While New England has struggled in a few special teams’ areas over the first eight games this season, the Patriots still figure to hold a sizable advantage in that department this weekend against the Packers.
Green Bay is coming off a loss to the Rams where its special teams played a major role in the defeat. First, the Packers’ punt coverage unit let its guard down when Los Angeles punter Johnny Hekker found Sam Shields for the first down off a fake punt. Second, rookie punter J.S. Scott shanked a 25-yard punt with 5:30 left to give Los Angeles excellent field position on the way to the key field goal. And third, a late fumble from Ty Montgomery (who has since been traded) on a kickoff robbed Green Bay of any shot of a late comeback.
But the truth is that the Packers’ special teams have always been a bit of an Achilles’ heel. By any measure, Green Bay is one of the worst in the league when it comes to special teams — Pro Football Focus has them 29th, while Football Outsiders has them 25th. It’s been more than just the gaffes from Scott and Montgomery last week; kicker Mason Crosby went 1-for-5 (and missing his only extra-point attempt) in a game against the Lions last month, and also missed a kick that would have avoided a tie with the Vikings
The Patriots have been ragged in some special teams areas, most notably when it comes to penalties and kick coverage. (Not counting calls that were declined or offset, New England’s special teams has taken nine penalties this year. That’s the second-most of any position group, trailing only the 10 flags on the cornerbacks.) However, they also have kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson, who remains one of the best in the NFL, as well as kicker Stephen Gostkowski, the defending AFC Special Teams Player of the Month who is 17-for-19 on field-goal attempts this year and perfect on extra points to lead the AFC.
There’s also the fact the Patriots are coming off a game in Chicago where they scored touchdowns on a pair of special teams’ plays — Patterson’s 95-yard kick return and Kyle Van Noy’s scoop-and-score touchdown off a blocked punt from Dont’a Hightower.
On this 95-yard kick return, Cordarrelle Patterson took out 2 guys with one jukepic.twitter.com/Npt3neexxf
— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) October 21, 2018
The greatest kick return of all time?!#TBT pic.twitter.com/X3UP9cihie
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 1, 2018