The Packers Special Teams Has Actually Been Looking Special

When looking specifically at the punt game, it has looked so much better! First, when we are talking about when the Packers are punting, Daniel Whelan is still one of the best punters in football! There haven’t been too many opportunities for him to show his skill, but you know it’s there. Even with a couple of his punts, he pinned the other team within the 20 yard-line. But it’s not just that. The punt coverage so far has looked good. Maintaining discipline on punt coverage is very important, and the punt team has done that so far.

On the other side of the punt game, Skyy Moore has been as advertised. For example, against the Broncos, Moore had to field a punt on his own ten-yard line with pressure in his face. Over the past couple of years, this would have either led to a penalty or even a muffed punt. Nope, not this time. Moore fielded the ball well and even got roughly ten yards on the return, even with pressure in his face! Skyy Moore has really looked the part so far.

Kicking Game

And then we get to the kicking game. Trey Smack is a true gamer. He hasn’t always looked the best in practice, but we really don’t know what Smack is working on in practice. Practice is truly a lab where players can work on their craft and you know, just get better. Smack has missed several field goals in practice, but that could be for many different reasons. Those are my only thoughts on why Smack is missing kicks in practice, because in the games, it’s just not the case!

Smack has been unbelievable. In the first preseason game, he nailed four field goals (one didn’t count), two of which were 58-yarders. In the second preseason game, he made three more field goals, two more of which were over 50 yards. One of those 50-yarders was a 59-yard field goal that honestly would have been good from 70 yards!

The crazy thing is that after Smack kicked that 59-yarder, he went back out for the kickoff and kicked the ball perfectly to the opponent’s one yard line, limiting the return yardage. Smack is proving to be a weapon at the kicker position!

But it takes more than just the kicker to make a field goal. The whole operation has to be seamless, and that comes down to coaching, the long snapper, the holder, and the kicker – all of which have worked seemlessly. Cal Adomitis has filled in so nicely for Matt Orzech where I kinda believe that it would be a bad idea to bring Orzech back. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! That fits pretty well here. And of course, the holder, who is also our punter, Daniel Whelan, is great at setting up the kick for Smack. The operation has looked clean!

Packers Kickoffs

And of course, I already mentioned that Smack has looked great at kickoffs too! Just perfect placement on the kicks which allows the kickoff coverage the ability to contain any possible return.

And then we have our own kick returns where there have been many different returners, including Skyy Moore who has looked very good in that role. But even against the Broncos, running back Pierre Strong Jr., had a 68-yard return that eventually set up a Trey Smack field goal after the offense sputtered. The blocks on the kick returns were darn near perfect for Stong Jr.!

Overall, I’ve been very impressed with the Packers special teams so far, and quite honestly, I’m starting to believe that Cam Achord just might be the chosen one to fix Green Bay’s historically bad special teams.

Will there be some ups and downs still? I’m sure of it.

But regardless,

Go Pack Go!