Danny Smith.. There is got to be someone better.

Looks like he doesn't motivate anybody in ST. Even though there may be a talent issue with Suisham, it still seems like he has do something with his downturn. He didn't do a good job motivating Durant Brooks, who looked like his problems were more mental than talent. His special teams coverage on kickoffs often par, but does let some go past them. His Punt coverage is atrocious. Rock is not a good option. If we are going to struggle on offense again this year, our KR will need to house these kicks, not get caught up to. Randel El is a pretty obvious blunder that was barely addressed with Moss coming in and taking some returns.

My point is, maybe because our offense was so much worse, we may have forgot about him. Before we talk about Zorn, Campbell, or anybody. Lets get this settled.

PS. I just caught the obvious bad use of grammar in the title.

Dude has made lemonade out of lemons for quite awhile.

Been some talk about this in this thread. http://extremeskins.com/showthread.php?t=277689

I'm not sure how you can call our performance lemonade this year.

I've heard nothing but good things about Danny Smith. And Rock is one of the better kick returners in the league. I think he's done a fine job with what hes had to work with.

I'm more worried about Stan Hixon. It baffles my mind that no one has called him out after 5 years of poor WR production. I guess it could be a personnel thing, but something doesn't seem right to me.

Anyways, a lot of our ST woes are from poor kicking. Get good kickers and the rest will come.

I don't think the ST problems are in the kick return, but the kicker. Look at Plakemeir(misspelled most likely), he was punting awful in the beginning of the year and he really turned it around and became a coffin kicker, I think if they bring in another kicker during training camp to give Suishan some competition it will get better there. I agree Randle El has panned out too well at punt returns but Moss has proven he can do it as well as I feel Thomas could do well there as well if given the chance.

Would someone please tell me what is wrong with Rock? He's very good IMO. I don't think ARE is worth a crap, but as far as Rock goes, I think he's been great. As far as a kicker goes, well, I agree we need some help in that area.

I haven't been happy with Danny Smith or Hixon the last couple of years. Outside if Rock's KO returns, our special teams have been garbage.

I have to wonder what you're looking at when you question Danny Smith's coaching ability. Our coverage units are pretty damn reliable, our kick return unit is one of the best in the league. As far as punt returns, the decision to keep randle el back there is puzzling. The guy either needs to me a #2 receiver OR a returner.....not both. I say, take him out, and put in someone else who will just take the ball and run (rock cartwright).

As for Suisham, not smith's fault. I think he's lost it, his ability to kick, both in field goals and kickoffs dropped off TREMENDOUSLY this year. he needs to go. Plackmeier impressed me at the end of the season though, I felt like he got steadily better, and is worth keeping around.

Basically, Smith has always struck me as one of the more reliable coaches on this staff and I see no reason to let the guy go because of a bad kicker.

There must be something larger at work here. Danny Smith is a fine coordinator, but there has to be some logical reason as to why ARE is still returning punts. Devin Thomas can't run routes properly? Fine, let the little twerp get his bearings by returning a few punts. I mean, let's at least try it.

I have to wonder what you're looking at when you question Danny Smith's coaching ability.

Agreed. Not only is he highly regarded, league-wide, but look at what he's had to work with this year. Things could have looked much better in '08 if Zorn gave Danny the same tools to work with that Joe Gibbs did. As a special teams coach, you kinda have to piece together incompatible parts, with scraps, if you will; Danny did as good a job as he could. Jim Zorn just doesn't seem to value 'teams' the way Gibbs did.

OP:

Please explain the comment about Cartwright? I really dont get it, of all the things on the team to pick on. Top ten in KR every year he has been doing it. Who would you prefer sir?

Cartwright is solid as they come but like pjfootballer said thats about the only good thing on special teams I wouldnt mind if they let Danny smith go, and I agree 110 percent about Stan Hixon, he has to go, bring in gary clark as the WR coach.

Dude has made lemonade out of lemons for quite awhile.

Excuse me? Dude made sour relish out of lemonade is what your mean. How can anyone stare at ARE week after week returning punts, and think that the guy is doing a good job. Skins have some great special team players but this crazy loyalty to Danny Smith is insane.

yea agreed with PROSCOUT Danny Smith def has to go

There are going to be a lot coaching staffs released after this season. I hope the Redskins FO at least investigates some of the WR coaches available, and maybe pick up an 'assistant' to Danny Smith.

I really hope we can finally get rid of Stan Hixon. He's just not an NFL-caliber coach.

I'm more worried about Stan Hixon. It baffles my mind that no one has called him out after 5 years of poor WR production. I guess it could be a personnel thing, but something doesn't seem right to me.

Anyways, a lot of our ST woes are from poor kicking. Get good kickers and the rest will come.

I couldn't agree more!! He sucks. Our receivers are either sorry or he is.

Randel El looks like a 5th wideout at best and the rest are practice squad showings. Look at Philly. They have sub-par receivers every year but they get the best out oh them.

I have to wonder what you're looking at when you question Danny Smith's coaching ability. Our coverage units are pretty damn reliable, our kick return unit is one of the best in the league. As far as punt returns, the decision to keep randle el back there is puzzling. The guy either needs to me a #2 receiver OR a returner.....not both. I say, take him out, and put in someone else who will just take the ball and run (rock cartwright).

As for Suisham, not smith's fault. I think he's lost it, his ability to kick, both in field goals and kickoffs dropped off TREMENDOUSLY this year. he needs to go. Plackmeier impressed me at the end of the season though, I felt like he got steadily better, and is worth keeping around.

Basically, Smith has always struck me as one of the more reliable coaches on this staff and I see no reason to let the guy go because of a bad kicker.

I understand what you are saying but Randel el is nowhere near a #2 receiver. He is a drop-off desparation go to guy 90% of the time. He is costing us way too much money for what he offers.

I wish I could make his money stinking up the joint.

our coverage teams are great, but our return teams have not shown up this year.

While Rock has played well, it'd be nice to have some speed at return, and 4/5 round is usually when you draft a speedback to also serve as a third down back. Think, if Rock was just any faster, he would have housed that one kick return against Cincinnati and the score would have been much closer.

I was down on Rock earlier saying all he did was run into the pile, but that pile was usually always on the 25 or 30. However, I have to admit, he did show up when he decided to make some cuts to make people miss.

Actually, I also think the punt return coverage is solid, it's just that Randle El sucks. Look what Moss did everytime he was thrown in.

I think it's more the personnel at returnman than it is the coverage units, either returning or kicking. While Rock has played admirably, we need a guy with a bit more speed as kick returner, and we just need to get Randle El out at PR.