The Opening Drive 9/26: Friday Special Teams Analysis
Art of the field goal block, and punt return issues remain.
Welcome in, and happy Friday. With the end of the week, you know where we turn—we dig into the special teams tape to provide insight into how the Browns performed last week and break down each unit to find the best and worst moments.
On the surface, the Browns’ special teams played a big role in the win. They blocked a key late field goal to preserve the tie, and then Andre Szmyt nailed a 55-yard kick to win it. But the details of the day are not quite as kind. An inch here or there, and the story is different. The process is still not quite clean enough.
Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone spoke on the topic of winning the week in the department. “Yeah, I think it’s just good to get back on track a little bit. We’re still not even remotely close to where we need to be. We’re just trying to get better each week.” Ventrone continued: “We need to see more improvement from week to week. We’re going against a really good team this week. So, our focus is all in on Detroit and trying to win this game.”
The margin for error on special teams is razor thin. The details matter more than ever. We saw that last night in the Thursday Night Football game, when a poor Cardinals kickoff outside the landing zone allowed the Seahawks to start at the 40-yard line and quickly set up the winning kick. The Browns have to win these battles weekly. Despite some uneven play in specific areas this week, they made two of the game’s biggest plays—and that matters.
Let’s dig into the film and details from each unit.
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Punt
Corey Bojorquez didn’t have a particularly strong day. Six punts on the day where he only pinned two of them inside the 20-yard line. His net yards per punt is down to below 40 at 38.2 for the first time since 2019. He also already has three kicks into the endzone for the year when he had just seven of them last season. Coverage was strong as it only allowed eight total return yards.
His best punt of the day was a 58 yarder that rolled down to the Green Bay 2-yard line.
Punt Return
This where the Browns left yardage on the field. The Packers punted five teams and DeAndre Carter had two clear opportunities to return the ball and made a quick fair catch that cost some potential field position.
The first came off the Packers opening drive where Carter has eight yards of space and just has to make a man miss following the catch.
Here is the time of catch. Not egregious here but enough space that Carter will admit it was a mistake. Space to make a man miss and get a great return up the right sideline.
The second miss came in the 3rd quarter off the Packers opening drive of the half. Carter has a clear yard halo here with space to get vertical right off the catch. Have to create yards on this one.
The Browns lost this phase on the day between poor punting and missing chance to get some solid returns close to midfield.
Kickoff and Kickoff Return
Not much here to note. Both teams kicked off only six times total and most returns were held to minimal return. The best return of the day was from the Packers for 35 yards but largely due to a pushed pile at the end of the return. The Browns were solid on their own returns but nothing of note. This was a net neutral for both teams.
Field Goal
The Browns made three of their kicks on the day with one from 35 yards and one from 55 to win the game. The PAT was also cleanly struck as well. But when I watched the first field goal kick to make it 10-3 in the 4th quarter, there was a breakdown and the Browns were quite lucky the kick wasn’t blocked.
The wing man here, Harold Fannin Jr., cannot let the inside man through clean. It was a rather big miracle this kick made it through the hands and arms of the Packers rushers.
The game winner was clean across the board and much better from the right side sealing off the inside gap and keeping the kick path clean.
Field Goal Block
The ground work was laid on the eventual block by how close the Browns got to the Packers first kick of the second half. After not having Ward rush off the left side in the first half, they made the second half switch. On the Packers’ PAT following their first touchdown, watch Ward turn the corner clean and nearly get a hand on it while Shelby Harris’s big mitt also nearly gets it.
You can see Harris’s white glove hovering near the ball.
The block looks nearly identical and Ward gets just a touch further on his path, gets a finger on it, and Harris’s hand does the rest. Ventrone noted Harris’s ability in these settings with six blocks in his career: “Yeah, I think a lot of times when that happens, you just have, like, that instinct to be able to get your hands up. And for him, he’s got long levers, like, he’s got long arms, so that gives him an advantage.”
It saved the game, and the day for the special teams overall. Without this one going in their favor the messaging would be quite different. Great effort from all the guys on this one.
Overall Special Teams Grade: B
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