Special times for Oakland assistant
Seely, who coached under Belichick, has Raiders’ special teams in high gear
ALAMEDA >> Raiders special teams coach Brad Seely coached New England’s special teams for a decade, winning three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots. He coached with the Cleveland Browns and 49ers after his departure from Bill Belichick’s staff after the 2008 season, and has served as Oakland’s special teams coach since 2015.
“Brad did a great job for us. We won three Super Bowl championships,” Belichick said Wednesday, ahead of New England’s (72) matchup with the Raiders (4-5) this Sunday in Mexico City. “Brad has a lot of experience in the league. He knows personnel and the league very well. He’s an excellent special teams coach. He did a great job for us and he’s had a great career.”
This season, Marquette King, Giorgio Tavecchio and Cordarrelle Patterson have been some of the best special-teamers in the league in their respective disciplines.
King is second in the NFL with 50.3 yards per punt, Tavecchio has hit 12 of 14 field-goal attempts and is 22 for 23 on extra points and Patterson is tied for the league lead with 30.8 yards per kick return.
Seely chatted with the Bay Area News Group on Wednesday about his Patriots days, Belichick and everything Raiders special teams.
ON PATTERSON’S ADDITION TO THE KICKOFF TEAM IN HIS FIRST SEASON AS A RAIDER:
Well, I think he’s brought, obviously, talent. He’s a very talented guy and he’s done this before for the Vikings. We’re excited about having him because he helps our team, because he gives us a chance to start the ball farther down the field.
ON TEAMS ALTERING KICKOFF STRATEGIES TO AVOID PATTERSON:
We’re seeing more and more. They don’t really want to necessarily kick it to him because he’s a real threat, so they’ve tried to figure out alternative means, you know? Like the Buffalo game (when Jalen Richard bobbled several squib kicks) we just didn’t handle that very well.
ON KING’S DOMINANCE PUNTING THIS SEASON:
He’s done a nice job. I think he’s continuing to improve at his craft. There’s still a lot of football left and hopefully he’ll keep improving. Down the road, we’re going to have to play some cold-weather
games and I think that’ll tell how he’s doing.
ON HIS EXPECTATIONS FOR TAVECCHIO BEFORE THE SEASON:
I’ve always felt like he was a good kicker. I’ve always felt like he was an NFL kicker. He just never got any opportunities because he’s left-footed. Guys would not give him a chance. If he’d go to a workout, it was tough because
he’d play against all right-footed guys and the holders were used to rightfooted guys and now somebody’s gotta hold for a leftfooted guy and he’s just not going to be as good. Our expectations were always high for him. Mine were, because I think he’s a really good kicker.
ON THE EASE FOR KING, AS A HOLDER, TO STAY WITH A LEFTFOOTED
KICKER:
Oh, easy. That was easy.
ON CONFIDENCE IN TAVECCHIO AS THE RAIDERS’ KICKER:
I think, in football, as a coach, you go day-to-day. We’re really happy with what he’s done so far and we’ll just see going down the road what happens.
ON KICKERS NEEDING A GAME-TO-GAME MENTALITY:
No doubt. I think it’s like a corner. It’s corner mentality. You can get beat on a play and then you gotta line up for the next one, just like a field-goal kicker. You’re going to miss sometimes. There’s a lot of things that really aren’t in your control. When that happens, you gotta forget about it and move to the next play.
ON HIS 10 YEARS AS NEW ENGLAND’S SPECIAL TEAMS COACH:
Well I think No. 1, the head coach cares. He’s gonna find personnel to help the special teams coach. He did that when I was there. We always had good players … good players make good coaches. I was always appreciative of the emphasis he put on it and it’s a big emphasis there.