Packers allow highest pressure rate on punt attempts in 2022
By Paul Bretl
Although the Green Bay Packers special teams unit was much improved in 2022, one facet where they still really struggled was with blocking on punt attempts, which could explain the turnover at the long-snapper position.
According to Seth Walder of ESPN, the Packers allowed 11 pressures on 54 punt attempts, which equates to a rate of 20.4%, the highest in football. This resulted in two blocks, one against the New York Jets that resulted in a touchdown and another against Minnesota backed up in their own territory. The next closest team was the New York Jets at 16.9% and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 12.7%.
This data coincides with Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings, where the Packers allowed a league-high four blocked kicks, including field goal attempts. The league average per team in 2022 was just 1.5. On the flip side, the Packers’ punt coverage unit ranked seventh in punt pressures, per ESPN’s data, with 10 on the season, although no blocks.
Of course, not all of the blame for poor blocking falls strictly on the long-snapper–it’s a group effort to give the punter and field goal kicker time. However, the Packers moving on from Jack Coco suggests that he may have played a somewhat significant role in those outcomes. In comparison to the 2021 season that featured Hunter Bradley and Steven Wirtel at long-snapper, Coco seemed to fly under the radar last season for the most part, as he often avoided the obvious and uber-costly errors.
Although PFF’s grading system is not the be-all-end-all, Coco did have the seventh-worst grade among long-snappers last season, along with some inaccurate snaps as well to go along with the inconsistent blocking.
At the halfway point of last season, Rich Bisaccia mentioned that with a rookie long-snapper, the Packers were facing heavy eight-man fronts in punt protection quite often. Considering that element, the high pressure rate isn’t a surprise and only giving up two blocks doesn’t sound so bad.
In Coco’s place, the Packers signed free agent Matt Orzech and undrafted rookie Broughton Hatcher from Old Dominion. While there may be two long-snappers on the roster, all signs point to this job belonging to Orzech after he was signed to a three-year deal.
Orzech is a Super Bowl Champion after spending the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, where kicker Matt Gay made 90-of-92 extra point attempts during that span and 68-of-74 field goals. Punter Riley Dixon would finish 2022 as PFF’s third-highest-graded punter.
Overall, the Packers’ special teams unit finished 22nd last season, according to Gosselin’s rankings. Not great by any means, but a far cry from the 32nd ranking they had the season prior, not to mention that this was a group playing quite well by the end of the year after a slow start. Green Bay will be undergoing a change at kicker – and long-snapper – but there will be little turnover as the team heads into its second season with Bisaccia at the helm. The top eight players in special teams snaps are all on the current roster, as are the top 10 in tackles.
It’s possible that with a Year 2 jump under Bisaccia, that the special teams unit could go from a weakness to a strength for this Packers team. This will be important to Green Bay’s overall success with a young quarterback and offense, putting a premium on winning the field position battle.