Lost in the shuffle of the quarterback change, the roster tweaks, and the defensive struggles is the fact that the New York Giants’ special teams unit, which started the season well, has also hit a rough patch.
Costly turnovers, penalty yardage that has wiped out decent returns, and, of course, at least four instances when the unit was a man short on a play have given opponents a decided advantage.
In short, the last few weeks haven’t been good enough, and assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Chris Horton knows it.
“One of the things we talk about the most is going out there and playing winning football, and I believe in all phases we didn’t do that collectively as a group,” he said this week.
“It’s not a lack of effort, I can tell you that. The guys are flying around. The guys are playing hard. We just got to make sure we get back to playing winning football.”
The most glaring problem has been the shortage of players on the field, which Horton called “embarrassing.”
“I believe we do a great job throughout the practice, and we’re rotating a lot of guys. But, man, that thing starts with me. It’s making sure that I’m communicating to the guys.
“Then it’s also the players understanding, being in the flow of the game, being in the moment. We’ve got to get out there, we’ve got to make calls, and we’ve got to have everybody up. We’ve got to put an end to that. I can assure you that.”
But why has it happened?
“It’s a part of being just in tune to the game. We’re out there, we’re making calls. When the phases are up, we need every guy up on the field,” he said.
“Sometimes there are guys that are on the field that have got to make sure that they don’t come off the field. It just goes back to those little things. Again, we’re working on those things, and we’re going to get them fixed.”
And what about the costly Charlie Jones fumble last week against the Saints, which turned the tide of the game?
“Just got to take care of the football, right? We’re in traffic. Protecting the ball. Two hands on the football,” Horton said.
“Guys came free. Again, we’ve got to block. We’ve got to make sure no one’s in his way. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to take care of the football.”
The penalty yardage, meanwhile, is something the coaching staff has tried to address.
“The penalties in the return game, those are things that we try to coach against, and we try to make sure that we’re not on the receiving end of those things,” Horton said.
Horton said the unit will start cleaning things up this weekend against the Houston Texans, and he is confident it is on the right track.
“At the end of the day, I’m always bringing it back to my guys. If we play the kind of football that we need to play, which we played the last few weeks up until this game, we’ll be fine,” he said.
“There are opportunities to make sure that those things don’t happen,” Horton said. “And, again, it comes back to playing winning football and pure execution of the plays.”
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