Green Bay Packers: Divisional Round special teams recap

The Return Units

Punts:

1. Fair Catch (GB 10)
2. Fair Catch (GB 20)

Kickoffs:

1. Touchback
2. *Muff – GB Recovery* 6 yard return (GB 6)
3. Touchback
4. Touchback
5. 12 yard return (GB 20)
6. Touchback
7. Touchback

Not much to discuss overall with the guys on this unit this week, but at least one thing for me to rail against.

There were not many chances for any sort of return in this game at all. Both of the punts had proper coverage by the Cowboys; due to that, fair catches were the only plausible outcomes for the Packers in each instance. The majority of the kickoffs couldn’t become much either. as only two ended up not being clear touchbacks.

Those two that were attempted, however? Wow, was it not great for Green Bay.

Christine Michael was the player designated for returning kicks for the Packers in this particular contest; in my eyes, it will — or at least should — be the last.

On the second of the two return attempts he embarked upon, he was able to grab the ball well outside of the Green Bay endzone, but couldn’t manage to bring the ball even up to touchback yardage from there. It is the decision-making on his first attempt which bothers me the most though.

Michael was still in the endzone when he first went to grab the kickoff out of the air; even after bobbling the ball around and letting it hit the ground, the option of kneeling with the ball for a touchback still was alive. Whether not fully understanding the rule (the returner, as long as his body nor the ball haven’t fully crossed the endzone line, can kneel down with the ball in the endzone at any point for a touchback) or erroneously believing either he or the ball had in fact crossed the endzone line, this is not what Michael did; instead, he clumsily took the ball out of the endzone, only to be stopped at the Green Bay 6.

It may seem tiny and inconsequential (especially since the Packers won the game), but just one can change the scope of a matchup.

Just look at when this happened: Green Bay had scored on its first three drives, but then this error pins them deep in their own territory. The drive ends up going nowhere, Schum is kicking from his own end zone, and Dallas gets to turn a drive which starts from midfield into a quick field goal, making a two-score game into a one-score one (also, the other bad return became a Green Bay punt too; that turned into a game-tying touchdown for Dallas).

This sort of mistake is the opposite of what we usually see from Green Bay returners; for the most part, they are extensively knowledgeable in the different rules on kickoffs and returns. Michael may have some explosive ability which makes him a worthy choice to bring up the ball, but he’s hardly the only choice available to them. Ty Montgomery may be seeing most of his field time as a running back nowadays, but he still can act as their returner without issue. Jeff Janis is also someone they’ve turned to at times with pretty decent success. Randall Cobb and Micah Hyde have been handling punts lately, but either could also do the job on kick returns if need be.

Again, I’m not sure the Packers will change anything — and Michael has done some good plays in the return game, even just one week prior — but maybe they should be proactive and put their return game hopes into the hands of players who haven’t shown the same possibility for a game-changing mistake as of yet.