FLOWERY BRANCH – The Falcons’ specials teams have been a contributor to the poor field position with returners making mistakes on fielding punts and kickoffs in the Tennessee game last week.
Falcons special teams coordinator Marquice Williams addressed the issues and helped to preview the matchup with Minnesota at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Here’s what Williams had to say:
Opening statement: “Tough loss last week for our players and when you talk about field position the biggest thing that pops up is that second quarter for us on special teams. The biggest thing that we look at as a unit is field position and returner decision-making. It starts with me — we have to do a better job of making the right decisions to put our offense and our team in the best field position possible, especially when you’re playing games that lead to one-possession games in the NFL, which are a lot of games. When it comes to us making great decisions, making sure that and understanding if they’re trying to flip the field as a punt unit that we’ve got to make sure we have urgency to the football, get underneath it, if it’s a ball that’s playable, then we do it. We have our strict yard lines where we play footballs and if they haven’t hit a good punt, they hit a good punt, and then we’ve got to live the next down. Whether you’re talking about kickoff return or punt return that’s something that we take a lot of pride in as a special teams unit making sure that, one, we make sure we have the ball for our offense on the next play, but also two, make sure that we’re making the right decisions. As a returner, you have a quarterback mindset when you’re back there and it’s not an easy position to play, but we trust those guys back there to make the right decisions week in and week out, play in and play out. It’s different in offense and defense where you have a second, third down, possibly a fourth down, we have a one-play down and we got to make the best decisions possible for our team. I thought in the second half we made better decisions as a return unit when it came to the field position and then I thought our coverage units did a better job and I give a lot of credit to those guys flipping the field when it comes to coverage and then also too, Bradley (Pinion) not feeling well going into the game and being able to go out there and put his best foot forward.”
On whether CB Mike Hughes made poor decisions as a returner: “He was not making the best decisions when it comes to that, and that’s for any returner that’s back there. We have a strict yard line that we want to stand at and if that ball goes over our head, and let’s say the ball hits on the two and it bounces and lands on the three, you come to the sideline — good punt by them, but then when we go back and catch the ball, now it’s good punt and a bad decision, we don’t want to do that. If we ever have the ball, we went to get north-south with it. Those are things that we continue to emphasize week in and week out, situational awareness — whether the ball is at the minus 35-yard line, and they punt it all the way to the two, or if that ball is at the plus 45-yard line and they punt it to the two. We’ve got to make great decisions when it comes to being a returner.”
On what is the discussion like with Hughes after poor decision-making: “We address every play after the play. Those are conversations that we have between myself and the player, but those are things that they are always addressed, whether it’s during the game, whether he made a great decision, or if he didn’t make a great decision. The objective is our players are not trying to make bad decisions but they just have to be disciplined and have to have urgency to the football so they can make the right decision, but those things are always addressed whether it’s good or bad or if it’s a plus-minus — it’s in between, we address everything during the game.”
On whether Hughes will remain the primary punt returner: “We have been repping a lot of returners, so Mike is one of our returners as we work through the week and we work through our returns and we work through our roster, and who’s going to be up and who’s going to be down, he is one of our returners.”
On how well WR Scotty Miller and CB Dee Alford have been performing in the returner position: “Those guys have been working at it as you watch practice all three guys are back there working our returns, working whether Bradley’s punting the ball as our punt team versus our scout rush team, or if we’re working punt return, all three of those guys are back there working, getting their reps in, making sure to be working on their catch mechanics, situational awareness, on Friday’s working certain situations when it comes to punt and punt return, and they continue to get better and improve. All three guys are improving in that aspect.”
On how well Miller has been performing: “He’s making better decisions, he’s showing that he has urgency to the football and just making sure he’s making the right decision when it comes to when to catch and when not to catch it, and he’s had limited reps.”
On whether the team has goals in the return game: “Our goal is always to gain a first down when it comes to return units. Yes, Avery (Williams) did a good job, there was a point where he was averaging two first downs every return last year. There’s a lot of different variables—depends on the call that we’re running, depends on the down and distance, it depends on the type of gunners we’re going against, but we want to get that number up. Our goal is to at least average a first down in the return game because if we’re getting first downs that correlates to field position and points for our offense.”
On the kickoff FB Keith Smith fielded on Sunday: “The rule is if you wave fair catch inside the 25-yard line you can get the ball at the 25-yard line. So, that’s a situation where we have to use that rule to our advantage, that new rule they started it was implemented this season, and we have to use it to our advantage. That’s a situation where yes, we do want a fair catch, if they give us a kick that is not the right pitch you would say, if it’s not the right pitch that we’re looking to return, we want to fair catch that. That goes back to us being detailed and being disciplined with our decision-making and our alignment because if we do those things, then now you don’t find yourself in a stressful position as a return team. So, now you can make the right decision and have a clear mind to make that right decision. That’s another one of those plays—those three plays happened in the second quarter to where we’re not putting our offense in the best field position when it comes to the return game.”
