Trevor Denbow, Sterling Weatherford Star on Special Teams Against the Bills
One of the more underrated aspects of making an NFL 53-man roster is special teams ability, especially when it comes to the Indianapolis Colts. Special Teams Coordinator Bubba Ventrone handpicks a few players every year to make the team purely for how they perform in the third phase of the game.
So, while it is a thankless job, I went through and watched/charted every special teams snap from the Colts-Bills preseason opener. Here are my main takeaways and notes that you all can keep in mind for later in the offseason when cutdown day arrives.
New Gunner Battle?
One of the more surprising developments, for me, from this past game is that wide receiver Ashton Dulin didn't log any snaps at gunner. While this could just be about getting other guys valuable reps at that spot, I did find it interesting. Dulin was a second-team All-Pro gunner in 2021, but the team has heavily suggested that he will be a bigger part of the offense in 2022. Could this mean that Dulin's days as the gunner are over?
Replacing him at gunner, when the first team offense and defense were on the field, was cornerbacks Isaiah Rodgers and Tony Brown. Here is the list of players that also logged some snaps at the gunner position:
- Will Redmond (Safety)
- Dezmon Patmon (Wide Receiver)
- Marvell Tell III (Cornerback)
- Ethan Fernea (Wide Receiver)
- Chris Wilcox (Cornerback)
- Alex Myers (Cornerback)
Trevor Denbow, Sterling Weatherford Shine
A big part of what I charted was what I called positive impact coverage snaps (PICS). How I charted this was by giving each player a point if they were the first one to make contact with the return man when in kick coverage and another point if they were involved in the tackle of the return man.
This is obviously not a metric rooted in analytics and it hardly means much in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like it does give you all a good feel for which players were the most involved in kick coverage during this game.
The two most involved players in kick coverage were safety Trevor Denbow and linebacker Sterling Weatherford. Denbow was all over the place in this game, logging five positive impact coverage snaps. He was consistently involved in almost every coverage tackle. Weatherford also made his mark in this game, logging three positive impact coverage snaps on the day.
Here are the players that logged two PICS in the preseason opener:
- James Skalski (Linebacker)
- JoJo Domann (Linebacker)
- Marvell Tell III (Cornerback)
- Will Redmond (Safety)
- Luke Rhodes (Long Snapper)
Coverage Snap of the Game
This week's coverage snap of the game was a total team effort on punt coverage. Punter Rigoberto Sanchez effectively flips the field with this 62 yard punt. The coverage is perfect, as a wall of defenders is able to meet the return man in the open field.
Great stuff from Bubba Ventrone's unit on this rep.
Kicker Battle Update PLUS Punter Analysis
Punter Rigoberto Sanchez appeared to be in top form on Saturday. The former Pro Bowl punter averaged 52.8 yards per punt, with a net average of 47.6 yards. He reached a long of 62 yards on the day. He also had one punt downed within the 20 yard line.
As for the kicker battle, Rodrigo Blankenship seemingly pulled a little bit ahead (albeit by default). Blankenship finished the day making one field goal-- from 24 yards out-- and made an extra point. Jake Verity missed an extra point, further proving that kickers are the worst.
That's really all I have to say on this "battle." Hopefully whoever they choose doesn't miss in the regular season.
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