Pretty Please with a Cherry on top....

[chknwing]

Can we please inject some life into the return game.  As much fun as it is watching returns go for 3 yards and a tackle or run out of bounds, I would much rather see an attempt to take it to the house.  Not sure whom we can get through draft or free agency.  Thoughts?

[thefuzz]

I don't really recall out special teams ever being really good.

Maybe I'm misremembering.

[Catsfan69]

5 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

I don't really recall out special teams ever being really good.

Maybe I'm misremembering.

You are either young or dumb.

Michael Bates was a threat on every kickoff and was the best in the NFL for years. 

Steve Smith's first NFL play was taking a KO to the house and was one of the best punt returners in the NFL.

Heck even came in after years of not doing it and took a punt to the house in the NFC Championship vs Seattle. 

Armanti Edwards had a game winning punt return TD vs the Giants when all hope was lost.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Catsfan69

[electro's horse]

1 minute ago, Catsfan69 said:

 

Heck even came in after years of not doing it and took a punt to the house in the NFC Championship vs Seattle. 

 

There were like 6 visible holds and blocks in the back on that return

refs threw a flag and picked it up because we were getting worked lol

[Daddy_Uncle]

Need to find our next Kealoha Pilaris

[chknwing]

Just now, Daddy_Uncle said:

Need to find our next Kealoha Pilaris

[CarolinaNCSU]

Rod Smart forever 

[Mr. Scot]

13 minutes ago, Catsfan69 said:

You are either young or dumb.

He's neither.

[MillionDollarCam]

Believe it or not, Erickson was seventh in yards per punt return at 8.87 and Abdullah was thirteenth in yards per kick return at 22.28

In general the return game isn’t producing that many game changing plays anymore. Out of the top 15 players in yards per punt return, only one TD was scored, it was done so by Jakeem Grant. Kick off returns have a little more success with four TD’s being scored by the top 15 players in yards per kick return.

Since the Panthers haven’t brought back Erickson and Abdullah signed elsewhere, I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave Shi Smith every opportunity to win the job.

[Smithers]

Maybe we will draft a return guy in the 5th-6th round this year.  I agree it would be nice to have a home-run threat.  But...I am not sure our roster has much space for a one trick pony. 

[thefuzz]

17 minutes ago, Catsfan69 said:

You are either young or dumb.

Michael Bates was a threat on every kickoff and was the best in the NFL for years. 

Steve Smith's first NFL play was taking a KO to the house and was one of the best punt returners in the NFL.

Heck even came in after years of not doing it and took a punt to the house in the NFC Championship vs Seattle. 

Armanti Edwards had a game winning punt return TD vs the Giants when all hope was lost.

LOL.

I'm not talking about individual returns, I'm talking about special teams units being really good over the course of seasons.

 

P.S. I'd love to be young, and I'd probably be a lot happier if I were dumber.

[rayzor]

16 minutes ago, Catsfan69 said:

You are either young or dumb.

Michael Bates was a threat on every kickoff and was the best in the NFL for years. 

Steve Smith's first NFL play was taking a KO to the house and was one of the best punt returners in the NFL.

Heck even came in after years of not doing it and took a punt to the house in the NFC Championship vs Seattle. 

Armanti Edwards had a game winning punt return TD vs the Giants when all hope was lost.

No need for the insult. 

To the OP, it's been a minute since we've been respectable at all in the return game. Not really since Smitty really early in his career have we had any kind of consistent and good return game.  Since then it's been only a couple instances where we had a jaw dropping return. The rest has been pretty meh.

It would be nice to have a respectable return game again. It's been way too long. 

[joemac]

27 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

I don't really recall out special teams ever being really good.

Maybe I'm misremembering.

We were killer when we had Michael Bates and Smitty returning kicks.  Thats about it though really. 

[Catsfan69]

4 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

LOL.

I'm not talking about individual returns, I'm talking about special teams units being really good over the course of seasons.

 

P.S. I'd love to be young, and I'd probably be a lot happier if I were dumber.

Yes the Bates Era was consistently good.

Steve Smith was consistently good. 

Winslow Oliver really wasn't awful.