Khadrice Rollins
krollins@ajc.com
With the Green Bay Packers (4-2) coming to town to take on the Atlanta Falcons (4-3), special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong spoke about what he has seen from his unit so far this season and what he expects on Sunday.
Q. You guys have had one of the best punting units so far this season and the Packers haven’t really done a great job with returns. How crucial is it to enforce that advantage?
A. We talk about punting every week. So it's important one, that we take care of the protection first. Do a really good job in the protection, that will enable us to be a good coverage unit and get more people out that way. We've got to hang the ball, we've got to place it and we have to force fair catches. They've got some good returners. (Trevor Davis) does a really good job. Davis does a hell of a job for them. He's got two big returns. He's got a 33-yard return and he's got a 25-yard return … so he can, he can do some good things. He's got some ability as a rookie. But he does do some good stuff. And then when you look at (Jeff) Janis, he does a very good job as a returner. He was really hot a year ago. Had some big plays, had some big returns from them. So it's important that we get down the field, cover, hang it, place the ball in the corner and take care of business.
Q. How do you think your team has adjusted with the new touchback rule on kickoffs?
A. From a coverage standpoint, I thought the guys have done a nice job of squeezing and covering. It's a lot easier obviously to place the ball in the corners when you're just taking a three-quarter swing on it. You can place it better. … I think what you're seeing on TV and in games is guys are placing it in the corner, now the coverage unit can squeeze, so there aren't as many allies to create a gap and that's why people feel comfortable kicking the ball in play and trying to get that drive started shorter than the 25-yard line. If you feel like you're going to go against a good returner or your coverage unit isn't playing well that particular week or you've got some injuries, whatever, now you're starting to see people say, 'OK, fire away, and kick it out the end zone, give it to them on the 25.' I think it's a week to week adjustment for each team relative to who you're going against. So you try to take that approach on it. If I'm going against a great returner here, I'm firing this thing out the back of the end zone. I've got two injuries on kickoff coverage, I'd fire it out the back of the end zone. And then if we're going against a guy and a team that doesn't have a great returner and we're healthy on our coverage units, then OK, let's put that thing down there about two deep, and see if they'll take it out.
Q. What have you seen from Eric Weems on punt and kickoff returns?
A. He's a competitor. His whole game is about his grit and toughness. He's competitive as can be and he makes good decisions, I'll say which is why he's back there. He makes good decisions, he gets the ball vertical, sets some plays up. He's had some good plays. He's been positive to this point, and he did a really nice job last week, even though you don't see it, he did a nice job managing that game. Coming up and catching two short punts that typically a lot of punt returners would let hit the ground. So he does a good job of managing the football game for us.
This has been edited for clarity and brevity.
