This season won’t be easy for Joe DeCamillis. At least, not of last Friday’s game was any indication.
While the offense was led well by Brock Osweiler and the defense performed with both starters and backups in the game, the special teams unit was laughably bad. They allowed a 103-yard kickoff for a touchdown, fumbled two punts and lost one, with other terrible play mixed in.
DeCamillis, the current special teams coach, wasn’t pleased with what he saw in that game, even if it was just the first preseason contest of the year.
“It was disappointing, but not discouraging. Those are all correctable mistakes,” DeCamillis told the media Tuesday. “I didn’t see effort as a problem. I did see some missed leverages and some missed fits, so we’ve got to get that corrected, but I thought effort was good. We just have to get some of those corrections done and we’re going to do it this week.”
Yes, the entirety of the Broncos special teams has lots of work to do, and fast. Sure, there are three weeks of preseason football to go, but considering how bad the Broncos were, it’s already worrisome how far they have to come by Sept. 13.
Not everything has been bad for the special teams, though.
“First of all, in the game, I thought the best thing that we did was rush the field goal and kick field goals,” DeCamillis continued. “That was the most positive thing we did for sure.”
While the coverage units need much work, the Broncos are lucky to have two starting-worthy kickers on the team in Connor Barth and Brandon McManus. McManus possesses the bigger leg, but his accuracy is not as solid as Barth’s. Earlier in training camp we caught up with Barth and he explained he welcomes the competition.
On Tuesday, the two kickers put on a show.
“And then today, you guys saw it. One was a 70-yarder. One was a 64-yarder,” DeCamillis said of McManus and Barth’s biggest kicks of the day. “You’re hoping you’re going to get a little separation and both of them made it. It’s a tight competition. Just like we said, though, the kickoff thing’s going to come into play for whoever that guy is. You have to be able to do both.”
70 yards McManus?! Even 64 yards by Barth would have tied the NFL record. So, maybe Barth’s leg isn’t as big as McManus, but they are both NFL-quality.
“What was it? One was 70 and one was 65,” head coach Gary Kubiak said Tuesday. “That’s pretty encouraging. That’s a good battle between those two. We let them kick a lot today. Obviously, it’s going to be a tough, tough decision for our team down the road. I think they’re both doing their job. It was nice to see today.”
So, while there are many questions to answer in who will step up in covering punts and kickoffs, one good question the Broncos are wrestling with is “Who will be the starting kicker?”
On the return game, DeCamillis says he expects to have Omar Bolden in for the second preseason game, though he’s not sure on how many reps Bolden will get.
“It’d be nice to see him back there for sure,” DeCamillis said. “We’ll see how it goes. We haven’t talked about any play-time stuff at all yet. We’ll have a better feel for that as the week goes on.”
Bolden separated himself in camp as the team’s best kickoff return man, and it seems he’ll be handling some of the punt return duties as well. Solomon Patton was doing well last week in training camp, but after his muffed punt Friday and a poor week of practice, his opportunity may be coming to an end.
When it comes to kickoff coverage, players must remember to stay in their lanes. When they collapsed on Tyler Lockett, the Seattle Seahawks return man ran to the outside and then to daylight. 103 yards and a touchdown. He also enjoyed a 46-yard return later in the game and averaged 46 yards per on four kickoffs.
Fundamentals must be preached and the younger Broncos better listen up. For fringe players, catching on and catching up in the special teams game is a perfect way to make the roster.
The Broncos visit the Houston Texans this Saturday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.
