You've been Zooked?

This means that Zook must have found the pictures that Slocum had of McCarthy in the hotub with Chumura.

At Pittsburgh, Zook's special teams ranked 23rd, 12th and 23rd in the Morning News' breakdowns.

That probably looked real good to MM compared to what Slocum has given him. 'sigh'   

 

  

I'm far from a Zook expert, but on the surface I sure don't like it.

Zook......Zoinks!!

Zook the Crook

**** that guy might as well hire Bret Bielema to run STs

Slocum was the fourth coach McCarthy has jettisoned from special teams in nine years. Stock was pressured to retire in January 2009 and two assistants, Curtis Fuller (2010) and Chad Morton (2014), were fired.

"It also reflects on the head coach," one coordinator said. "They've done it a long time and haven't been very good. I guess you could lay it all on Shawn but they don't have great special teams personnel.

"Other thing, they've changed the assistants forever there. We used to laugh about that. They fire the assistants. Like, what are they doing that for?"

Firing assistants and not Slocum. Speaks volumes.

 

STs easily MM's biggest failing as HC. Amirite?

McGinn's guy and pride of UW-Superior. Good on him.

@RickGosselinDMN: Scott O'Brien announced his retirement from the Patriots. If there was a Hall of Fame for special teams coaches, he'd be in it. 

 

@BobMcGinn: Superior's Scott O'Brien retires as #Patriots' S-teams coach. Belichick: "I have never worked with a coach better than Scott O'Brien."

Can someone tell me what is so hard about coaching special teams?  Seems like the strategies for every team are pretty much identical, with the only wrinkles being trick plays (which are rare).  I mean, offensive and defensive playbooks are hundreds of pages to account for hundreds of different formations and looks, each requiring slight adjustments depending on what the opponent is showing.  Coaching matters there.  But special teams?  I just don't get it.  

ST was dead last in the NFL. Makes sense to promote one of the ST assistants

 

Meh

On one hand. It's not like Slocum is going to turn up somewhere and have a bag of tricks to unleash on an unsuspecting GB. This is because Slocum is an idiot. The worst thing he may ever do to mess with GB is screw up the Krolls order when they call it in. 

 

On the other hand. We are talking about Zook. Special Teams are going to be equally bad in 2015. 

 

This is not good news. At all. 

It does seem stupidly easy. Seems like you could break down film for every NFL team's special teams each week in the time it would take to break down a single opponent for offense/defense.

 

It's mind boggling that Slocum apparently wasn't aware that Brad Jones was going full-rush every time. How does that tendency not get self-scouted and addressed?

 

How does Bostick completely abandon his assignment on the onside kick team? Do they not have practice, and meetings? I can't believe they ran that drill enough with the way it happened. No player is that dumb unless his responsibility wasn't being emphasized and reinforced over the course of the season.

 

And how is it that they call a block on a short field goal in the third quarter with a big lead? How can you have a job coaching in the NFL and be that unaware? You're basically under no pressure, you have little else to worry about, you have no more decisions coming until after a commercial break. It's ridiculous.

 

If Zook is seeing all this, and not going to McCarthy with it over the course of the season, then how the hell can you promote him?

Had our chance. It's over.

 

I will cheer them on, but I already know....I will never see another Super Bowl title in my lifetime.

 

At least I have Jan 1997 & Feb 2011. Not to mention the best game of all....

 

Packers beat Bears in NFC Championship Game. That was the pinnacle. I admit I cried after that game.

Don't know if they'll be as bad as last year, but Zook's track record would seem to indicate that mediocrity is about the best you're going to get from him if promoted. Really hope MM goes in a different direction.

So you fire the worst special teams coach in the league and then you promote his understudy, make pefect sense to me! That McCarthy sure is a pure genius

This does not look like a good hire, but Zook may be one of those guys who failed when having too much responsibility. Maybe the singular focus of ST is what he needs.

You must be really old or terminal. That being said, your last comment is spot on.

mm is the pinnacle of ying/yang, he's a good coach but his loyalty will eventually take him down.  sometimes, it's just best to get some help from outside...

Right? Why even have special teams coaches. Send the players out and tell them not to allow any blocked kicks and bingo, Super Bowl. Why even practice it?

