QuickFix: Special teams analysis (Week 17 - Patriots)
Special teams didn't play a major role in yesterday's game, but a few guys made the most of one last chance to show out.
Let's review everything that went down:
Kicking game - Catanzero
We should have known that Chandler Catanzaro would mess up this week, after a few articles were written about him during the week about how reliable he'd been over the second half:
To be fair to Catanzaro, a low snap by long snapper Thomas Hennessy didn't help matters here, as you can see. Has Catanzaro done enough to earn himself a contract next year though?
Punter Lachlan Edwards wrapped up a nice second season with an underwhelming performance, which saw him put one punt into the end zone and outkick his coverage a couple of times.
Kick coverage - Miles and Miles and Miles and Miles
Rontez Miles had a big game this week with four solo tackles. He entered the week with 11, two off the NFL lead, so it's possible he'll end up leading the league, which is pretty impressive considering he missed September with an eye injury.
Hennessy, who received some effusive praise from his coaches during the week, also had a nice open field hit. He seems like a keeper despite the uncharacteristic bad snap.
Terrance Brooks also had a nice tackle in coverage and drew a personal foul, but had a missed tackle too.
Return game - Zombie Natson
Jojo Natson managed to keep his job all the way to the end of the season, but never really got to demonstrate whatever it is that the coaches like about him. He misjudged the flight of the ball a number of times and was blown up straight away pretty much immediately, including on a kick-off where he was stopped at the 12 and a punt where he has blown up for a loss after a bad missed block by Derrick Jones.
In fact, the best return of the day was when New England kicked off to the upback Elijah McGuire and he broke out of a tackle out to the 31.
Finally, it was great to see rookie Jeremy Clark on the field for his NFL debut after having made his recovery from an ACL tear last season. However, the only impact he made was to be called for an illegal block in the back penalty.