Redskins: Special teams an issue after loss of Ben Kotwica

Last season, the Washington Redskins had a top-10 special teams unit. So far in the 2019 preseason, they haven’t looked good. And part of that is due to the loss of Ben Kotwica.

When the Washington Redskins take on the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3 of the NFL preseason, a familiar face will be roaming the sidelines in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He will be coaching special teams, as he has since 2009 in the NFL. And since 2013, he has been a special teams coordinator.

That man is Ben Kotwica.

From 2014-2018, Kotwica led the charge for special teams with the Redskins. And last season, he found immense success. Tress Way was one of the best punters in the NFL, pinning teams inside the 20 a league-high 41 times without allowing a single touchback. Meanwhile, kicker Dustin Hopkins improved from range and hit 4-of-5 field goals of 50-plus yards, much better than his 5-of-13 mark from previous seasons combined.

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Despite the work that Kotwica did with the specialists and the fact that the squad was solid on returns as well, he left the team in the offseason. Kotwica ended up taking the coordinator job with the Falcons in a lateral move. It wasn’t clear why the two sides parted, but Kotwica will now coach for Atlanta.

I was skeptical about the departure of Kotwica at the end of last season due to the amount of growth the Redskins special teams showed last year. Here’s what I said at the time of his departure.

"Kotwica deserves some praise for the improvement of Hopkins and the immense success of Way. And in addition to the solid performance of this duo, the team’s long snappers played well. Nick Sundberg has long been one of the more consistent long snappers in the NFL, but even after he was injured, replacement Andrew East didn’t miss a beat. Kotwica got him integrated fast and made sure the unit was comfortable working with one another. In short, Kotwica did a great job but never really got the recognition he should have for the performance of his units.Losing the special teams coordinator that led them to a No. 8 ranking in special teams DVOA (per Football Outsiders) is certainly not going to help these units. The Redskins may land a fine replacement, but if there is any sort of regression from the special teams, the departure of Kotwica will likely be blamed."

And now, it’s looking like that regression is here.

The Redskins hired Nate Kaczor to coach their special teams. And so far in two preseason games, the results have been poor. Kaczor’s units have allowed two punt return touchdowns in as many games. Granted, they have come late in the contests where many fringe roster players may be on the field. But still, it’s a major concern considering that Kaczor’s unit in Tampa Bay last season was a bottom-five one.

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Washington has little room for error this season if they want a chance to win games. Having poor special teams play certainly won’t help the cause and it could come back to bite them. Hopefully, Kaczor can step up the special teams performance in the coming weeks. But if he can’t, Kotwica’s loss is going to hit a lot harder than many thought ahead of the 2019 season.

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