Giants 2014 Positional Breakdown: Special Teams

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them not getting Holiday to stick. They focus on ball security and we've improved field position by a TON. With an occasional score.

especially on punts. The Giants were terrible at this last season as you point out. While Bowman and Jackson and others should help a good deal, better performance out of Weatherford will help a lot too.

Thought he was just a camp body but he's a legit talent. They talk about his strong leg and that's with Brown on board who has one of the stronger legs I've seen with the Giants. I get the impression it's a straight up competition between him and Brown. Best man win.

Please explain to me how you don't let Wilson return kick offs if he is healthy. He is electrifying and can be effective in a limited offensive package. I think you only keep Holliday if Wilson is hurt.

on specials if he doesn't dress for games? I can't believe he would dress for games given the current depth chart. James is a possibility and Bowman, of course, but Jackson I can't see it. He might be pushed to the practice squad even.

didn't they say that Holliday had 6 scores in 2 years? That's off the charts nuts. And tops in the league on average.

I love the Wilson and maybe you have both back there if DW is healthy. But I can't imagine turning away that production in Holliday.

as well. MM will probably be PUP'd.

I like how Holliday could potentially fit in with this new offense.

Eleven fumbles. Maybe he sticks as a returner - he's put up great numbers in that department - but I still don't see him doing anything more for the Giants.

think Holliday will be used on offense as role player. I can see him getting 2-3 touches per game on offense.

we were able to get Holliday due to those shortcomings so the question is can he be coached up? He's looked good as a receiver thus far (and now he's being utilized as opposed to 2 touches in his career) and the Giants are big on coaching ball security.

Is this an experiment that could fail? Sure. I could also see it succeeding. Great success!!

We'll see what happens when camp begins.

We have stunk statistically for years on special teams why do we think his system will be markedly better with new gunners, new return men? We can only hope (and we have been hoping year-after-year) it does improve.

The write up for Special Teams was excellent, and I like some of the additions we added in the off-season. It boils down to blocking and I think attitude on Special Teams. Attitude equals: We're going to score every time we get the ball, and you aren't getting squat we you receive the ball. Hopefully all will be well and we are all surprised at this teams positive accomplishments.

Be cool is this kid McManus can unseat Brown, but that is asking a lot.

On the Bubble: Tom Quinn. His Special Teams year after year have put the Giants in non-positive situations. If his Special Teams do not improve with home run additions like Holliday, Demps, and hopefully NOT Beckham, Jr.(I prefer he stay away from returning and concentrate on receiving), and his Special Teams still reside in the bottom of the NFL statistically, he should be history.

getting our a$$ kicked in the hidden yardage on top of everything else last year

why are we arguing holliday vs. wilson on KR? q.demps is a fantastic KR and has been the starter all offseason. its demps job

the debate is holliday vs. randle (and beckham) at PR and that's a no contest. our blocking was pathetic on PR last year but a great returner makes the blocking, not the other way around. a great returner makes guys block harder

and bowman is a terror - our gunners were bad last year - big upgrade! he should b the best gunner we've had since t2 in 08

getting our a$$ kicked in the hidden yardage on top of everything else last year

why are we arguing holliday vs. wilson on KR? q.demps is a fantastic KR and has been the starter all offseason. its demps job

the debate is holliday vs. randle (and beckham) at PR and that's a no contest. our blocking was pathetic on PR last year but a great returner makes the blocking, not the other way around. a great returner makes guys block harder

and bowman is a terror - our gunners were bad last year - big upgrade! he should b the best gunner we've had since t2 in 08

for double post i submitted b4 i was ready

He's a good kick returner, but that's a small role and there are other guys on the roster (including Wilson) who can do it as well or better. If he drops behind both Taylor and Berhe on the depth chart, he probably gets cut. Not saying it will happen, but you can only dedicate so many roster spots to one-trick ponies like Zak DeOssie.

Holliday doesn't need to rank as high at WR, because he also returns punts. He has to be a credible fill-in as a slot receiver if Cruz or Jernigan goes down, and he might have a few plays designed to utilize his quicks, but he has already shown that he can make an NFL roster purely as a return man.

this may be the best set of returners and gunners the Giants have had in a few decades. Bowman is excellent in this capacity.

I really hope not to see Ruben Randle out there on punts anymore, but I definitely think David Wilson should be competing for the KO returner job. Hopefully Holliday can hang onto the ball now that he has been in the NFL a bit.

And although Brown is above average, I am fine with a move to a younger kid if he can nail a few long ones.

Need Specials to win a game or two for us this year, as opposed to being a liability...

other coaches who have been on this team, I think Tom Quinn is sometimes unfairly accused of being the problem.

Do I think he is one of the better ST coaches in the NFL? No.

But his special teams units have made huge plays in big games in the Super Bowl seasons too.

