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*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - run_CMC - 11-09-2017
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]The Specialist
The DSFL’s only Special Teams-focused publication.[/div]
Forgotten until they make a mistake, the specialists play a crucial role in winning games. A kicker can close out a game, and a returner can drastically shift momentum. In The Specialist, we’ll discuss these often overlooked players.
Team Analysis
Chicago BluesThe Blues have an interesting situation at the kicker position right now, as they currently have not one, not two, not three, but four kickers on their roster. Those are Stephen Simpson (K/P), Chuck Shelton (P), Tucker Sanborn (K), and their recent third round draft pick Peg Leg (K/P). That’s right: third round draft pick. The Chicago Blues took a kicker named after the result of a leg amputation over players like Sydney Spinelli and Jacob Lattimore. And wait, it gets better! He’s not even playing. They currently have Simpson in at kicker and Shelton at punter. Look, Special Teams are important, so it’s okay to reach for a kicker from time to time — but this pick was more than a reach.
Moving on to their kickers that did play: Shelton actually leads the league in average punt yards right now with 45.7 yards per punt, over another league high 20 punts. He’s left 20% of those inside the 20 (2nd in the league), but don’t blame Shelton or be surprised if that percentage goes down as Chicago’s stagnant offense struggles to leave their own redzone. As for their kicker, Stephen Simpson has kicked 3 field goals, one of which was missed, and 2 extra points... one of which was missed. Now, neither of those 2 misses actually affected the result of the game directly because the Blues were far behind by 10+ points each time, but when you’re a kicker that’s been around as long as he has, you expect a bit of a better start to the season.
On a final note, did I mention that kick returner Payton took one 90 yards for a touchdown? We’ll cover that in the “Play of the Week.”
Kansas City CoyotesKansas City’s kicker Patrick Greene has done pretty well so far. He’s 3 for 3 on field goals right now — though none have been attempted from over 39 yards — and has only missed 1 of 6 extra point attempts. Not the best, but not too terrible. Their punter, Virgil Ferguson, should be taking notes because he’s currently punting for a league-worst 35.5 yards per punt, despite being capable of much more, as he showed when he kicked a 55 yard punt for a touchback.
Portland PythonsThe Pythons kicker and punter Adrienne Nugent is only kicking 36.7 yards per punt. Although he’s punted a league-low 9 times, that’s still quite a low average, and his longest punt on the season is short of 50 yards. Fun fact: the Pythons have just 1/3 the punt yards the Blues have. His kicking is equally terrible. He’s missed one of four extra point attempts, and has a 33.3% success rate on field goals.
Also, Nugent was last seen training in Portland in early August. Rumor has it that he simply appears on the field, summoned from an alternate dimension when the coach calls his name.
For a bright side to Portland’s special teams: their kick returners are more effective and consistent than anyone else so far.
Norfolk SeaWolvesSeaWolves kicker Jason Jeret has been spot-on so far this season. He’s 6 for 6 on extra points and 2 for 2 on field goals. 2 isn’t a huge sample size, and they were relatively short, but he’s looked good. As for the punter John Mueller: he’s been okay, but not great. He has the second highest average punt length at 44.5 yards, but after 17 punts, he has only left one inside the 20. This power but lack of accuracy is to be expected when you see his combine stats from before the draft.
While Norfolk’s punt returning is solid, their kick returning is abysmal, with a league-worst average return of just 11.3 yards. You have to think they might’ve been able to beat Portland in week 1 (when they lost by one point) if they weren’t starting nearly every drive inside their own 15 yard line.
San Antonio MarshalsThe Marshalls currently have veteran Jimmy Darkapple in at kicker and new draftee Shawn Guy at punter. I'm not quite sure what to think of Darkapple so far. He's 5 of 5 on extra point attempts, and 5 of 7 on field goals... but 3 of the makes were under 20 yards, and one of the misses was from about 25. Then again, the other miss was from 50+. There's definitely room for improvement, but he's off to a decent start. As for Shawn Guy, he's doing equally average. Not the best in punt placement, but pretty solid on distance. He's definitely serviceable, and to be fair, it's hard to leave the ball short of the goal line when your offense marches the ball so far downfield every drive.
Tijuana LuchadoresWhat am I supposed to say about Tijuana? They haven't even attempted a field goal yet. Dean Jackson has been placing the ball well with 3 of 10 punts left inside the 20 (the best percentage in the league), and the kick returners are above average, but... Jackson hasn't kicked a field goal. Success in the preseason gives high hopes, but we’ll have to wait to see if reality matches expectations.
Special Teams Power Rankings
1. San Antonio Marshals
2. Chicago Blues
3. Kansas City Coyotes
4. Norfolk SeaWolves
5. Tijuana Luchadores
6. Portland Pythons
Specialist of the Week
This week’s specialist of the week is... punt returner Sean Strong from San Antonio
! Now, Strong came into the league after the first NSFL season and has basically done nothing of worth; he’s never improved. But across 9 punt returns and two weeks, he’s averaged 17.9 yards per return! To put that in perspective, the next highest average return is 9.5 yards. So this week, we celebrate Strong before forgetting him again for the rest of eternity!Play of the Week
There were no particularly long field goals, or game winning ones, so the play of the week goes to a kick returner! Rashaun Payton from the Chicago Blues
returned a kick 90 yards for a touchdown against the Marshals in what is the first special teams touchdown of this DSFL season! While it didn’t have a lasting effect on the game, that play showed what the Blues special teams unit is capable of.Hot Takes
“SeaWolves special teams still sucks” -@To12143
“Dean Jackson has made 0% of field goals. Should probably cut him” -@ErMurazor
“Mat Akselsen is probably worse than most DSFL QBs at this point” -@Bzerkap
Bzerkap... this is a Special Teams magazine... what you meant to say was that Mat is probably worse than most DSFL kickers.
“Chicago’s punter has more punt yards through these first two weeks than any team has total offensive yards. I expect this to remain true for several weeks to come.” -Me
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1,187 words. Ready to be graded.
GRADED
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - iamslm22 - 11-09-2017
Awesome article man! Good shit.
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - kckolbe - 11-09-2017
Hey, look. We're the best at something again.
Seriously though, this was good. Hope your usage improves.
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - bovovovo - 11-09-2017
(11-09-2017, 11:10 AM)run_CMC Wrote:“Mat Akselsen is probably worse than most DSFL QBs at this point” -@Bzerkap
Most accurate hot take I ever seen
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - iamslm22 - 11-09-2017
(11-09-2017, 11:28 AM)bovovovo Wrote:Most accurate hot take I ever seen
I figured @Bzerkap 's bet and mine would be close because we were both doing well, both because we're both garbage.
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - Squeeze - 11-09-2017
THAS MY KICKER!
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - ErMurazor - 11-09-2017
Nice write-up man!
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - kckolbe - 11-09-2017
By the way, this is something the NSFL could use some coverage on as well if you want to make more money.
*The Specialist: Weeks 1-2 - run_CMC - 11-09-2017
(11-09-2017, 05:39 PM)kckolbe Wrote:By the way, this is something the NSFL could use some coverage on as well if you want to make more money.I'm definitely hoping to expand to NSFL special teams in the future, but thought it'd be best to start small. Also had to get this done before the games tonight when my data becomes inaccurate!