There are not many reasons special teams make headlines. Either there was a game-winning field goal or impressive kick or punt return or something very bad happened.
For the Houston Texans last week, several things happened on special teams last Sunday at home.
Not only did Houston allow the Cincinnati Bengals to have a 40-yard kick return, but punter Kai Kroeger also probably had one of the worst games of his career. The second-year punter finished with an average of 41.4 yards per punt, but he also mishandled a chip-shot field goal early in the second quarter that would have allowed Houston to get on the board first.
Special teams coordinator Frank Ross addressed what went wrong on the botched field goal.
"It's not something we're going to hide
from. We know. It's blatant and obvious. We missed an opportunity,” Ross said. “That's on me. I have to be better. From each person in the operation and that's all you can ask for. You get a low snap, not good enough. You get a hold that when you have to make a good hold is not good enough. Do you know what the best part of all this is? How do you grow from a scar? You look at it and you say, 'Hey, here's what we got to get better at.' You go to work and you fix it. Look at us. We're working. I'm proud of the way when we came to the sideline, there was no shake and the kicker's like, 'Hey, man, next thing. That's all I want. The only thing I care about right now is the next play.' Opportunity for them to challenge their mental toughness. I think they did. It'll serve us well in the future."
That game was just his second with the Texans after spending his rookie year last season with the New Orleans Saints. With New Orleans, he averaged 44.8 yards per punt with 32.1 percent of them landing inside the 20-yard line. He also had two punts blocked last season.
The Texans will need better from him in their Week 3 game against the Indianapolis Colts to avoid getting upset on the road and dropping to 0-3 for the second straight season.
This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Texans' Frank Ross explains how learning from mishandled FG vs Bengals will make special teams better
