Special Teams

The last group I wanted to look at was the Special Teams unit. With the roster set, we have a general idea of who will play special teams, but that will change based on who's getting the job done, and who's not. However, their are a few individuals that are known factors for this group. This includes the Kicker, Punter, Punt Returner, Kick Returner, and Long Snapper.

Matt Bryant will continue to perform place kicking duties and looks to be ready to perform as well as last season. I suspect his range will be slightly improved, now that he's had a year of play combined with a full off-season conditioning program. That should allow us a range of closer to 50 yards for field goals, when last year it was under 45. That could mean the difference in a game or two. The punter, Josh Bidwell, has returned to continue punting as well as last year. He seems to be ready to keep pinning teams back, so there should be no significant change here. And with Dave Moore continuing to long snap for the punt and field goal units, there should be no surprises here as well.

Returning punts appears to be in the hands of Mark Jones again, who did well last year, despite poor blocking on the punt return teams. This year's punt return unit may be a little better, and we may see a little more excitement in this area, but it's to early to tell. Where the real excitement should come is in the kick return area where last year's end-of-year kick returner will get a chance to start from day one with the duty. Pittman should be able to continue to deliver the yards, as his knack is getting straight up the field quickly, an art sometimes lost by those guys who like to dance around and make something "special" happen, which is usually a loss of yards that could have been gained. I fully expect Pittman to break several very long returns, and maybe, finally, end that stupid "no kick returned for a TD" streak. Even if he doesn't, he should be able to provide us several short fields this year, as his style of running is perfect for kick returns. Let's just hope he hangs on to the ball.

The only real question marks will be in the return teams, blocking wise, and in the coverage units. So far, during the Preseason, these units seemed to perform well, though not stellar. As long as they can continue to at least perform on an average unit, the Bucs should be OK. Overall, I expect the Bucs' Special Teams to provide a lot more short fields and to be a more consistent longer range field goal threat.