Special teams are the 3rd part of football. Offense and Defense are the other two parts. The Special Teams includes the kickoff, kick return, punt, punt return, field goal, and field goal block. Why special teams are so important is because it can make the difference in the game by scoring a touchdown or downing the punt deep back in the opposing team’s territory making it tough for them to bring it out. It could also hit a go ahead or a game winning field goal/ block a punt/field goal.
What is special teams?
Depending on who you ask, special teams can be the most important part of football. The actual positions on special teams include the Place Kicker, the Kickoff Specialist (KOS), the Long Snapper, the Punter, and the holder. The place kicker is the one who kicks the field goals and pat’s. The Kickoff Specialist is the one who kicks the kick offs. The Long Snapper is the one who snaps the ball back to the holder on pat/Fg’s and snaps it to the punter on punts. The punter is the player who receives the snap on 4th down and punts the ball. The holder id the player who holds the ball for the Fg/pat’s
Why is special teams important?
Special teams is important because it can win you your season. By blocking/returning a punt, returning a kickoff, pinning the other team deep in their own territory on punt or hitting a game winning field goal.
What is your favorite part about special teams?
My favorite part about special teams is when the field goal/pat team get to execute pristine operation to win the game or go ahead or ice the game with only a few minutes left.
The Place Kicker
Like mentioned above, the Place Kicker is the guy who kicks the pat and field goals. Everything has to be right for the kick to go through the uprights. From taking the right amount of steps/distance back every single time. Why is, if you may have only taken 2 and a half, you won’t be used to be doing that, therefore messing up his steps making it easy to plant his plant foot too far behind, or too far ahead of the hold.
The Kickoff Specialist
This is kind of like place kicking but at the same time, it’s not kind of like it. It i a different swing motion with your leg, therefore sometimes in college there will be different PK’s and KOS. The same thing applies as above with steps, not being at the same distance, could make you overstep your plant foot, or under step your plant foot.
The Long Snapper
It can be crucial to have a good long snapper, by having an extra blocker on punt/also having a extra coverage guy on punt, rather than someone just standing there and snapping. It is also important on field goals and snap a clean, crisp ball that is in a good location, with good speed and spiral, also good laces. Good laces means that when the ball gets to the holder on pat’s and Fg’s the laces are pointing up making it easier and quicker for the holder to put the ball down. Good location for a punt snap is on the mid/upper thigh to the mid chest, in the middle or on the right hip.
The Punter
Having a really good punter can be a great weapon. Depending on if your punter is good or not, it can flip the field making the other team have longer to go to score. For instance, if there is 2 minutes left in a game, team 1 is punting from their own 30-yard line, and the punter hits a 55-yard ball and pins team 2 at their own 15-yard line, it makes it a lot tougher on team 2, and also takes a lot more time than if the punter only hit a 30-yard ball to the 40.
The last position is the holder. While the holder may seem like anybody could do it, they cant. The holder has to be very precise when putting the ball down. First, they have to spin the laces facing the field goal, if the snap didn’t already do that, then they have to put it down on a precise spot, they have to get the right tilt on the ball. If they move it even a couple of inches, it messes up the kicker and the ball will be in a different place making it bounce off the foot differently, probably resulting in a missed kick. Why the laces are so important, especially on longer field goals, is that where the ball comes together at the laces, it is the softest spot on the ball, therefore the kickers foot digs into it more, causing the ball to stay on his foot for longer, a lot of the time resulting in a missed kick.
