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Jeff Thomas - is he hurting us on punting field position?

scrantoncane said:
He is also been timid on KRs, never taking them out of the end zone, even when we desperately need a play to be made.

I wouldn’t mind seeing someone else get a look as our primary PR and KR.
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A Lot of coaches will just take the 25 yards now adays if they are already fielding a ball in the endzone.
 
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Maddog71 said:
Footballs are a funny shape. They don't always hit the ground and bounce forward. Sometimes they bounce backwards
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If you let it go, worst case it gets downed on the 1. Guess what the worst case is if you try to field it inside the 10?
 
jackbenimble71 said:
I just watched the Virginia game on tv (I was at the game). one thing I noticed in the last several games as well as this one is what we do in fielding punts. I don't understand why the coaches are having him fair catch the ball every time inside the 10? what am I missing? is there a reason why the coaches are not letting him move away and let the ball go into the end zone?
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I never thought that JT4 was good for punt and kickoff returns. He doesn't seem to have the feel or instinct for the plays.
 
I’ll continue to say it, JT4 is a great talent but it’s not all there. Always has lackadaisical body language. I just don’t trust him as a go to. He’s proved that this year so far as well.
 
jackbenimble71 said:
I just watched the Virginia game on tv (I was at the game). one thing I noticed in the last several games as well as this one is what we do in fielding punts. I don't understand why the coaches are having him fair catch the ball every time inside the 10? what am I missing? is there a reason why the coaches are not letting him move away and let the ball go into the end zone?
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The answer is bring back Don Soldinger he could kill 2 birds with one stone. Fix the special teams and teach our freaking running backs how to block!
 
Dutch said:
I haven't rewatched the game yet but I seem to recall that UVA defenders were all over him when he made the fair catches... He may be instructed to let it go if the coverage team isn't close but if they are there then catch so they don't down it around the one... This is all speculation on my part and if he is being told this I'm a torn. On one hand, yea you keep them from down inside the five but on the other you risk muffing it inside the ten. Who knows... Our return teams are asstastic and I would love to see someone other than Jeff returning kicks. He just doesn't have it...
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This was my thought too. If the guys are there make the catch or else they will down it inside the 5 most likely.
 
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Or maybe we could do what a lot of teams do and have him move up and pretend he's going to catch a ball that is clearly over his head. I think you can even call for a fair catch and fake it...there has to be some better option than what we currently do.
 
TotesMagotes said:
This staff doesn't give a **** about special teams.
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Short Bus.gif

Our special teams and especially our ST coaching.... is truly special
 
If the 2 one was not a bad choice. However the 2nd one was like him saying, “95 years to score? Yeah I can get some receiving yards out of this. Bet, I’m catching this.”
 
Seems to me rule of thumb is that you don't want to fair catch the ball inside the 10 yd line and guarantee you will be backed up to your goal line rather than letting it go and take your chances that the ball goes in to the end zone . It is a judgement call though. Definitely anything inside the 5yd line you let it go and take your chances.

If he is being coached up to do that maybe there are some "analytics" to support that. I don't know.

My main beef with Thomas is that he fair catches way too often regardless of field position. There are times he does have room but decides to fair catch anyway. If all we are going to do is fair catch punts, there are a number of other guys that can do that too. It seems a waste of his skill set just to fair catch punts.

Not sure Thomas has the mind set needed. Sometimes you have to be ballsy back there and attempt a run back every now and then.
 
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ddann said:
Didn’t he fair catch one at the 4 yard line on Friday night?

You gain absolutely nothing by doing that. It makes zero sense.
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Especially considering he could muff one at any moment. Just insane to fair catch it at the 5. The 10, I'm not so worried about. the 5? It's just low IQ football.
 
Our coaching staff is deathly scared of a running into the punter flag (be it the 5 or 15 yard variety). We rarely rush the punter. As a result, the punt team immediately jets towards JT4 or whoever else is returning the punt because there is no blocking to be done. Hence why our return men have had little chance this year to return punts. It seems like every punt results in a fair catch.
 
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