I think it's more about getting the Bostick  players to perform the schemes and choosing when not to try to block a meaningless FG which scheme to pick when.  I think a lot of it is about motivation as well.  Most players would rather not be on STs.  For the most part it's the younger guys who are trying to do enough to keep their job but not hurt themselves.  Getting a rotating crop of guys to buy in is probably the most difficult aspect of the job.          

Pittsburgh ST under Zook: 23rd, 12th and 23rd
GB ST under Slocum: 31st, 29th, 13th, 12th, 20th and 32nd

 

Both are inconsistent and mediocre at best. Difficult to see how anything other than familiarity and friendship would be behind the promotion, should it occur.

**** you McDunce.

A good special teams coach is a guy they show on TV all the time. Which is why you get this guy even if he is 111...

 

I think we all saw this coming since he joined the staff last summer. Doesn't make the news any more encouraging.

 

I can't speak to how difficult or easy the scheme portion of it is, but the inability to correct and occasional cluelessness are what floored me. Remember this little gem against DET? It legitimately looked like the plan was for 6 players to track the ball in the air and see who came down with it while the Lions ran free. The worst part was I remember completely expecting them to come away with that football the entire time.

It looks bad on the surface, but so did the hire of MM in 2006.  He coordinated an epic bad offense in SF the year before getting hired as HC in GB. McCarthy has since proven himself  to be a good offensive coach.  Sometimes there's more to it than looking at how they ranked statistically  in previous years. 

So you're saying there's a chance.

don't borrow trouble

Yep. The players have nothing to do with it. Injuries, next man up. Put your best players out there, no chance of getting hurt. It is a simple game.

I don't think it's the strategy that is difficult, I think the hard part is finding the right players really. Strategy doesn't vary much, I think it's a difficult balance to find players who are motivated to perform on STs AND are competent back-ups on offense or defense. We've seen both extremes in GB...we have a player who is not a good back-up on D but is a stand-out ST player (Jarrett Bush) AND we have seen good back-up players who suck on STs (like Quarless). I think Chicago (under Lovie Smith) put a strong emphasis on finding quality ST players, but his back-up players were not usually very good. I think good ST coaches are the ones who can identify the right combination of players to put on the field...the players who will be disciplined and stay motivated. Strategy wise I think good ST coaches also have a good feel for what the other team will do and make the calls accordingly (i.e. Seattle identifying a weakness/tendency with Brad Jones). 

Most of the college guys who are good enough to be drafted, didn't play ST's in school because they have 70 man rosters. Getting to the NFL means they have to learn new techniques, new schemes and play a position they'd rather not. Thompson has also been fairly steadfast in not drafting ST-only guys, they have to have a position on offense/defense too. CBA limits practice time so they are spending time in their defensive/offensive playbooks

Yeah during training camp they work on ST coverage for maybe 10-15 minute total over a whole practice and those drills are essentially just non-contact walk-throughs. That hurts your in-game performance when you're trying to instill a mentality in guys who, like you said, are not experienced on STs. I'm not making excuses for Slocum because certainly 31 other teams figured out how to deal with this problem better than Slocum. 

Aside from Mcginn's report that Zook is likely the guy, has anyone heard anything else? I have seen no official annoucement. Not like Bob hasn't jumped the gun before (Aaron unhappy with contract negotiations, Finley, etc).

You hire the best fit for the staff. If it's zook, it's zook.

That's quite a bit of hyperbole.  MM has fired 2 ST assistants in his tenure.  It is kind of odd, but I attribute it to accommodating the primary coordinators (i.e., Slocum).  No question that MM is loyal to a fault.

 

As for McGinn's source - there is a kernel of truth in the broad brush statements.  We have not had good returners (KR, mostly) for a while.  I still do not get the Cobb/Hyde shuffle on PR.

Only problem is this staff is starting to take on a bit of Shermy feel to it.

Yeah that happens when you enter your 10th year as head coach.

ruh roh...

This is stupid.   Already you are all saying that Zook, who has not even been proomoted to the position yet, will be a failure.   Just like everyone thought MM would be a failure.  Come packer fans, give the guy a chance anyway,   He may prove to be better than you think.

Who thought Stupid Face would be a failure?