When the best part of your team is Special Teams, that’s usually not a great thing.
However, through two games, the job Buccaneers’ Special Teams Coordinator Danny Smith is doing with his coverage and return units has been very good. The Bucs may have plenty to clean up on offense and defense, but Special Teams continues to show up.
Kickoff Coverage: B+
Cleveland never reached the 35-yard line on a kickoff return, although they did get past the 30 a few times.
Is that perfect? No. But considering the Browns have a returner who has already taken a kickoff back 70-plus yards, I’ll take it.
One thing Chase McLaughlin will need to work on is consistently landing the ball inside the 5-yard line. Giving the coverage unit more field to work with creates a better opportunity to pin the opponent deep.
Kickoff Returns: A
Kenneth Gainwell had three kickoff returns for an average of just over 25 yards. One of those came from one yard deep in his own end zone.
If teams are going to kick the ball into the end zone, the safer play is to take the touchback.
For the second straight week, however, the Bucs broke off a kickoff return of more than 40 yards.
This week it was Kameron Johnson, who returned Cleveland’s final kickoff 48 yards and once again gave Tampa Bay some excellent field position.
Punt Coverage: B+
Riley Dixon punted four times and is quietly putting together a very solid season.
The Bucs had two fair catches, one touchback and one punt out of bounds.
Nothing earth-shattering, but that’s kind of the point.
There were no sudden changes in field position, no big returns and no disastrous mistakes. Sometimes, boring is good when you’re talking about punt coverage.
Punt Returns: C
The Bucs had four opportunities to return a punt, but Tez Johnson brought back only two of them for an average of six yards.
I’d like to see more from this unit.
Johnson has the ability to be explosive, and eventually, the Bucs need to turn some of these opportunities into meaningful field-position advantages.
Special Teams Player of the Week: Kameron Johnson
A 48-yard kickoff return on Cleveland’s final kickoff earns Kameron Johnson this week’s Special Teams Player of the Week.
Through two games, Danny Smith’s units continue to provide something the Bucs desperately need:
Consistency.
Now, if the offense and defense can catch up, we might have something.
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