Punt/Kick Returns

[hawker84]

and even hurt, still is 6th in punt returns with a long of 62

2013 Punt return: Golden Tate 16 games

585 yrds
long 71
8 / 20+ yrds
1 / 40+ yrds
no tds

2015 Punt returns: Tyler Lockett 16 games
379 yrds
long 66
5 / 20+
3 / 40+
1 TD

Pretty close, I guess the 1 td gives Tyler the edge in your book? Again I wasn't basing my claim on numbers anyways, just return styles. But hey, love a good debate.

 

[hawker84]

I get it he was a pro bowler last year, he had a decent season.. what has he done this year?

Are you reading more than one sentence into the responses to your posts? He's injured. That's a perfectly valid explanation, at this point, to his lack of burst.

Now, maybe his injury turns out to be chronic and permanently removes his talent at receiving, or something, but it's waaaaayyyyy too early to be making that assumption.

As far as "getting lanes", have you noticed that bad returners never get lanes? The speed of the returner is a huge part in how well those lanes work, just as the RB's speed to the line is a big part of making HIS lanes work, and a QB's timing is a big part of making his protection work. Things work both ways. In the sense of a KR/PR, a returner needs to have burst in order for his blocks to be effective. No blocker is going to freeze a ST for five seconds. That's not how it works. A blocker needs to put his hat on a guy for a second or two and then BOOM, have the returner guy going through it. The returner's talent is crucial to making his blocking work.

Absolutely agree with all that, and stated such in my posts. Tyler uses blocking and lanes very well. But what a great returner also does is create when the blocking breaks down. That's where I make my case.

as far as the injury part, I stated maybe he is injured and that's what's holding him back this year. I also asked the question, if he is injured, why do they keep putting him back there, since he's a big part of our offense as well?

 

[XxXdragonXxX]

With the new kickoff rules, teams are kicking to the goal line with much more hang time than in the past. It is much becoming extremely difficult to return kicks now.

Also Lockett only has 4 kick returns this year.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

I get it he was a pro bowler last year, he had a decent season.. what has he done this year?

Are you reading more than one sentence into the responses to your posts? He's injured. That's a perfectly valid explanation, at this point, to his lack of burst.

Now, maybe his injury turns out to be chronic and permanently removes his talent at receiving, or something, but it's waaaaayyyyy too early to be making that assumption.

As far as "getting lanes", have you noticed that bad returners never get lanes? The speed of the returner is a huge part in how well those lanes work, just as the RB's speed to the line is a big part of making HIS lanes work, and a QB's timing is a big part of making his protection work. Things work both ways. In the sense of a KR/PR, a returner needs to have burst in order for his blocks to be effective. No blocker is going to freeze a ST for five seconds. That's not how it works. A blocker needs to put his hat on a guy for a second or two and then BOOM, have the returner guy going through it. The returner's talent is crucial to making his blocking work.

Absolutely agree with all that, and stated such in my posts. Tyler uses blocking and lanes very well. But what a great returner also does is create when the blocking breaks down. That's where I make my case.

Tyler did quite a bit of that last year when blocking broke down, so I can't speak to the strength of your case there.

as far as the injury part, I stated maybe he is injured and that's what's holding him back this year. I also asked the question, if he is injured, why do they keep putting him back there

Sometimes they just...do.

It doesn't mean that he's secretly not injured and that really he must just not be all that good. Quite a leap of logic.

 

[hawker84]

I get it he was a pro bowler last year, he had a decent season.. what has he done this year?

Are you reading more than one sentence into the responses to your posts? He's injured. That's a perfectly valid explanation, at this point, to his lack of burst.

Now, maybe his injury turns out to be chronic and permanently removes his talent at receiving, or something, but it's waaaaayyyyy too early to be making that assumption.

As far as "getting lanes", have you noticed that bad returners never get lanes? The speed of the returner is a huge part in how well those lanes work, just as the RB's speed to the line is a big part of making HIS lanes work, and a QB's timing is a big part of making his protection work. Things work both ways. In the sense of a KR/PR, a returner needs to have burst in order for his blocks to be effective. No blocker is going to freeze a ST for five seconds. That's not how it works. A blocker needs to put his hat on a guy for a second or two and then BOOM, have the returner guy going through it. The returner's talent is crucial to making his blocking work.

Absolutely agree with all that, and stated such in my posts. Tyler uses blocking and lanes very well. But what a great returner also does is create when the blocking breaks down. That's where I make my case.

Tyler did quite a bit of that last year when blocking broke down, so I can't speak to the strength of your case there.

as far as the injury part, I stated maybe he is injured and that's what's holding him back this year. I also asked the question, if he is injured, why do they keep putting him back there

Sometimes they just...do.

It doesn't mean that he's secretly not injured and that really he must just not be all that good. Quite a leap of logic.

I guess we can agree to disagree and let me state (again), I don't recall seeing him doing that, doesn't mean he didn't. I remember seeing him hit a lot of lanes and use his blocking well. Just watched his highlights again, and didn't see him juking anybody. Well he did juke the punter on his punt return for a td, but what skilled player in the NFL can't do that?

To your other point, I simply asked the question, why would they risk putting him back there if he is still injured. And quite frankly, I don't think "sometimes they just do" is something this staff does. So if he's not secretly not injured (which makes no sense by the way) talk about leap of logic, what other reason would there be other than, maybe he's just not very good so far this year, or the blocking has been that bad, or he is indeed still injured? It has to be one or a combo of the three...

Again feel free to disagree with my opinion, but let's stick to what was actually written and not jump to false conclusions for argument sake.