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The Vikings (Not So) Special Teams Thread


SteelKing728

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From Week 1 to Week 12, Vikings kicker Dan Bailey was having a solid season. He’d made 10-of-12 field goals and 26-of-27 extra point attempts. But things have changed in the last two weeks. Bailey’s missed three extra points and four field goals in Minnesota’s last two games, including all four of his kicks — three field goals, one extra point — in last Sunday’s loss to Tampa Bay.

While Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer was asked Wednesday if Bailey would be his team’s kicker against the Bears on Sunday and replied, “We’ll see.” He was then asked if the Vikings would add any other kickers this week and again replied, “We’ll see.”

But Zimmer at least later offered this on Bailey, via Chris Tomasson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “I don’t think we have a kicker we can’t depend on. All kinds of guys make mistakes throughout the course of a game.”

The Vikings did work out Chandler Catanzaro and Taylor Bertolet, which likely means those kickers have begun the COVID-19 testing necessary in order to play this weekend. Minnesota has not signed either player as of yet, which means at least for now, Bailey is on tap to get a shot at redemption against the Bears.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/12/16/mike-zimmer-on-dan-bailey-i-dont-think-we-have-a-kicker-we-cant-depend-on/

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Not saying Longwell is wrong, but playing devil’s advocate, if it’s a 15 minute fix then why couldn’t they fix it using the game? 

There are multiple 15 minute intervals during the game where the kicker, long snapper, punter, and ST coach aren’t actively involved in the game. 

Edited by SemperFeist
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  • 4 weeks later...
18 minutes ago, swede700 said:

I'm surprised, at this point, why Zimmer hasn't just given the ST job to Ryan Ficken.  He's been around for 14 years, with most of the time spent under Priefer.  Just give him the job and see what he can do.  

Legally they can't anymore. Coordinator jobs in the NFL are now also subject to the Rooney rule.

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1 hour ago, RpMc said:

Legally they can't anymore. Coordinator jobs in the NFL are now also subject to the Rooney rule.

True, I had forgotten about that.  I still expect him to end up with it. It'll be interesting to see which minorities they can get to interview for that type of position.  I googled some guys at the college level that might be interested, since that's likely where they'll have to go to at least get some people in the pipeline.  I was able to find a guy like Jay Boulware, who was a Sooner ST guy for years and is now free after not being retained at Texas when Herman got fired.    

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  • 2 months later...

The Minnesota Vikings are hiring Robert Steeples to serve as their new assistant special teams coach. Steeples, who played briefly for the Vikings in 2013 on the very special teams unit he’ll help oversee, fills the vacancy created by Ryan Ficken’s promotion to the head special teams coordinator role. Ficken replaces Marwan Maalouf, who was not retained after last season.

Steeples has spent the five seasons as head coach of the De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, where is his alma mater. The school announced his departure to join the Vikings’ staff.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/04/14/vikings-hiring-robert-steeples-as-assistant-special-teams-coach/

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