Should Hill return kicks in the playoffs?

[sith13 1,746]

Unless the situation calls for it there's no need to return kicks. Turnovers or stupid penalties (in our case simply penalties) are more common than a big return. Hill should be handling the punts though. We paid him big money and the defenses are restricting him quite a bit, we need to utilize him as much as possible. 

IMO we should get all we can out of offensive players while we can. Sitting out good returners for protection is way overrated.

[Mloe68 1,521]

15 hours ago, Adamixoye said:

Well, that's not really relevant to my point.

I looked up the stats and forgot just how many punt return TDs Hill has had (2 in 2016, 1 each in 2017-2018, has just one return for zero yards this year) and his averages were not bad.  So maybe he doesn't lose yardage as often as I feel like he does.

In that one year of returning kicks he had one TD and a nice average of more than 27 yards.

FWIW his one KR TD was in 14 returns.  He has 4 PR TDs in 85 returns, or one out of every 21.25.

Tyreek led the NFL in average punt return by s large margin in 2016. 4th in kick returns under the old rules.  To me it seems relevant he hasn’t returned a kickoff in three years and that teams don’t use elite WRs as kick returners for a reason. 

Dave Toub said he’s open to using Tyreek late in any close game as a punt returner and did so in the Vikings game. And on point with the initial post he had a major impact as the punter shanked the punt trying to avoid Tyreek which helped set up game winning FG.  

Anything should be considered with everything on the line though. But even there it was Tremon Smith returning the kick late in the AFC Title game. 

[dksww 484]

21 hours ago, FANATIC said:

I vote YES ! In the past teams had to make big adjustments with Hill set to return kicks. Call it FEAR. That can lead to mistakes and of course Hill is a game changer. 

What say you?

No.

He's too valuable to the pass offense to risk getting hurt on a return.

Hardman has been fine.  In all honesty they shouldn't even attempt a KR or PR unless they have to;  Like having a kickoff caught at the 1 or whatever fo no TB.  Fair catch every punt and avoid the penalty on the return. 

[FANATIC 852]

1 minute ago, dksww said:

No.

He's too valuable to the pass offense to risk getting hurt on a return.

Hardman has been fine.  In all honesty they shouldn't even attempt a KR or PR unless they have to;  Like having a kickoff caught at the 1 or whatever fo no TB.  Fair catch every punt and avoid the penalty on the return. 

Interesting. One game elimination and should fair catch everything?  Play it safe? Take no risks? Recipe for losing by 3 or less. Its time to GO FOR IT.

[dksww 484]

3 minutes ago, FANATIC said:

Interesting. One game elimination and should fair catch everything?  Play it safe? Take no risks? Recipe for losing by 3 or less. Its time to GO FOR IT.

Depends on the exact situation but, odds are it will just get called back for a penalty anyway.  What's the penalty % on a return?  It's gotta be more than 50% of all returns get called back for holding or a block in the back.

With our offense we need to play it safe a majority of the time on returns to avoid a penalty costing us field position and to avoid a turnover.

[FANATIC 852]

1 minute ago, dksww said:

Depends on the exact situation but, odds are it will just get called back for a penalty anyway.  What's the penalty % on a return?  It's gotta be more than 50% of all returns get called back for holding or a block in the back.

I dont try to determine an outcome in advance. Hill is special. Put the ball in his hands as often as possible. With a QB like Mahomes you are never out of a game even if there is a turnover. Give your play makers the ball. Play with a lead vs Reid going Marty.

[dksww 484]

2 minutes ago, FANATIC said:

I dont try to determine an outcome in advance. Hill is special. Put the ball in his hands as often as possible. With a QB like Mahomes you are never out of a game even if there is a turnover. Give your play makers the ball. Play with a lead vs Reid going Marty.

Reid can scheme up plays on offense to get Hill the ball instead of a KR or PR.

[FANATIC 852]

3 minutes ago, dksww said:

Reid can scheme up plays on offense to get Hill the ball instead of a KR or PR.

Of course he can. So you say just forget the kick return game altogether even with Hardman. Play it safe. Seems KC has lost most of their play off games playing it safe. One playoff win out of the last how many? For me GO FOR IT. Nothing is guaranteed. Hill could pull a hamstring on the first play. Mahomes could get knocked out like Montana.

[dksww 484]

1 minute ago, FANATIC said:

Of course he can. So you say just forget the kick return game altogether even with Hardman. Play it safe. Seems KC has lost most of their play off games playing it safe. One playoff win out of the last how many? For me GO FOR IT. Nothing is guaranteed. Hill could pull a hamstring on the first play. Mahomes could get knocked out like Montana.

Let's see what you have to say as soon as a big return is called back for holding OR if somebody fumbles the ball. 

[FANATIC 852]

Just now, dksww said:

Let's see what you have to say as soon as a big return is called back for holding OR if somebody fumbles the ball. 

It wont matter. Those things are going to happen. Turnovers are part of the game. Bad calls and penalties too. One big play often wins the playoff game and overcomes the other negative things that a sure to show up.

[Mloe68 1,521]

Right on cue Hardman hurt his glute today and was listed as a limited participant. Doesn't sound serious at all but it'll be interesting to see but we should get an instant glimpse at who Toub plans to use next on returns. 

[jetlord 10,209]

4 hours ago, Mloe68 said:

Right on cue Hardman hurt his glute today and was listed as a limited participant. Doesn't sound serious at all but it'll be interesting to see but we should get an instant glimpse at who Toub plans to use next on returns. 

At least it won't be DAT.

[Balto 723]

With Hill’s injury history this season I just can’t get behind having him return unless no other options.

[Mloe68 1,521]

2 hours ago, jetlord said:

At least it won't be DAT.

You can’t know that. 😂. Dave Toub probably has him on speed dial. 

[sith13 1,746]

3 hours ago, jetlord said:

At least it won't be DAT.

You say that now 🙄

[sith13 1,746]

15 hours ago, dksww said:

Depends on the exact situation but, odds are it will just get called back for a penalty anyway.  What's the penalty % on a return?  It's gotta be more than 50% of all returns get called back for holding or a block in the back.

With our offense we need to play it safe a majority of the time on returns to avoid a penalty costing us field position and to avoid a turnover.

I can understand the kicks as most of the time they lose yardage. However having Hill just stand up there is good enough to take away around 10 yards from every punt as the punter will be giving up some distance to make sure Hill doesn't burn him. The fear of specific players outweigh the logic of the ST play. If Hill handles all punts in a year he probably takes 2-3 to the house but that's more than enough to scare the other team to giving up yards freely. 

[robgar 1,046]

hill short hardman deep, hardman short hill deep.. mess with em a bit..