In 2007 the Green Bay Packers had decent special teams play. After a disastrous 2006 season when the Packers Special teams proved to be anything but finishing the worst in the NFL, the 13 - 3 '07 season showed mcuh better even factoring in the diaster in the unplayable conditions in Chicago game.

Due in NO small part to an inexplicable decision by Ted Thompson to cut Jon Ryan at the start of the '08 season (out of the blue), there was a significant drop off from the improved play of 2007 to that of 2008, resulting in Special Team Coach Mike Stock being 'talked' into retirement.

Mike McCarthy, with the opportunity to start fresh, instead matched Thompson's inexplicable decision making process from the season before.

Instead of picking any of the long list of accomplished Special Team Veteran coaches on the market, MM promoted Stock's assistant, Shawn Slocum, to direct the special teams - declaring Special Teams to be a area of renewed emphasis. Mike further declared that Special Teams would be "cleaned-up" and "fixed" by the improved quality of players carried on the roster that comes with the switch to the 3/4 defense.

The results?

As Bob McGinn points out in his mid-season report card -

SPECIAL TEAMS (F)
Tim-berrrrrr! This unit, which hit mid-2008 tied for 17th and mid-2007 ranked sixth, has crashed to 32nd in a 10-category statistical comparison of special-teams performance. through 8 games in '09

I think McGinn is being generous with his grade of an F Is there such a thing as an F minus??? -- because if there is the Pack has surely earned it.

You can bet that Shawn Slocum will likely take the bullet for this one, but it cannot cover for the stupidity of Ted Thompson's move at the start of lthe '08 season, any more than it can cover for the lack of due diligence performed by Mike McCarthy in hiring an inexperience assistant of the guy he just forced into retirement -- especially when there was a long list of competent veteran special teams coach waiting for a call.

The propensity to scapegoat since the beginning of the Ted Thompson reign has not gone without notice in many football circles.

Anyone care to bet who the next goat in line might be?

The classic "chicken or egg" question. Is it the coaching, or the players? Since the Packers put emphasis on the ST's this year, to the detriment of the offense (at least according to one big-time poster- no, not you, Bruce), it seems the fault lies at the feet of Slocum, the ST's coach. Oops, wait- MM has said this has to do with "lane integrity". Is this similar to "pad level" for the OL? When is this guy going to run out of excuses and put a winning football team on the field without Favre?

Should we have expected anything to change on special teams after MM named the assistant ST coach to run his ST? MM should have looked outside the staff if he wanted anything to really change on ST.

The special teams are bad, but I think you're putting too much emphasis on the Jon Ryan waiving for Frost. We dropped an awful punter for a terrible punter.

I've ranted about this clown Slocum's choice of personnel in other situations.

Did anyone else notice who was on his "hands team"?

He's not a scapegoat, the guy is an idiot.

Who's idea is it to have a big-legged kicker kick short? I never understood that. Why let the other team return it at all? I think the hope for a turnover is not worth the risk of a long run-back.