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This Is The Best News Of The Offseason For Redskins Fans
By Jamie Mottram | January 28, 2013
Should you disagree with the headline, here are Redskins special teams rankings during Danny Smith’s tenure, according to Football Outsiders DVOA:
2012: 27th
2011: 21st
2010: 25th
2009: 23rd
2008: 25th
2007: 16th
2006: 11th
2005: 9th
2004: 31st
Meaning, Redskins special teams haven’t been top-20 in six years and have an average ranking of 21 with Smith in charge. So, yeah, PSGO.
Topics: Fire Danny Smith, Redskins | 12 Comments »
January 28th, 2013 at 12:19 PM
What’s even nuttier about Danny Smith’s apparently stellar rep is how bad his Buffalo and Philly special teams units were, per FO:
BUF 2003: 25th
BUF 2002: 24th
BUF 2001: 28th
According to wikipedia he coached “ST/DB” in Philly but doesn’t split those duties by year. Even so:
PHI 1998: 25th
PHI 1997: 26th
PHI 1996: 20th
PHI 1995: 30th
They were fucking awful no matter what year(s) he was in charge of special teams. I really don’t get how this guy is regarded as such a ST genius when he had only 2 non-crappy seasons at it.
January 28th, 2013 at 12:41 PM
How are special teams rankings done? It seemed like we barely gave up any big returns (understand we didn’t have any ourselves). And Forbath was near perfect.
January 28th, 2013 at 12:53 PM
Football Outsiders explains it’s “an estimate of how many points, compared to league average, each team receives from the five elements of special teams: field goals/extra points, kickoffs, kick returns, punts, punt returns. The total is then converted into a DVOA percentage so that it can be added in to offense and defense to create total team DVOA.
Field goal rating compares each field goal to the league-average percentage of field goals from that distance. Yards of field position from the other four elements of special teams are translated into points using a method that gives each yard line a point value based on the average next score an NFL offense is worth from that point on the field. Kickoffs and punts are based on net yardage. Kickoff returns and punt returns are judged on return yardage only. These numbers are then adjusted for weather and altitude based on stadium type (cold, warm, dome, Denver) and week.”
January 28th, 2013 at 1:06 PM
I can take off work and help Danny pack…….
January 28th, 2013 at 1:21 PM
Even if he doesn’t go to Pittsburgh, he shouldn’t stay here. How long can a guy go being a Specials Teams coach and never get a promotion?
January 28th, 2013 at 1:49 PM
THANK YOU!!!
There have been special teams flubs every year. The Skins rarely make big plays on that unit since Danny Smith has been in charge. Please get rid of this guy. It’s been long overdue.
January 28th, 2013 at 2:02 PM
I’m not trying to be Smith’s defender, but that Football Outsider stat explanation seemed rediculous. How exactly is weather and altitude factored into it? That seems like it could be easily biased if they wanted it to.
Smith should be blamed for allowing Cundiff and Banks to last as long as they did. No more no less. Any Smith hater has to respect that we have one of the best kickoff and punt coverages… Regardless of stats.
January 28th, 2013 at 2:28 PM
Coverage is good. The rest is awful: flubbed snaps, bad personnel decisions (ARE, Banks), penalties, etc. And if you don’t trust your eyes and need stats, that DVOA trend is pretty damning, even if it’s flawed.
January 28th, 2013 at 2:36 PM
One great coverage guy doesn’t mean the coverage units are good.
I’ll argue that it’s *possible* that Snyder’s ST personnel, overall, have been so unbelievably awful that under a worse coach than Smith they’d be a complete disaster instead of just really bad. That’s really the only possible defense of Smith’s ST, and the only explanation for his league rep, except maybe he knows a lot of really good dirty jokes?
January 28th, 2013 at 2:54 PM
Only if he takes Brandon Banks with him.
January 28th, 2013 at 3:54 PM
If you don’t like DVOA, this guy’s special teams rankings have the Redskins at 31st in 2012.
January 30th, 2013 at 5:22 PM
[...] To which I say, it’s about damn time. [...]