Redskins Breakdown: Defense saves the day in win vs. Cardinals

Coaching: Special teams prove to be an issue

The Redskins had some major issues on special teams on Sunday afternoon, but none was more apparent than the mistake made by the team on the opening kickoff of the second half. The Cardinals tried a pooch kick, and the Redskins cover team didn’t get anyone near it to catch it. The up-backs just kind of let it bounce, and it had some backspin on it. So, it ended up falling into no-man’s land and the Cardinals were able to recover it.

There’s no excuse for the team letting it fall to the ground. The Redskins special teams have showed little awareness this season, and that could be seen by Jamison Crowder’s inability to properly field punts and A.J. Francis’ leverage penalty from late in the game. Again, the outcomes of these penalties didn’t turn up much on the scoreboard this week, but they were still major issues.

Moving forward, the coaches have to do a better job getting players prepared in this area. Ben Kotwica has to try and find a way to improve their return game. They may need to consider taking Crowder off punt return duty, and they could stick a playmaker like Kapri Bibbs back there to see what he has in the final couple of weeks. It can’t hurt at this point, given that they are sitting at 6-8 and wins and losses no longer matter.

Next: Is Josh Norman starting to regress?

Special teams are the most underrated part of the game. The Redskins have been terrible in that area this season, so it will be interesting to see if they have a chance to improve that in the final two weeks. If not, there may end up being a changing of the guard at the special teams coordinator position at the end of the year.