Kickoff Specialist

[oneinchpunch]

Please bring in anyone that just has a beast of a leg

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Onside every time!!!

[TTK]

Let McBriar kickoff!

[Steve]

Yeah, we could use more hang time on our kicks to down people short. You realize that we ask our kicker to put the ball in play by kicking deep and letting our coverage go after them. We deliberately TRY and get the other team to return the ball.

So, even if we had a kickoff specialist with a big leg, we still wouldn't try to kick the ball for a touchback.

[MakoShark]

Yeah, we could use more hang time on our kicks to down people short. You realize that we ask our kicker to put the ball in play by kicking deep and letting our coverage go after them. We deliberately TRY and get the other team to return the ball.

So, even if we had a kickoff specialist with a big leg, we still wouldn't try to kick the ball for a touchback.

I'm not so sure of that. Novaks low liners are dangerous as hell and it would be a lot easier on my heart if we had a touchback specialist.

[Steve]

http://www.chargers.com/team/roster/Nick-Novak/416bd6bc-398e-4fc6-a69f-67648f2e553e

Looking at the stats, we seem to have a lot fewer touchbacks since McCoy took over, then under Norv. Even then, I always thought Bisacchia did a fair amount of directional kicking to try and pin the other team.

We brought back Stuckey and Tutu for a reason. And so far, they have been fairly successful at it. Against SF it might have been a big part of the strategy if Kapernick didn't break that long run. I mean, you can't give up a 90 yard run unless the other team is already starting with terrible field position.

[richpjr]

http://www.chargers.com/team/roster/...f-67648f2e553e

Looking at the stats, we seem to have a lot fewer touchbacks since McCoy took over, then under Norv. Even then, I always thought Bisacchia did a fair amount of directional kicking to try and pin the other team.

We brought back Stuckey and Tutu for a reason. And so far, they have been fairly successful at it. Against SF it might have been a big part of the strategy if Kapernick didn't break that long run. I mean, you can't give up a 90 yard run unless the other team is already starting with terrible field position.

We kicked off at the 50 because of a penalty prior to the 90 yard TD run so we had the luxury of a short field we could try that. I still believe that any strategy the coaching staff is doing on kickoffs is simply because Novak's leg is so weak he can't force touchbacks.

[MakoShark]

We kicked off at the 50 because of a penalty prior to the 90 yard TD run so we had the luxury of a short field we could try that. I still believe that any strategy the coaching staff is doing on kickoffs is simply because Novak's leg is so weak he can't force touchbacks.

+1.

[sandiego17]

We kicked off at the 50 because of a penalty prior to the 90 yard TD run so we had the luxury of a short field we could try that. I still believe that any strategy the coaching staff is doing on kickoffs is simply because Novak's leg is so weak he can't force touchbacks.

But he doesn't seem to have a problem with field goal distance. Not sure if its all about weak leg, but I do agree that the coaching staff isn't going for touchbacks because Novak, for whatever reason, can't consistently get them. Like I said before, there was a time when he couldn't kick FG consistently either, so I'm saying there's a chance!

I thought the team might address the short kickoff issue when Scifers got hurt, golden opportunity to bring in a punter who could also double as a kickoff guy, but apparently it was only a punting audition.

[Savage Lizard]

I just don't understand the "try to pin them back" mentality on a kickoff. A touchback starts them at the 20 every time and they have 80 yards to go to score a TD. So any time you are able to stop them behind the 20, you have gained something, and if not you lose over just getting a touchback. So you are always gambling giving up an extra 80 yards to potentially pin them back up to 20 yards. Just on the face of it that doesn't seem like a good gamble. Especially since realistically, most of those "wins" net you 5-10 yards, and losses can be catastrophic. Let's look at our six kickoffs from the SF game:

Kicked to the 3, returned 21 yards to the 24 (loss of 4 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 5, returned 31 yards to the 36 (loss of 11 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 3, returned 18 yards to the 22 (loss of 2 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 3, returned 3 yards to the 6 (gain of 14 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the -2, returned 47 yards to the 45 (loss of 25 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 20, returned 8 yards to the 28 (loss of 8 yards over a TB)

So the approach we are using on kickoffs benefitted us 1 of 6 times, and one of the times it didn't we put them near midfield. I don't have the desire to go back and look through all of our kickoffs this year, but based on my recollection it seems to me we don't have very many big victories on the kickoff, and we frequently let the opponent start beyond the 20. Also factor in the potential for injury on a kickoff play, and it just seems like booming it out of the end zone and letting them start every drive on the 20 is a better plan.

[Wheels]

I just don't understand the "try to pin them back" mentality on a kickoff. A touchback starts them at the 20 every time and they have 80 yards to go to score a TD. So any time you are able to stop them behind the 20, you have gained something, and if not you lose over just getting a touchback. So you are always gambling giving up an extra 80 yards to potentially pin them back up to 20 yards. Just on the face of it that doesn't seem like a good gamble. Especially since realistically, most of those "wins" net you 5-10 yards, and losses can be catastrophic. Let's look at our six kickoffs from the SF game:

Kicked to the 3, returned 21 yards to the 24 (loss of 4 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 5, returned 31 yards to the 36 (loss of 11 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 3, returned 18 yards to the 22 (loss of 2 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 3, returned 3 yards to the 6 (gain of 14 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the -2, returned 47 yards to the 45 (loss of 25 yards over a TB)
Kicked to the 20, returned 8 yards to the 28 (loss of 8 yards over a TB)

So the approach we are using on kickoffs benefitted us 1 of 6 times, and one of the times it didn't we put them near midfield. I don't have the desire to go back and look through all of our kickoffs this year, but based on my recollection it seems to me we don't have very many big victories on the kickoff, and we frequently let the opponent start beyond the 20. Also factor in the potential for injury on a kickoff play, and it just seems like booming it out of the end zone and letting them start every drive on the 20 is a better plan.

It seems like you're analysis assumes that they can just opt for a touchback whenever they wish. In those terms, they are taking a greater risk, but I'm sure they'd take a touchback every time if it was assured. If they're asking the kicker to get more distance than he is normally capable, aren't you risking kicking it out of bounds too? I just don't think it's so simple, or all teams would kick touchbacks every single kickoff, and the NFL would be considering just letting teams choose whether to accept a touchback or try for a kick.

[richpjr]

It seems like you're analysis assumes that they can just opt for a touchback whenever they wish. In those terms, they are taking a greater risk, but I'm sure they'd take a touchback every time if it was assured. If they're asking the kicker to get more distance than he is normally capable, aren't you risking kicking it out of bounds too? I just don't think it's so simple, or all teams would kick touchbacks every single kickoff, and the NFL would be considering just letting teams choose whether to accept a touchback or try for a kick.

Not whenever a kicker wishes, but let's look at the extremes:

Novak averages a touchback on 13.16% of his kickoffs. Carolina's kicker averages a touchback on 79.17% of his kicks. The league average is over 50%. So it's not a given, but we are at a big disadvantage (and that isn't even mentioning how little height he gets on his kicks - thank God for good special teams players!).