Is Danny Smith the right guy for the ST gig?

[nightbird]

being ranked high like our D doesn't mean squat.

It means much more than squat. It means good field position and the occasional big play.

Where are the big plays?

Tana, El, Rock, Antonio Brown, even Ladell Betts -- just off the top of my head these are people who have taken returns to the house for us.

"Stars" like Troy Vincent and Vernon Fox have blocked field goals and punts.

More importantly, a lot of ST is avoiding big plays by the opposition.

How many of our punts and field goals get blocked?

How often do we botch a long snap or a hold?

I think we all found out that being ranked 4th doesn't mean anything on Defense or special teams.

Really? We "all found out" that having a top defense "doesn't mean anything?"

Because I could have sworn that top defense we had kept us in the playoff hunt all year despite the offense falling apart.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that without that top defense we would have been one of the worst teams in the league.

We weren't in the top 10 for KR for TDs, or KR over 40 yards. Punt returns we were just a little better though a lot of us were hating on ARE last season for his dancing. Tied for 10th with downing the ball inside the 20.

We did give up a few PR for TD's though.

In other words, our Special Teams are generally pretty good even though we don't really use any game-breakers on those units, and so we really have no reason to worry about Danny Smith's coaching.

We were last in net punting average, not because we were constantly missing tackles on returns, but because Ryan Plackemeir can't punt.

Unless you want to acquire Devin Hester, then use your time machine to bring in Steve Tasker, Ray Guy and Mark Mosely in their primes, there's not a whole lot for us to do in this area.

We've got a good coach, and hopefully we've got the players to get the job done.

Glad we settled that.

[ouvan59]

being ranked high like our D doesn't mean squat. Where are the big plays?

I think we all found out that being ranked 4th doesn't mean anything on Defense or special teams.

We weren't in the top 10 for KR for TDs, or KR over 40 yards. Punt returns we were just a little better though a lot of us were hating on ARE last season for his dancing. Tied for 10th with downing the ball inside the 20.

We did give up a few PR for TD's though.

LOL, so you've amended your complaint. It went from the other team starts outside the 30 and we start inside the 20 (after proven wrong) to we give up big plays and don't produce big plays.

Edit: And by the way, we were 2nd in the league in percentage of KO returns of 20 yards or more and 12th in KO returns of 40 or more yards.

[BleedinBurgNGold]

Is Danny Smith the right man for our ST!!?? Have you seen the man Chew GUM!!??? Any man who can chew gum with the force and agility of Coach Smith is obviously a hell of a coach!

Hail

[@DCGoldPants]

It means much more than squat. It means good field position and the occasional big play.

Tana, El, Rock, Antonio Brown, even Ladell Betts -- just off the top of my head these are people who have taken returns to the house for us.

"Stars" like Troy Vincent and Vernon Fox have blocked field goals and punts.

More importantly, a lot of ST is avoiding big plays by the opposition.

How many of our punts and field goals get blocked?

How often do we botch a long snap or a hold?

Really? We "all found out" that having a top defense "doesn't mean anything?"

Because I could have sworn that top defense we had kept us in the playoff hunt all year despite the offense falling apart.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that without that top defense we would have been one of the worst teams in the league.

In other words, our Special Teams are generally pretty good even though we don't really use any game-breakers on those units, and so we really have no reason to worry about Danny Smith's coaching.

We were last in net punting average, not because we were constantly missing tackles on returns, but because Ryan Plackemeir can't punt.

Unless you want to acquire Devin Hester, then use your time machine to bring in Steve Tasker, Ray Guy and Mark Mosely in their primes, there's not a whole lot for us to do in this area.

We've got a good coach, and hopefully we've got the players to get the job done.

Glad we settled that.

Ummm, scoreboard? playoffs?

If being ranked 4th means we don't even compete for the NFC East, and don't make the playoffs. Then what does it mean exactly? Is this some cowboy logic where playoffs don't matter anymore? Same with teams. Are they winning any games for us?

[nightbird]

Ummm, scoreboard? playoffs?

If being ranked 4th means we don't even compete for the NFC East, and don't make the playoffs. Then what does it mean exactly? Is this some cowboy logic where playoffs don't matter anymore? Same with teams. Are they winning any games for us?

Ok I'll try to explain more carefully.