In comment 11772482 Eric from BBI said:

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other coaches who have been on this team, I think Tom Quinn is sometimes unfairly accused of being the problem. Do I think he is one of the better ST coaches in the NFL? No. But his special teams units have made huge plays in big games in the Super Bowl seasons too.

Draft better in the middle rounds and you get better special teams

whether his teams are adequately prepared. Giants had breakdowns all over the special team units last season, and it can't all be pinned to roster talent.

Our guys were jumping off sides on field goals, fielding punts inside the 10 yard line, running into live balls...making mistakes and losing the special teams battle almost every week. Hell, Quinn got as much tv air-time as Coughlin did in the first half of the season.

Nevertheless, Quinn still has his job and he now has many return weapons and strong cover guys. So it is absolutely on him to ensure a big improvement in these units.

His special teams simply have not performed well. (Gave up 4 TDs while only scoring one last season, and that's just the beginning of the issues.)

Plus, they have gotten worse and worse with each passing season, and you just can't pin that all on the players.

As pointed out above, there comes a time when you have to ask why the coach can't get basic concepts - like not jumping off sides, staying in their lanes on kick coverage, and not fielding punts inside the ten - across to his players.

He should have been gone by now. It's one BIG reason that I am not at all optomistic about the team's chances this season.

He's a pretty good punter as well as a place kicker. That's a nice skill to have depth wise. I think McManus wins the job.

It looks great having potentially 4 great KRs and 2 great PRs on the team, but you know only 1-2 KRs and 1 PR actually line up to do the job. Among the 4 KRs, 3 of them have potentially virtual "starting" roles (or at least "starting role player" roles) on O or D - Wilson, Beckham, and Demps. Holliday's only second function, until proven otherwise at least, is at PR. He's an ST player only until proven otherwise.

I agree with Eric to the extent that our new OC is looking to fit Holiday into the O, but that could be as much because if he can't handle it he will be cut...

At PR Holliday is clearly the 1st option if he can cure his fumbilitis, but the 2nd and 3rd options - Beckham and Randle, have already made the roster as WRs.

A question I have is how much more value Holiday brings to
the table as a return specialist vs the value Bowman and Jackson bring as potentially great punt gunners, and Bowman so far looks like he can play CB, and Jackson is younger and cheaper and might be very valuable DB insurance as we are bound to lose some of that DB depth in the near future like 2015.

Right now the front line quality and depth at returners and gunners looks awesome, but there's not enough room on the roster for all of them.

roster in my opinion. It is there now.

Jimmy?

In comment 11772645 Red Dog said:

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His special teams simply have not performed well. (Gave up 4 TDs while only scoring one last season, and that's just the beginning of the issues.) Plus, they have gotten worse and worse with each passing season, and you just can't pin that all on the players. As pointed out above, there comes a time when you have to ask why the coach can't get basic concepts - like not jumping off sides, staying in their lanes on kick coverage, and not fielding punts inside the ten - across to his players. He should have been gone by now. It's one BIG reason that I am not at all optomistic about the team's chances this season.

Yes, you can pin in it on the players.

If you concede the team had terrible players last year (and judging by them changing over 50% of the roster, the answer has to be "Yes"), those are the results you get. The first place a terrible bottom 1/3 of your roster shows up is special teams.

Ironically, Quinn was not discussed in 2011 and 2012 when the special teams was strong. Same for 2007 and 2008. Look it up. There are 22 statistical categories that make up how teams are ranked and the Giants were ranked in the top half in each of those years. Folks that only give credit to Weatherford or Wilson are simply uninformed and haven't done their research.

If we believe the bottom 1/3 of the roster is much improved this year, than the unit will be better. Suddenly, Quinn won't be on people's minds.

We can only hope that these moments will be few and far between this season.

play on special teams.

to take all those incrementing pictures that he stacked up on Coughlin's desk and spread them out a bit so he can look at them all...

In comment 11773020 Jimmy Googs said:

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play on special teams.

The Giants had a terrible bottom 1/3rd last year.

To top it off, the Giants had a terrible top 2/3rd too. The whole damn roster was bad.

Team had nearly 20% (18 of 91) of its penalties last season on Special Teams. That is outrageous.

We can only hope the roster is better this season. The whole team is going to be a work in progress.

quinn is given nothing to work with, and upstairs knows that. personnel decisions he always loses out....this is the first year in how many that we have a good return specialist?? we r very reluctant to use starters on specials:

some notable coordinators like mike westhoff would never work here given the lack of resources to special teams

so to fire quinn, when we know damn well we dont give him anything to work with, isn't fair

He will have numerous opportunities to return kicks and punts in 5 preseason games. 2 muffs resulting in a change of possession and he is history. A muff & and fumble w/ change of possession and/or TD and he is gone.

If he scores a TD on a KO return or punt return it will cancel out a muff or a fumble.