Ram Units Anything but Special : NFL: Team ranks last in league in punting and punt returns, 23rd in kick returns. This week, players get extra homework and more changes.
Deral Boykin was handed a videocassette bearing his name Monday, knowing that a few hours of extra homework lay ahead for him and the rest of the Rams’ special teams players.
It’s necessary, Boykin insists.
Necessary because the Rams rank last in the league in punting and punt returns, and 23rd in kick returns.
Necessary because a punt has been blocked, a fumble lost on a kick return and tackles missed on coverages.
It’s also necessary because Detroit’s Mel Gray, one of the best kick returners in NFL history, comes to Anaheim on Sunday.
“Special teams are pretty big this week,” said Boykin, a backup safety who’s on kick coverage and returns. “We have to tone up our special teams. So I’ll be into this (tape) the next few nights.”
The video Boykin is studying will never be mistaken for an NFL highlight reel, but rather outtakes of special teams’ follies that include:
--Todd Kinchen fumbling away a kick return in the fourth quarter, setting up an Atlanta field goal in a 30-24 Falcon victory.
--Atlanta’s Tony Smith, the NFC’s top kick returner, averaging 26 yards a return.
--The Falcons’ Darion Conner blasting through the middle of the Ram line practically untouched and partially blocking Paul McJulien’s punt, which traveled all of six yards.
--Poor Ram punt coverage that allowed New Orleans’ Tyrone Hughes, the NFC’s top punt returner, to break a 74-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of a 37-6 Ram loss Oct. 3.
After the Atlanta game, Ram Coach Chuck Knox offered this solution: “We have to continue to work hard and do a better job of coaching it.”
Nearly every facet of the Rams’ special teams has struggled this season, with the exception of kicker Tony Zendejas, who has made five of five field goals from 50 yards or more.
“Our special teams have hurt us offensively because they haven’t given us very good field position,” Boykin said. “When you’re starting inside your own 20-yard line, you don’t have a good chance to score. And it’s a bad situation right now.”
A bad situation that is Howard Tippett’s job to remedy.
“I’ve been in football 30-some years, and I understand bad things are going to happen,” said Tippett, the special teams coach. “And you have to coach hard against bad things happening to you.
“We were solid on special teams against Pittsburgh and Houston. We had the punt returned on us against New Orleans, and we had some breakdowns last week. In this situation, those (mistakes) magnify themselves.”
Injuries and missed assignments have forced Tippett to shuffle kick returners, blockers and punters this season.
Kick returner David Lang missed the first six games after undergoing knee surgery in July. Tight end Pat Carter, one of the team’s top kick-return blockers, was out with an injured foot until Monday, and Kinchen, a punt and kick return specialist, returned last week.
Special teams consist mainly of second-string players and a handful of starters. So are the special teams’ struggles a statement about the Rams’ lack of depth?
Tippett doesn’t think so.
“You try to rest your starters as much as you can,” he said, “but we certainly don’t do that to the detriment of our special teams.
“If it’s a case where you have to use a first-string (player), you use him. We’re constantly trying to make personnel changes to get the right people in the right places.”
Tippett made a few changes Monday, when the Rams spent 20 minutes on kick returns and 30 minutes on punt coverage during a two-hour workout.
He rotated Boykin and Howard Griffith with Kinchen and rookie Russell White on kick returns.
White and cornerback Steve Israel were ineffective returning kicks in the first five games, and were replaced by Griffith and Kinchen for the Atlanta game. The Rams average 16.3 yards a return to their opponents’ 23.3 yards.
“We’ve really been searching for a return guy,” Tippett said. “Kinchen just came back last week, and then he mishandled the ball. Boykin had done some of it in the preseason, and he looked pretty good.”
A sign of hope could be Lang, who began practicing Monday after nearly three months of recovering from knee surgery.
“We hope we can get him back sometime soon,” Tippett said. “He’s a good kick returner and is quite a good (overall) special teams player. He’s real gung-ho, and that’s the kind of guy you want out there.”
Wholesale changes also are on the horizon with the Rams’ kick-return blocking.
Until Monday, the return blockers were starting fullback Tim Lester, and three reserves--tackle Jeff Pahukoa, defensive tackle David Rocker and tight end Troy Drayton.
But Tippett took a long look Monday at reserve linebackers Chris Martin, who had special teams work while at Kansas City, and Leon White, and starting tailback Jerome Bettis. Carter, one of the team’s better blockers, returned to practice this week.
Changes also could be coming in the punting game and punt coverage. The Rams average only 5.4 yards a return to opponents’ 16.1.
McJulien, who replaced Don Bracken after three games, has averaged 36.1 yards a punt, the lowest in the league. Tuesday, the Rams worked out Kent Sullivan, who averaged 41.6 yards a punt in a stint with San Diego this season.
Tippett, who coached McJulien when they were at Green Bay, said the punter’s average was reduced by several pooch kicks, short punts deep in the opponent’s territory. The partially blocked punt against Atlanta didn’t help, either.
“When he has had the chance to punt the ball deep,” Tippett said, “he has done that.”
McJulien’s longest punt of the season, 51 yards, was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by New Orleans’ Hughes. Although McJulien may have outpunted his coverage, Tippett said it had plenty of hang time and he counted three missed tackles on the return.
“That basically wasn’t Paul’s fault,” Tippett said. “His hang time on his punts have been good. We just have to improve our coverage. The guys have to get down there and make the tackles.”
“We preach all the time that you have to step forward and make plays. The bad thing about special teams is when you have a bad play it magnifies everything.”
Boykin attributes the missed coverages to players not executing their assignments. But the effort is there, and the game plan is fine, he said.
“You can have all the desire in the world,” he said, “but if you don’t know your own responsibilities, it doesn’t do you no good. That’s the problem.”
Their coverage will have to be at its best Sunday just to contain Gray, who’s second on the NFL’s all-time return yardage list.
He ranks third in the NFC this season in kick returns (27.8 yards) and punt returns (10.3). In a 30-10 victory over Seattle on Sunday, Gray fumbled away the opening kickoff, but later returned one 95 yards for a touchdown.
His presence alone has the Rams working overtime.
“We certainly wanted to work on our coverage, because we’re going against one of the best punt and kick returners in the NFL,” Tippett said.
Boykin thinks there’s more to it than that.
“We need it (extra work) if we want to have any success this season,” he said. “If we can give our offense some field position, we’ll have a better chance to score.
“We’re right there. I don’t know what it is, why we can’t get over the plateau yet, but we’re very close right now. As soon as we sew up this special teams thing, I think it will give the team another plus.”
Special Delivery
The Rams’ special teams, which stumbled again last week at Atlanta, will get another tough test against Detroit. The Lions’ Mel Gray ranks third in the NFC in kickoff returns (27.8 yards) and punt returns (10.3). A look at the teams (average yards and NFL rank of the 28 teams):
Category Lions Rams Punt returns 10.7(6) 5.4(28) Gross punting 43.7(12) 37.3 (28) Kick returns 25.9 (3) 16.3 (23)
Source: NFL