Sam Hollister

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 7 @ Pittsburgh Steelers

October 25, 2016 by Sam Hollister

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It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless, and the Patriots now have a two game lead in the AFC East heading into their revenge game in Buffalo this Sunday. While the team is 6-1 and leading AFC overall, there is still room for improvement from a few noticeable areas, with the play of kicker Stephen Gostkowski near the top of that list.

So far in 2016, Gostkowski is tied for 24th in field goal accuracy, having made just 9 out of his 12 attempts. For comparison, three kickers are perfect so far in 2016: Justin Tucker, Greg Zuerlein, and our old friend Adam Vinatieri, who set the NFL record for consecutive field goals made at 43 yesterday (equaling his age), an astounding accomplishment for the 21-year pro. Six kickers have missed just one field goal, 10 have have missed two, nine (including Gostkowski) have missed three, and four have missed four or more.

Gostkowski’s career average is 86.9% (good for third all-time), which is a sharp contrast from his 75% average thus far this season. Last season, he hit 91.7% of his field goals, missed just three, was a first-team All-Pro and was named to the Pro Bowl for the third straight year. In 2014, his success rate was a career high 94.6% on field goals, missed just two, and setting his personal record for field goals made in one season with 38. In 2013, he hit 92.7% of his field goals, and missed just three. Gostkowski’s worst season of his career (not including his injury-shortened 2010 campaign that was cut short after just eight games) was his rookie season in 2006, in which he hit on just 76.9% of his field goals. While it is only a seven game sample size, Gostkowski’s 2016 season is on track to produce a career-low in field goal accuracy. Gostkowski is certainly not paid to perform like this (he received the second-most guaranteed money ever for a kicker in his newest contract), and a large faction of Patriot Nation is up in arms with the performance of their All-Pro kicker.

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 6 vs. Cincinnati Bengals

October 18, 2016 by Sam Hollister

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Tom Brady’s return to Foxboro proved triumphant, as the Patriots overcame some early struggles to dominate the Bengals in the second half, leading to another solid win. With the Broncos, Raiders, and Steelers all losing, the Patriots now have sole possession of first place in the AFC, and special teams have certainly played an important role in the team’s early-season success. This week, I chose to focus on the “Core 4” special teams units, the kickoff and punt coverage units and the kick and punt return units, and the strengths and weaknesses of them.

First, the kickoff coverage unit is off to an outstanding start, allowing just 16.5 yards per return on average, good for second in the NFL, trailing just Denver. Belichick certainly has great trust in the unit, and has used the new strategy of forcing opponent to return kicks instead of kicking it through the end zone for a touchback several times a game, due to the unit’s tremendous ability to get down the field and gang-tackle.

The Patriots rank third in kickoffs returned with 15, and the two teams ahead of them, Houston and Buffalo, rank 9th and 16th, respectively, in average kick return yards. These statistics show that the Patriots have adapted to the new touchback rule better than just about anyone else in the NFL, and a huge part of that success has to be credited to the work of the coverage

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 5 @ Cleveland Browns

October 11, 2016 by Sam Hollister

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What a return it was for the greatest quarterback to ever live. Having to watch Jacoby Brissett for two and a half games really makes one appreciate the greatness of Tom Brady even more, and it seemed to elevate and motivate the entire team as a whole. Special teams had another solid week, with the lone hiccup being Stephen Gostkowski’s third miss on the season.

Gostkowski started the season off on the right foot, nailing all three field goals (at distances of 47, 53, and 32 yards) against Arizona in Week 1, and was named the AFC Specialist of the Week. However, it’s been all downhill from there for the highest-paid kicker in the NFL since: Gostkowski has missed three of his next seven kicks in the past four games (keep in mind, he missed three total last season).

He missed a 39-yarder wide right against Miami, pushed a 48-yarder to the right of the goalposts against Buffalo, and most recently hit one too far to the right on a 50-yarder on Sunday. Notice a trend on his misses? All wide right. All of his misses have had plenty of distance, but each time his kicks have sailed too far to the right. Seeing as Gostkowski is the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history, Patriot Nation should be confident that he will correct whatever flaw is ailing him at the moment. Be sure to watch how Gostkowski does in the coming weeks, even on the ones he makes.

