Rams try to rev up punt return game/PD

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RamBill

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Rams try to rev up punt return game
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_d72e5c32-e54e-5931-a1fb-fad8a02fd30b.html

At first glance, the Rams are in relatively good shape on punt returns, ranking 10th in the NFL at 9.9 yards per punt return.

But take away the 90-yard return for a touchdown by Stedman Bailey on the “Mountaineer” trick play against Seattle? Well, then things aren’t so good.

Second-year man Tavon Austin, respected around the league for his return ability, is averaging only 6.3 yards on 20 returns. That adds up to just 126 yards on punt returns from Austin this season in 8½ games.

(He missed half of the Tampa Bay game and all of the Dallas game with an early-season knee injury.)

“That’s how it goes,” said Austin, who says he’s not frustrated. “I’ve been successful my whole life. This is the first time I’m going through adversity. It’s cool, though. It’ll make me a stronger player mentally and physically.”

Austin’s longest return this season was a 38-yarder four weeks ago in Kansas City. But there was less than a half-minute to play at the time in a contest the Chiefs won 34-7.

Otherwise, he had a 19-yarder in the opener against Minnesota, a 12-yarder in the first San Francisco game (Oct. 13), an 11-yarder and 10-yarder in the second 49ers game (Nov. 2), and a 10-yard return last Sunday against Denver.

On that play against the Broncos, Austin looked like he had the potential for a big return but was pulled down on an illegal horse-collar tackle by Denver linebacker Lamin Barrow. Barrow was penalized but not fined on the play. The 15-yard penalty added to the return yardage gave the Rams very good field position on their 48, and they ended up getting a Greg Zuerlein field goal on the possession for a 16-7 lead in what became a 22-7 victory.

Two weeks earlier, in the Rams’ 13-10 victory at San Francisco, game officials mistakenly whistled a return dead on what would have been a 61-yard return for a touchdown down the left sideline.

Referee Jerome Boger’s crew apparently thought Austin had stepped out of bounds, which replays showed clearly wasn’t the case. The play wouldn’t have counted anyway, because there were offsetting penalties.

“Unfortunately it got called back,” Austin said. “But you’ve got to keep your head and keep level-minded. Something good’s going to happen eventually, and it’ll stick. I’m always in good spirits about it. I like my punt return team. They go all the way out on it for me. So I’m good with it.”

That leaves Austin with just those six returns of 10 yards-plus as his highlight returns for this season.

“Really we haven’t changed anything as far as ... our drills in practice,” special teams coordinator John Fassel said. “We’ve tweaked the scheme just a little bit, just like we normally would. Denver’s punter (Britton Colquitt) didn’t give us a chance because he hit the high short kicks, the rugby-type kicks.

“So it’s a combination of blocking and then getting the right ball. We’ve got a few of them, but we didn’t capitalize. Hopefully, in these next six games we’ll get a few chances.”

Starting with 19th-ranked San Diego on Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium, none of the Rams’ final six opponents currently ranks higher than 15th in punt coverage. Among them Oakland is 24th, the New York Giants 23rd and Seattle 32nd.

Austin believes the punt return unit is close to making something happen.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said. “It’s all about just getting the right look. A lot of punters aren’t really punting me the ball. It’s all about being patient. When it does come, you’ve just got to make sure you capitalize on it.”

Because of excellent hang time, as well as good directional punting against him, Austin has returned only half of the 40 punts sent his way. Thirteen punts have resulted in fair-catches; three have been kicked out of bounds; two have been downed; and two rolled into the end zone for touchbacks.

The Rams leave it up to Austin to decide whether to go, or to fair-catch.

“There’s certain calls and alignments we’ll be in where he knows he’s probably going to fair-catch it, unless the punter just screams (a line-drive) at him,” Fassel said.

“We’re never telling him fair-catch it or don’t fair-catch it. It’s really a judgment call that in my opinion he’s been very good at making the right decisions.””

When he decides to return a punt, Austin says he takes a quick scan of the field before going, using his eyes to put his natural ability into motion.

On several returns this season, it has looked like more than a quick scan, but Fassel doesn’t feel Austin is hesitating too much before going.

“No,” Fassel said. “There’s a little bit of strategy based on the type of punter that we’re facing on whether he’s going to catch-and-go or catch-and-set. ... “I’d like to get more out of it, but I’m very optimistic that we’re going to get better these next couple weeks.”
 

DaveFan'51

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JT articles are really starting to bore me to death, He's such a 'Downer'!