big here (Green Bay would go on to score a TD with their good field position).

Sep 25, 2016; Green Bay, WI, USA; Green Bay Packers linebacker Kyler Fackrell (51) celebrates with linebacker Jayrone Elliott (91) after sacking Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Lambeau Field. Green Bay won 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

The Coverage Units

Punts:

Kickoffs:

The coverage units had a mostly decent day, but there were a couple of hiccups — though the blame cannot be fully placed on them.

The raw numbers on the returns look bad, most of these were on kickoffs that put the ball deep in the endzone; none of those returns reached the touchback line.

The only real issue came on the 2nd punt return, where the Lions got a 15 yard return up to their own 38. As I said before, this can’t all be put on them — a bad snap and underwhelming kick by Schum did them no favors — but that is a sizeable chunk of yardage to give to the opposition when they are making a comeback attempt, and they did eventually score to bring themselves within a touchdown of tying things up.

As a whole though, the group had a good game like we’ve seen most weeks in the past couple years, and we should expect to see more of the same as the season progresses.

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