Last season, our defense was generally good, our special teams were generally good, and our offense was generally bad.

We won eight games and we lost eight.

I'd say that our defense was more responsible for the eight wins than the offense was.

I never wrote, or even remotely hinted, that being ranked 4th "means we don't even compete for the NFC East."

By your logic, since having the number 4 defense "doesn't mean squat," then we should try to be poorly ranked in every different statistic there is, because that would lead to success.

[@DCGoldPants]

My logic is. For somebody like a Vinny or Larry to keep talking about the 4th ranked D when you're a .500 team is pure nonsense. That's what is the difference between the Skins and the Pats or the Steelers. They are a complete "team". The Skins love to latch onto that one stat or instance that makes them look not so bad.

In the NFL Universe. You've got the have's and the have not's. I think we're a have not. Probably king of the have not's. But still.......teams that win big aren't doing it because this ranked higher than that. They are doing it because of a mix of being strong on places like O, D, ST....and having enough of those big plays that make a difference. The Skins don't appear to have "IT". That thing that winners have where they still win even when things aren't going just perfect. Every once in awhile they need a big play to beat a team they should. Like a bomb to Moss on home opening day last year. Or his punt return. Doing that on a reg basis is what good teams do.

[nightbird]

I basically agree with all of that.

But the point of this thread is Danny Smith.

I am not satisfied with our performance, but the fact is our Defense has been carrying this team to the vast majority of what few wins we've had.

How many times has our Defense had to play perfectly for the entire 2nd half because we got a three point lead and our offense went into a shell?

Likewise, I am not going to blame Danny Smith for not having "IT" when he's basically done a good job.

We're giving him Ryan Plackemeier, Shaun Suisham, Rock Cartwright and Antwaan Randle-El, so why should I complain that we aren't constantly getting big plays and blocking kicks?

The guy's done a good job for us. He's not the problem.

The problem, more or less for the last five years, is that we don't score any damn points.

[@DCGoldPants]

I think when you're a coord for a side of the ball, like O or D or teams. You're responsble for two things.

#1. Getting the most out of the guys you got.

#2. Being clear if you don't have the right guys.

I worry that Danny doesn't feel that he has this huge issue with talent.

[nightbird]

Maybe, but there's no way for us to know. That stuff is kept in the meeting rooms.

I imagine Danny wanted Khary Campbell back, would like to keep Rock, was not happy to see Thrash go, among other things.

But at the end of the day he can't come out and say "Vinny has given me crap to work with."

Maybe he wanted to use Tana and Devin Thomas on returns more but Zorn won't let him.

Maybe he wanted to keep Derrick FRost last year, even though he's bad, he's better than we got from Durant Brooks and Plackemeier.

Maybe he's been urging for us to draft or sign a kicker these past few years because Swishy doesn't have the leg we need.

Who knows.

[@DCGoldPants]

Maybe he wanted a kicker who's leg doesn't die at 45 yards.

[cphil006]

Maybe, but there's no way for us to know. That stuff is kept in the meeting rooms.

I imagine Danny wanted Khary Campbell back, would like to keep Rock, was not happy to see Thrash go, among other things.

But at the end of the day he can't come out and say "Vinny has given me crap to work with."

Maybe he wanted to use Tana and Devin Thomas on returns more but Zorn won't let him.

Maybe he wanted to keep Derrick FRost last year, even though he's bad, he's better than we got from Durant Brooks and Plackemeier.

Maybe he's been urging for us to draft or sign a kicker these past few years because Swishy doesn't have the leg we need.

Who knows.

Since when did Sanatan Moss become 'tana?? Are you hanging out with him? Shoot pool with him? Roll with him?

[Skinsinparadise]

Special teams are generally populated by a team's backup players, and depth has been an issue with the Redskins. This season losing Khary Campbell and Thrash I'd assume hurts, many have said those were their 2 best players on teams.

[Backpack3r]

Danny Smith is actually a pretty bad coach, he hasnt done anything for our special teams and have wanting him out of here for a couple years now

[C26 Run]

Danny Smith is doing a good job with what he has. Remember something, he's lost two great players this past off-season: Khary Campbell (FA) and James Thrash (injury-retirement). He hasn't been given a fair shake when it comes to searching out talent. :helmet:

[nightbird]

Since when did Sanatan Moss become 'tana?? Are you hanging out with him? Shoot pool with him? Roll with him?

