Special teams aren’t so special so far

Associated Press

BEREA

The Browns have spent the past few days paying special attention to special teams.

After two troublesome games, they had no choice.

In the past two weeks, Cleveland has been burned by big plays on special teams, costly gaffes they can’t afford.

Last Sunday, the Browns had two field goals blocked by Seattle defensive lineman Red Bryant, who found a weakness in the Browns’ line, stormed through and wiped out scoring chances. The Seahawks also returned a punt for a touchdown, but it was called back by a highly questionable blocking-in-the-back penalty.

The previous week in Oakland, the Browns gave up a 101-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and were burned by a fake field goal for a TD by the Raiders.

“They’ve been big mistakes,” said Browns kicker Phil Dawson, who overcame the blocks on Sunday by making two field goals beyond 50 yards in a 6-3 win over Seattle. “But they’re fixable and we’re close to having them never happen. Not to minimize the result, we’re not happy with that, but we can get it fixed.”

They’d better this week.

On Sunday, the Browns (3-3) will face a San Francisco team whose special teams units are flourishing under coordinator Brad Seely, who joined the 49ers after two successful seasons with Cleveland. Under Seely’s guidance, the Browns’ special teams were ranked among the league’s best.

But under new coordinator Chris Tabor, those units, at least to this point, have struggled. It’s nothing new to Tabor, who spent the previous three years coaching Chicago’s special teams. The Bears were consistently ranked in the top five in most special teams categories, but had stretches where things didn’t go well.

“Even in Chicago, we were coming off back-to-back years ranked No. 1 and then we went through a little overhaul of some players and didn’t play real well at the beginning,” Tabor said. “You just have to continue to work hard to get out of it. That’s what we’re doing. We’re coaching our guys. They’re playing hard, and we’re just trying to continue to coach them not to make the same mistake twice. I know what the mistakes have been, and we’re working hard to correct those things.”

When Cleveland’s roster was overhauled during the offseason, the club cut ties with Blake Costanzo, Nick Sorensen and Jason Trusnik, three players dedicated to playing special teams. So far, the Browns haven’t had much success replacing them.

“In the special teams world, it’s a revolving door,” Tabor said. “There’s guys coming and going, and we’re continuing to get experience each and every week. I just believe that we have hit a little tough time right here, but we have to stay the course and continue to coach them hard.”

Browns coach Pat Shurmur said earlier this week that there will be personnel changes on special teams, but he wouldn’t go into any detail so as not to give the 49ers any advantage.

The challenge for the Browns’ coverage units will be to contain speedy wide receiver/returner Ted Ginn Jr. who took back a kickoff and punt for TDs in the season opener against Seattle.