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 4 vs. Buffalo Bills

October 4, 2016 by Sam Hollister

What a disappointing effort by the Patriots Sunday. While it is hard to find silver linings in a shutout beatdown at home by a division rival, I chose to look at the fact the Pats managed to go 3-1 without the greatest quarterback of all time. And hey, special teams played pretty well yesterday, save for a few small plays, so lets get into it.

First, I’d like to give a nod to the tremendous work Matthew Slater and Jonathan Jones have done as gunners on the punt team thus far in the season. The pair shone in a game lacking much of anything positive, continuing their trend of incredibly strong play. While we all know just how good the five-time Pro Bowler Slater is, it is also important to recognize the undrafted rookie Jones, who has yet to receive any snaps at corner, but has had a standout start to his career on special teams. Slater and Jones both beat their men down the field on the first punt, with Slater making an excellent tackle for no gain off Ryan Allen’s 47-yard punt.

In addition, twice Allen’s punts resulted in fair catches by Tate, and both times Tate had Slater and Jones converging on him, allowing no room to run. Tate returned Allen’s third punt for 10 yards, with Slater bringing him down, but Jones was illegally knocked out of bounds on the play, resulting in a 10 yard penalty on Stephen Gilmore that set Buffalo back to its own 10 yard line. The duo has been incredible thus far, consistently beating opponents on the way down the field and not allowing positive returns off punts.

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 3 vs. Houston Texans

September 25, 2016 by Sam Hollister

What a win it was for the 3-0 Patriots, and this was the first time we saw the huge impact that Pro Football Focus’s second-ranked special teams unit can have on a game.

Instead of detailing one specific area, I decided to touch on several facets in which the Patriots excelled or had room for improvement because there was so much to discuss regarding special teams this week.

Of course, the work of the Patriots kickoff unit has to lead off. The Patriots were able to come up with two clutch turnovers that swung the game firmly in their favor, giving Jacoby Brissett the ball twice inside the Houston 25 yard line (both at times in which the game was still up for grabs).

Patriots Special Teams Report: Week 2 vs. Miami Dolphins

September 20, 2016 by Sam Hollister

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While special teams appeared to make little impact on Sunday’s nail-biter of a win against the pesky Dolphins, Ryan Allen’s struggles throughout the day had great significance in the field position battle. Miami’s average starting field position after Allen’s punts was the Miami 17, which, on paper, seems to indicate that Allen was able to flip the field successfully on several occasions.

However, Allen left a ton of “hidden yardage” on the field, meaning that the Dolphins mediocre field position could have easily been worse if Allen had been able to place his punts with better accuracy. None of his four punts landed inside the Miami 14 yard line, despite the fact that not a single one was from deep in Patriot territory. In fact, the deepest Allen was forced to punt from was the NE 41. He punted from the MIA 47, MIA 44, NE 41, and the NE 46, meaning that Allen had a relatively easy chance to back the Dolphins up to their own goal line, and failed to do so each time.

Patriots Special Teams Report: Week 1 at Arizona Cardinals

September 13, 2016 by Sam Hollister

The NFL’s continuing its attempt to make kickoffs safer by moving the spot of the ball following a touchback to the 25 yard line is supposed to give teams further incentive to not make any attempt to return kicks and simply take a knee in the end zone. Unfortunately for the league, at least in the case of the New England Patriots, that rule might backfire.

While the sample size is admittedly very small, it seems as though the Patriots would far prefer Stephen Gostkowski to loft a high kick that ends up between the five yard line and the goal line, luring their opponents into returning kicks, instead of driving the ball through the back of the endzone and giving the opposing offense the ball at the 25 yard line. Of Gostkowski’s six kicks in Sunday’s game, four were placed between the five yard line and a yard into the end zone, resulting in returns off four of his six kicks (the opening kickoff and Gostkowski’s first kick of the second half were touchbacks). Arizona never made it past their own 21 on those returns, and had an average starting field position off kickoffs of the 18 yard line, the worst starting field position off kickoffs in the entire NFL this week, according to ESPN Stats and Information.