The Oakland Raiders were a bad team in 2013. The offense was bad, the defense was bad plus the special teams was terrible. The return game and also the coverage teams were remarkably poor, and one in the few coaches fired following season was special teams coordinator Steve Hoffman.
The signing of Josh Cribbs does more to raise the Oakland's special teams than each and every move this offseason. New special teams coordinator Bobby April ought to be happy that he has a special teams ace to help turn things around.
To set it all in outlook, Cribbs will help concerning kickoffs, punts, return leg techinques and return punts. Cribbs is often a rare four-way dynamo with special teams. Even if Cribbs isn't used on offense, he is exactly what the Raiders needed to assure they improve in a forgotten third phase of the game.
According to Football Outsiders, the Browns had this second-best special teams inside the entire league last year with Cribbs and also the Raiders ranked 31st with the league. Although other factors play on the rankings, Cribbs was a big an important part of what the Browns made it possible to achieve on special teams.
The Raiders averaged twenty-two. 3 yards per kick return, which was well below average. Cribbs averaged 27. some yards per return past season (25. 9 gardens per return in this career), and only seven players this had a higher standard. Over the course of a season, Cribbs would have provided the Raiders approximately 16 yards per game above they had last year.
That might not seem like a lot, but an offense's possibility of scoring greatly improves considering the field position concerning first down. A difference of 17 yards per game is roughly corresponding to 0. 8 expected points, according to NFL Statistics Blog's data from 2011.
Undoubtedly, not every return shall be average, and there shall be some games where the return game will assist to more than others. One big kickoff return could put the Raiders in range for the field goal and give and make things easier for any inexperienced quarterback.
The Raiders were embarrassingly negative on punt returns last season using a league-low 5. 1 yards per return. That's greater than a yard-and-a-half less than the other worst team. The Raiders do skin a trio of solid punters inside the AFC West, but that's no excuse to so bad.
Cribbs averaged 12. 0 yards per punt return (11. 0 showrooms per punt return within his career), which virtually a full seven yards a lot more than the Raiders averaged with 2012. The difference up to 15 yards per sport means another 0. 8 anticipated points per game.
Just within the return game, having Cribbs will around 1. 5 points per game or roughly a field goal each and every game (24 points each and every season). This is assuming that Cribbs doesn't score for the return and that a Raiders produce points for the standard rate on crime.
This also assumes Cribbs is constantly on the produce at a advanced level and stay healthy, but it's enough data to suggest he's a superb addition to the company strictly for his give back abilities. Cribbs also plays on the coverage units and adds more value for the team.
In the face of Sebastian Janikowski's big lower body, opponents returned 30 kickoffs for typically 28. 9 yards. That Cleveland Browns with Cribbs averaged simply 19. 8 yards per go back against and were amongst only two teams this held opponents to fewer than 20 yards per go back.
Even if the Raiders only cause it to to league average with kick coverage, they helps you to save another 14 yards for each game. These little chunks of yardage make sense; anything the Raiders is capable of to improve their likelihood of scoring and decrease their own opponent's chances of scoring are going to be a key for some sort of team still short concerning talent.
Cribbs typically prearranged third from the outside on kickoffs, so he isn't your gunner that runs down the field hoping in kamikaze-like fashion to try to get the return man initial. Rather, Cribbs has to dig through the traffic to choose the return man and take him down in traffic.
Along with the additional additions this offseason, Cribbs will be a critical piece of Oakland's stop coverage team and hopefully allow it to needlessly improve over last months.
Cribbs also plays over the punt coverage team, lining up on the final of the line and protecting against rushers coming around the edge and be able to streaking down the midst of the field to defeat the punter returner.
Punt coverage is a combination of the punter and this punt coverage. A a number of people think Shane Lechler possessed a down year inside 2012, but the stats don't really support that brand of thinking.
Lechler averaged even more yards per punt inside 2012 (47. 2) than he did this year (47. 0) and lesser number of were returned, according to help Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Around 2012, 55. 6 percent of Lechler's punts were returned as compared to 57. 9 percent in 2010. Lechler's 2012 punt usual was just 0. 3 yards fewer than his career average.
The reality is that Lechler hasn't had a great season since 2009, when ever he led the league in gross and world-wide-web punting. The Raiders have got allowed 11. 1 back yards per return in Lechler's career and averaged 10. 0 gardens per return against last season.
The Raiders are generally able to hide bad coverage units when they had a great punter, but the quality of punters is getting better on a yearly basis, and Lechler is declining. The Raiders signed Chris Kluwe to compete with Marquette King, and he actually had a greater net punting average compared to Lechler last season.
Cleveland's punter Reggie Hodges experienced 10 more fair hidden clauses than Lechler and eight more were within the 20, with five a lesser amount of touchbacks. Hodges ranked 31st inside league in gross punting together with 30th in net punting. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded Hodges as being the worst punter in the league and the only person with a negative level last season who played in at least four games.
What does this must do with Cribbs? The Browns allowed about the same yards per return (10. 1) for the Raiders last season however , allowed 11 fewer revenue and punted nine more times than the Raiders did. Basically, the Browns' coverage units needed to be a lot better simply because their punter wasn't nearly as good.
At the same period, the better the punter's lower body, the better the coverage unit needs to be. King has a beast leg, but he's even now inconsistent. If the Raiders didn't enhance their punt coverage product, there was a excellent chance that opponents could hit big returns with Raiders or they are going to go with Kluwe as their punter.
The Raiders can't afford to remain bad on special clubs in 2013, and Cribbs and also the punter change is planning to play a vital role in the field-position battle.
If one thinks of every yard accomplished and lost as 0. 055 points (per NFL Stats Blog), the Raiders can squeeze as many as three points per game out of their special teams equipment. For a team who was outscored by opponents by way of 153 points last time of year, that could be massive.
Special teams might not necessarily be sexy, but that doesn't means that it isn't important. The Hillcrest Chargers had the the majority yards on offense along with allowed the fewest yards on defense in 2010 but went 9-7 and missed the playoffs as a consequence of terrible special teams.
Despite the fact that Cribbs isn't used with receiver, he's more than able of having a big impact on the Raiders in 2013. The Raiders have constructed a concentrated effort to raise the special teams versions this offseason, and Cribbs can be a giant step in a good direction.
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