Mistakes on special teams continue to mount
Cincinnati Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons’ lips pursed and his eyes squinted as he tried to recall the last time his group blocked a kick and had one blocked in the same game.
“I don’t know that it has ever happened,” Simmons said, before realizing he was digging too far back in his memory bank.
“Wait,” he added. “I take that back. It just happened in the Indy game.”
The good news is the Bengals have two blocks in the last four weeks, with Jordan Willis getting his hands on a punt against Indianapolis on Oct. 29, and KeiVarae Russell knocking down a 61-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half Sunday at Denver.
The bad news is Simmons’ group has allowed two blocks in that same span, with the Colts getting their hands on a field goal try by Randy Bullock, and the Broncos blocking a punt by Kevin Huber.
The worse news is that those two blocks allowed are not the only miscues the Bengals have had on special teams of late. Pittsburgh successfully executed a fake punt, Jacksonville returned a punt for a touchdown and Bullock has missed extra points in each of the past two games.
“It’s really frustrating, especially as hard as we practice it and as hard as we go at it,” Simmons said. “It is frustrating to give up plays and have negative things happen to us.
“We spend a lot of time on it, we meet a lot on it. But it still comes down to the guys who are playing in the game have to go make the plays. And we haven’t done that well enough in those crucial areas.”
Under Simmons’ direction, strong special teams have been something the Bengals have been able to count on through the years.
But the roster turnover that took the Bengals from the 10th-oldest team in the league to the third youngest back in September left Simmons with a large influx of new pieces, and injuries and other moves throughout the season have resulted in more shuffling of parts.
“There are no excuses,” Simmons said. “Whoever is in there has to play, no different than it is in any other area. Whoever is in there is in there because we’re counting on them to play.
“It’s up to me to get them to get it right, whoever it is. It’s an ever-evolving thing that we have to keep working toward and getting the consistency of play. We haven’t had that at this point.”
Fortunately for the Bengals, none of the mistakes have necessarily cost them games. They defeated the Colts. The fake punt by Pittsburgh came with the Steelers leading by 12 with less than seven minutes remaining. The punt return touchdown at Jacksonville came in the fourth quarter and accounted for the final seven points in a 23-7 loss. And Bullock’s missed PATs came in a four-point loss and three-point win.
Bullock, who missed the Jacksonville game with a back injury, has missed a kick in three consecutive games, bringing back memories of Mike Nugent’s struggles. The Bengals stuck with Nugent despite his missing kicks in six of seven games before signing Bullock in December.
Coach Marvin Lewis said last year’s experience means the leash won’t be as long for Bullock.
“It does affect our patience level,” he said. “We’re committed to Randy this week.”
Simmons added, “It’s obviously an area of concern. We’ve got to make kicks. He has missed. That’s an issue.”