It's the guy's nickname. I didn't make it up.

What can I say, I prefer not having to fully type out everyone's name to make my point.

[DallasSucks19922010]

Im with you buford danny smith sucks. I dont know where anyones getting the idea that the special teams have been good. They suck in all phases of special teams except long snapping.

[THE HAMMER'IN HOG]

I have always felt DS is a sub par ST coach, but if you can talk a good game around DS he thinks your a genious, results say otherwise.

[NewCliche21]

Since when did Sanatan Moss become 'tana?? Are you hanging out with him? Shoot pool with him? Roll with him?

:doh:

Really? Why don't you call him "Mr. Moss"? Do you know him?

And when the hell did he become "Sanatan"?

Fail post all around.

As for the thread, Smith has had bad players and no kickers, which is literally half of special teams. Nobody drafts special teamers, anyway. You draft people for their positions and then teams are secondary.

[Laxpunk2006]

I think Danny has been doing a pretty fantastic job. He's gotten very little help from the rest of the staff assembling any sort of talent at the ST positions. He lost Khary Campbell and James Thrash this year who are two out of our top three STer's, I'd throw Cartwright into that mix too who may or may not make our team. Leigh Torrence was booted from the team for Hall who happened to be a pretty good STer being replaced by a guy who doesn't play teams. Durant Brooks sucked. I don't think we can really blame Danny for the fact that Brooks can't punt nor can we blame Cerratto. I don't think anyone really saw that coming. We haven't had a legitimate kicker or punter which makes both of his coverage units weaker if he can't get the direction and hangtime he wants.

We're about to field 5 WR's on the team that don't play ST coverage, we may keep a fourth RB that can't cover (Mason, Alridge, or Dorsey), and we just cut Fincher who was a solid STer last season. If guys like Tryon, Barnes, and our rookie LBer's can't step into solid roles Danny is left with virtually zero ST talent. On top of the weak coverage guys we have our best returners are off limits to him because of their offensive and defensive roles. In my opinion Danny Smith is a miracle worker.

[InsaneBoost]

I think our ST's in 06 was by far superb. This team can do it as well.

[nightbird]

I think Danny has been doing a pretty fantastic job. He's gotten very little help from the rest of the staff assembling any sort of talent at the ST positions. He lost Khary Campbell and James Thrash this year who are two out of our top three STer's, I'd throw Cartwright into that mix too who may or may not make our team. Leigh Torrence was booted from the team for Hall who happened to be a pretty good STer being replaced by a guy who doesn't play teams. Durant Brooks sucked. I don't think we can really blame Danny for the fact that Brooks can't punt nor can we blame Cerratto. I don't think anyone really saw that coming. We haven't had a legitimate kicker or punter which makes both of his coverage units weaker if he can't get the direction and hangtime he wants.

We're about to field 5 WR's on the team that don't play ST coverage, we may keep a fourth RB that can't cover (Mason, Alridge, or Dorsey), and we just cut Fincher who was a solid STer last season. If guys like Tryon, Barnes, and our rookie LBer's can't step into solid roles Danny is left with virtually zero ST talent. On top of the weak coverage guys we have our best returners are off limits to him because of their offensive and defensive roles. In my opinion Danny Smith is a miracle worker.

2nd, 3rd and 4th your post, that about sums everything up for me.

But still people will complain that we don't block a field goal every week and then win the super bowl by returning 4 punts for touchdowns.

I'm from Davidsonville too, so extra points.

[Botched]

Had to bump this after last night's game.

Did anyone else see our punt return when the camera angle was from the endzone? There was a wall of Jaguars running down the field at the returner with no Redskins in sight. I don't remember if it was Dorsey or Alridge, but he had ZERO blocking to help him. It's hard for me to imagine that half our special teamers are so lacking in talent that they simply don't know how to block, it looked more of a failed blocking scheme to me. I swear this was happening alot last year too.

[I_Bleed_B&G]

Esteban Ochocinco kicks it further then suisham on kick-offs. Its really sad

[mi6]

Our Special Teams have not excelled in what seem like ages. Our KR and PR coverages are lacking, and we do give up big run backs. On the flip-side, we have not been getting big returns of our own, including TDs.

[Vooskin]

No. .