Ravens look for improvement on special teams
OWINGS MILLS — Only two onside kicks have been successful in the NFL this season, and both came against the Ravens.
Those miscues happened against the Cowboys in Week 3 and the Buccaneers in Week 7 and led to touchdowns.
On Sunday against the Cleveland Browns, the Ravens had a couple more gaffes. Undrafted rookie Chris Collier caught the ball in the end zone, and instead of taking the touchback, he returned the ball for a short gain. The Ravens also had an offside penalty and poor blocking that cost them yards on a kickoff.
Players are to take the touchback so the offense can start the drive on the 30-yard line. Coach John Harbaugh chalked up the decision to inexperience.
“[It] doesn’t make sense to us if they’re going to give us the ball at the 30-yard line, and the way the angles work, it’s really tough to block that – this new style – when the ball is kicked into the end zone,” Harbaugh said. “And I do think they lose a sense of where they’re at sometimes, especially a young guy; it’s part of it, for sure. I also think that we didn’t … We made some bad blocking decisions on that, and I was really unhappy with that, too. So, those penalties were not OK.”
Tylan Wallace, who is subbing for the injured Deonte Harty, made a fair catch at the 6-yard line when the ball could have potentially bounced into the end zone. In Week 5 against the Bengals, Wallace also had a mental error when he failed to catch a punt that rolled to the 2-yard line. On the next play, running back Derrick Henry was tackled in the end zone for a safety.
“I love Tylan, but he lost track of where he was going back and catching that punt,” Harbaugh said. “He’ll be back out there and he’ll learn from that. That hurt our offense. Field position was a problem.”
