The Packers know they need to work on their special teams.
Being last in the league, losing a shot at a Super Bowl and firing a coordinator can bring about such epiphanies.
Along with giving up play-calling duties to spend more time concentrating on his whole team, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said he’s inclined to letting even more of the team help fix the problem.
According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com, McCarthy said he’s more open to letting new special teams coach Ron Zook use more starters next year.
“I think we need to adjust our special teams philosophy,” McCarthy said. “I know what it was here the last 20 years, but we had starters play more on special teams [last] year than we had in the past, and that will continue to increase. Special teams needs to be an asset, not something that we use as a stepping stone offense or defense. That’s part of the charge.”
Fired coach Shawn Slocum might have appreciated such consideration.
“Frankly, that probably wasn’t fair to Shawn in some ways,” McCarthy said.
But teams such as the Seahawks have shown what a willingness to use regulars can make, and the Packers appear inclined to follow suit now.
None of the top 14 Packers in special teams snaps was a starter on offense or defense.
Safety Morgan Burnett saw the most action, but he only played 25.1 percent of their snaps on special teams.
Again, if Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor can run down kicks, there’s no reason the Packers secondary can’t. And as with most things NFL, the fact the champion does things one way means it will be copied immediately.