Special teams coach Matt Daniels took time at camp to explain to Matthew Coller how the onboarding process works for guys who have never played special teams before
I get that it’s a very hard job, and Daniels probably dealt with more UDFAs than other teams the last few years, but I still feel like he deserves more criticism than he generally gets. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I gotta imagine his units have committed more penalties than most since he’s been here. The bears return probably makes it feel worse than it was, but between stuff like that and the penalties, it just felt like an undisciplined unit last year. Now that I’m done complaining, great article. Cool to get a more inside look at how he coaches.
I have a hard time holding a coach responsible for player penalties or kickers missing kicks, which is another thing I see him get blamed for when the kicks aren't going in.
The kicking I can agree with, at least when it comes to guys like Reichard. Same goes for the other units, obviously, but certain guys are just good and you gotta give most of the credit to them. I feel like Will is just a good kicker and you can only credit Daniels so much for that. But the penalties seem like one of the main indicators of bad coaching to me. You can come up with explanations for it (refs, knucklehead players, UDFAs that are overmatched and have to commit penalties to try and make up for a lack of ability), but I feel like it’s on the coach to make sure the unit is disciplined enough to not commit so many penalties or give up huge plays in crucial moments.
I get that it’s a very hard job, and Daniels probably dealt with more UDFAs than other teams the last few years, but I still feel like he deserves more criticism than he generally gets. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I gotta imagine his units have committed more penalties than most since he’s been here. The bears return probably makes it feel worse than it was, but between stuff like that and the penalties, it just felt like an undisciplined unit last year. Now that I’m done complaining, great article. Cool to get a more inside look at how he coaches.
I have a hard time holding a coach responsible for player penalties or kickers missing kicks, which is another thing I see him get blamed for when the kicks aren't going in.
The kicking I can agree with, at least when it comes to guys like Reichard. Same goes for the other units, obviously, but certain guys are just good and you gotta give most of the credit to them. I feel like Will is just a good kicker and you can only credit Daniels so much for that. But the penalties seem like one of the main indicators of bad coaching to me. You can come up with explanations for it (refs, knucklehead players, UDFAs that are overmatched and have to commit penalties to try and make up for a lack of ability), but I feel like it’s on the coach to make sure the unit is disciplined enough to not commit so many penalties or give up huge plays in crucial moments.