Green Bay Packers: Week 8 special teams recap
By Kenn Korb
The Return Units
Punts:
- 55 yard return (ATL 15)
- 5 yard return (GB 28); *GB Penalty* (GB 14)
Kickoffs:
- Touchback
- Touchback
- Touchback
- Touchback
- Touchback
- Touchback
- Touchback
A completely different tale was written between the two aspects of this game.
One one hand, we have the kickoff return unit, which saw a ton of kicks come their way but not a single one was even attempted to be returned. I’ll take that field position over what likely would be lesser yardage nine times out of ten, but Green Bay does have a whole host of guys capable of breaking a big play so it’d be nice to see at least one chance a game where the returners can try to make something happen.
On the other hand, we have a high-variance showing from the punt return game. The first return was huge, with Trevor Davis breaking out on a 55 yard effort to get all the way into the red zone; from there, Green Bay didn’t have much left to do to capitalize and put up a TD. As good as the first one was however, the second was as far in the other direction as could be. There wasn’t much of a return, but a huge penalty took the ball all the way back within Green Bay’s 15 yard line. That drive eventually became Green Bay’s final touchdown, but situations like that where the offense gets pinned back have a habit of fizzling out, and with Green Bay down on the scoreboard 26-24 at that point they desperately needed some type of score to keep themselves in the game.
Overall, I’d rate the efforts as a net positive, but these kind of penalties need to get nipped in the bud before they have an adverse affect on the game. The Packers offense is just now seeming to find a consistent rhythm after sputtering through massive inconsistency most of the season; committing foolish penalties to undo the positive gains they have made by setting them up in awful starting position (something that definitely has plagued them this season) is the last thing Green Bay needs now — well, outside of more injuries at least.