The second we start putting our best players on the field on Special Teams, we will regain the edge we used to have. We dominated when we had starting LBs, RBs, WRs out there trying to block kicks and disrupt what the kicking team was trying to do. We lost that edge when we started worrying about losing guys to injury and allowed ourselves to treat Special Teams like every other program in the country.
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Agree. Beamerball worked in the 90's the way that Moneyball worked for the A's in the 2000s. They put resources toward something that other teams didn't prioritize. The A's have continued to change what is being undervalued by the market and that's really what "Moneyball" represents, not necessarily OBP like the media likes to grasp on.
The problem is that VT hasn't found new areas to focus on past special teams. It worked there because Beamer put his talented starters on special teams and focused more time on that area in practice than other teams, leading to big plays in games. Now other teams plan around that and VT doesn't have that advantage anymore.
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Exactly and Oakland's new thing is the platoon system for position players and an increased emphasis on relievers. VT hasn't found that new thing to exploit
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That worry may have been real to a degree with our lack of depth in some areas. These recent recruiting hauls may leave us with an opportunity to put some more talent on those teams. At least, we hope.
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I agree for a while him and JCC (he righted to the ship last season) were the most deflating to watch back there. Especially with the way Knowles lost the ball on returns in crucial moments.
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I think Andy was on point when he said special teams will be better because we have more depth. The last couple of years have been disappointing on the whole because we have not been very good. Players that used to make the ST special have been starting. Now that we have better starters, the players on ST will be better.
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Call me crazy, but I noticed special teams starting to bite the dust right around the time we started inviting other staffs to come in and learn about our special teams play...
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I think everything has a shelf life. We obviously were getting "secrets" out of those exchanges as well.
I think it was more that largely special teams were taken for granted, with the exception being something like late 4th Quarter on-side kicks and having a field goal block play. You kick the ball with your 2nd and 3rd stringers and move on to the next play. The success we had was by putting playmakers in there and making special teams something more than a afterthought. Coupled with VT being a program on the rise you get a lot of speculation on how and why that focused on special teams play that, though it isn't just about that, became synonymous with Beamerball. We put a spotlight on it and teams adapted to focus more on it.
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Well, the other thing I noticed, too, was that there were more "odd" formations for punts than there used to be. Those formations aren't very conducive to allowing a blocked kick following the same style of "getting after it" that we typically play.
And now there are rules about jumping over players, which seems to be the quickest/easiest way to defeat a couple of the formations I've seen.
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I think that depth was a big issue for special teams the past couple of years and I think that it is no coincidence that the drop off in production came when team depth dipped and misses in recruiting began to take effect.
Things were a lot better last year and trending upward, just gotta get the return game and kickoffs fixed.
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Comments
The second we start putting our best players on the field on Special Teams, we will regain the edge we used to have. We dominated when we had starting LBs, RBs, WRs out there trying to block kicks and disrupt what the kicking team was trying to do. We lost that edge when we started worrying about losing guys to injury and allowed ourselves to treat Special Teams like every other program in the country.
Agree. Beamerball worked in the 90's the way that Moneyball worked for the A's in the 2000s. They put resources toward something that other teams didn't prioritize. The A's have continued to change what is being undervalued by the market and that's really what "Moneyball" represents, not necessarily OBP like the media likes to grasp on.
The problem is that VT hasn't found new areas to focus on past special teams. It worked there because Beamer put his talented starters on special teams and focused more time on that area in practice than other teams, leading to big plays in games. Now other teams plan around that and VT doesn't have that advantage anymore.
Exactly and Oakland's new thing is the platoon system for position players and an increased emphasis on relievers. VT hasn't found that new thing to exploit
That worry may have been real to a degree with our lack of depth in some areas. These recent recruiting hauls may leave us with an opportunity to put some more talent on those teams. At least, we hope.
Knowles needs to start returning kickoffs with speed and go vertical. If not, he should be on the bench.
He was the most frustrating special teams performer to watch last year.
I agree for a while him and JCC (he righted to the ship last season) were the most deflating to watch back there. Especially with the way Knowles lost the ball on returns in crucial moments.
I think Andy was on point when he said special teams will be better because we have more depth. The last couple of years have been disappointing on the whole because we have not been very good. Players that used to make the ST special have been starting. Now that we have better starters, the players on ST will be better.
Call me crazy, but I noticed special teams starting to bite the dust right around the time we started inviting other staffs to come in and learn about our special teams play...
I think everything has a shelf life. We obviously were getting "secrets" out of those exchanges as well.
I think it was more that largely special teams were taken for granted, with the exception being something like late 4th Quarter on-side kicks and having a field goal block play. You kick the ball with your 2nd and 3rd stringers and move on to the next play. The success we had was by putting playmakers in there and making special teams something more than a afterthought. Coupled with VT being a program on the rise you get a lot of speculation on how and why that focused on special teams play that, though it isn't just about that, became synonymous with Beamerball. We put a spotlight on it and teams adapted to focus more on it.
Well, the other thing I noticed, too, was that there were more "odd" formations for punts than there used to be. Those formations aren't very conducive to allowing a blocked kick following the same style of "getting after it" that we typically play.
And now there are rules about jumping over players, which seems to be the quickest/easiest way to defeat a couple of the formations I've seen.
I think that depth was a big issue for special teams the past couple of years and I think that it is no coincidence that the drop off in production came when team depth dipped and misses in recruiting began to take effect.
Things were a lot better last year and trending upward, just gotta get the return game and kickoffs fixed.