On how losing RB Avery Williams affected the team:
“I really don’t think about what the outside thinks but in the building any time you lose a player it’s a big loss, I believe, that’s part of the 90-man roster, and then when you trickle it down to the 53-man roster. Everybody that Terry [Fontenot] and Art [Arthur Smith] bring in on our personnel staff—they bring in here, we have a plan and a vision for those guys. Avery was here for two seasons going into his third season, he was a critical part of our special teams unit. Yeah, in the building any time you lose a player to a season-ending injury whether it’s Grady [Jarrett], Avery, whoever that person is, it is a big loss, but it’s an opportunity for somebody else to step up. Those are things that we push for and we’re looking for and it’s a great opportunity for the next man up to go in there and make the right decisions, get vertical with the football, and be the first play for our offense.”
On whether he alters the special teams unit practice routine and how he reemphasizes it leading up to the Vikings game: “Every week we always evaluate whether win, lose, or draw. We’re always evaluating how we’re handling stuff in the game. It’s a one play down, so you look at special teams, we have 35 plays, and then you look at some of those plays if you have four minuses in 35 plays yes, that’s not a big number but those four minuses could lead to big results in the game. When we talk about teaching every week, we’re looking at trying to teach things a different way, whether we’re learning from things around the league or things that happen to us. It’s my job as a coach to make sure we find different ways, different modalities, different teaching tools to try to push and emphasize the same situations or the same techniques. We only get better with reps, so continuing to work with those guys with finding different ways, different tools, different film studies to get better at what we want to do on the field. We will always push small menu, big understanding, and we take pride in having a big understanding, but when you get in the games you got to translate what you do at practice into the game, and that’s our challenge for this week, so we could help our offense and defense out.”
On whether CB Dee Alford’s role on defense impacts his availability on special teams: “It’s collective, there’s a lot of different variables when it comes to in-game. My job as coach when I’m coaching special teams, we do have starters on offense and defense that do play on special teams but I do have to pay attention to if a guy is hurt or if a guy is tired or if a guy needs a play but I look at it like this, and I always challenge our defensive players to this — the hardest transition is from defense to punt return—if the offenses, we’re going against a team let’s say the Vikings this week, and we got some starters that’s playing on special teams on punt return that play on defense and we do a great job because you know the staff and the players do a great job and they get into fourth down. We can’t control if they’re going to go for it or not. Now, they put they punt team out there, it’s a fourth down play, it’s a got-to-have-it situation, so our guys understand the challenge when it comes to that, whether I’m staying out there on fourth down and the offense is out there, or they’re going to give us the football. Now, you get to be an offensive player, when we talk about fatigue and being tired, you can’t control if they’re going to be on offense, so give it your all on that play and guys understand that. When it comes back to your question about Dee, it’s a lot of different variables, it goes back to Mike Hughes, his return ability, and Dee Alford’s return ability, yes, he does have a little bit of volume—he has more volume on defense than prior, but it’s an opportunity to help our team flip the field. That’s how we look at it.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
On whether the amount of plays a player has affects how many reps they receive on special teams: “That equation is always real but we’re going to try to put the best 11 players out there when it comes to that one-down mentality. Whether it’s Mike [Hughes], whether it’s Scotty (Miller), whether it’s Dee (Alford), we’re going to put the best 11 guys out there. Whether it’s Tre (Tarpley III), A.J. (Terrell), Zo (Lorenzo Carter), Zach (Harrison), Calais (Campbell), Nate (Landman) who plays on special teams, Richie (Grant) — whoever those best 11 guys — we’re going to formulate the plan to put the best 11 guys out there so we can win that down.”
On whether he’s looking at other players to be in the punt returner position besides Alford, Hughes and Miller: “Right now, those are the three that catches punts for us. Obviously, Bijan (Robinson) is always working back there too. Those are the guys we’ll continue to work with, continue to improve, get better with their basic fundamentals, awareness, and situational urgency when it comes to making the right decisions for our return unit.”
On whether there are other players getting reps in at the punt returning position: “As of right now, those are our guys back there returning for us.”
On Vikings RB Ty Chandler having the longest return of the season: “On our video, they have him down for 103 but he stepped out of bounds. I don’t know if they ruled or not. They got called back for a holding penalty, but that return is real, his return ability is real. He can get north-south with the football, and he’s done a great job as a core player for them whether you’re talking about punt, kickoff, kickoff return, he’s doing a great job getting vertical, and that was a big return. Even though I did get notified, and did get called back because of the holding penalty, that did create a spark and some juice, and he’s been pretty consistent when it comes to his break tackle ability, his vision, and getting vertical with the football.”
On whether Vikings RB Kene Nwangwu is a bigger returner: “Yeah, whether you have him or 26 back there, Kene [Nwangwu] who was out, I think he had a sickness last week. They’re bigger returners that get vertical with it and they’re looking to cut back, and they have good vision. Chandler did a great job of getting back out to the outside and getting down the sideline, it was a really great job by him. We have our hands full when it comes to keeping leverage on the football, being physical at the point of attack, and then making sure we put a body on him to get him down because he will break tackles.
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