re: The impact of the opening fumble is understated

quote:

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Making a player move to other side of the field as the kicker is moving to the ball isn’t what I would call getting him in “position to catch”.

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He wasn't moved over "as the kicker was kicking the ball". It was right before. Bech was already on that side when the ball was kicked. I watched him move over from my chair in the East sideline seats. In fact, the guy next to me asked BEFORE THE BALL WAS KICKED why are they (the returners) switching sides? My response: Because they must want Bech to field the kick and Tenn. looks like they will kick it to that side...which they did.

The coaching staff got they guy they wanted to field the kick on the side the ball was kicked. He just didn't catch the ball. It's not terribly uncommon to have two returners switch late in the play when the receiving team knows the kicking team wants to avoid kicking it to a certain returner.

The special teams have been bad all season. But in this instance the coaches got the guy they wanted in a spot to field the kick...he just flat out dropped it. That was 100% on the player