With Everything on the Table, Will Special Teams Finally Eat?

Shaun Bradley and Nakobe Dean gave their views on the struggling units and there could be some noticeable changes against the Titans

PHILADELPHIA – Nick Sirianni said earlier this week that everything is on the table when it comes to the Eagles’ beleaguered special team units.

Sunday will show if it’s time for them to finally eat.

So far, it’s only been one case of heartburn after another, from a blocked field goal, to a fake punt that picked up a first down, not in one game but two.

There have been hard-to-find yards in both the punt and kickoff return games, and, last week against the Packers, the embarrassment of watching Keisean Nixon return kicks despite fielding them six, seven yards deep in the end zone.

“You watch the film, he was doing it to every team,” said Eagles special teamer Shaun Bradley in the locker room on Friday. “It’s not like it was just us. He’s a good returner, but there were definitely things in that game where we messed up personally. We have to correct them and come back better next week.”

The Eagles' special teams have been pressing for weeks now, and the natural reaction is to try to do too much to make a play, rather than remaining disciplined and letting the play come to them.

“Yeah, I’m a culprit of it,” said Bradley. “Shoot, one of the plays I went over the top too much and they hit out the backdoor, so it’s about taking your time and doing your job and not trying to do somebody else’s job. Just staying focused and doing your job and hitting the gap, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Sirianni wasn’t just giving lip service about everything being on the table.

The coach usually keeps all three phases in mind when he structures his practice schedules, according to Bradley, but this week there was a bit more emphasis on them.

“He said, ‘listen we have to get this fixed,' and he put it in people’s hands of what we need to get done,” said Bradley. “And that’s what we're going to do, stay true to our process and not let any of these social medias or anything else take us off our game, but stay focused.”

Getting off blocks was one of the things special teams coordinator Michael Clay highlighted as a problem last week, but the issues go deeper.

“That’s one of the things,” said Nakobe Dean about getting off blocks. “ I wouldn’t say it’s the whole issue, but it’s definitely one of the things. They (the coaches) definitely made adjustments this week, telling us how to do it and personnel and everything.”

Expect there to be some changes and some may be noticeable, but nobody in the locker room wanted to reveal exactly what might look different for obvious reasons.

“Everybody should be wanting to make a play,” said Dean, who is third on the team in special team tackles with five behind Kyron Johnson and Zech McPhearson who have seven apiece.

“That’s been a point of emphasis too, is putting guys out there who want to go down there and make plays. Finding guys who want to do that.”

Bradley said it’s evident on film that the units need to improve but added: “I think everybody needs to take a deep breath, man. 

"As soon as one bad thing happens, everybody wants to think it’s the end of the world. Everything is always fixable. Everybody makes mistakes. Get it corrected. We’ll be better this week.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.