The Atlanta Falcons' special teams woes finally came back to haunt them in Week 13, as the New York Jets boast one of the strongest special teams units in the NFL. Special teams woes practically gifted the Jets 10 points, which is the main reason why the Falcons lost a very winnable game on the road.
The 27-24 loss was predominantly because those mishaps came back to bite the Dirty Birds in the behind, which saw Raheem Morris tear into his special teamers. But it wasn't Morris who sent the message fans were waiting to hear, since Falcons' punter and captain Bradley Pinion spoke up.
While Morris just said all he wanted to see was improvement, Pinion had more to say. The longtime punter admitted he wanted to see Atlanta's special teams units return to the basics of what that unit should be doing on a consistent basis. And by the looks of it, he looks spot-on in his assessment.
Bradley Pinion says complexity is the main issue for the Falcons' special teams
On six punts, the 31-year-old averaged nearly 40 yards per punt, so his performance wasn't the main problem. The problem came from Zane Gonzalez' first missed field goal in red and black, Jamal Agnew's muffed punt, and Morris opting to gift the Jets' offense free yards to prevent a big return.
Yet even though they tried to kick away from Isaiah Williams, he still came one Natrone Brooks tackle away from housing a kick return that he took 83 yards into Atlanta territory. And when the special teams is setting up the defense to fail, it's only a matter of time before things go awry.
The 2015 fifth-round pick of the 49ers has been in winning locker rooms before. He won a Super Bowl in 2020 with the Buccaneers and spent the start of his career in San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan. Yet the Falcons haven't even made the playoffs in the four seasons he's spent in Atlanta.
Since signing with the Falcons, Pinion has emerged as one of the most important locker room leaders on the team, so it's nice hearing him say what fans are thinking. As someone with likely more special teams experience than the rest of the roster put together, he definitely knows what he's talking about.
Between Morris and Marquice Williams, the Dirty Birds are over simplifying something that's supposed to be easy. They've been overplaying their gaps which has resulted in a failure to cover kickoffs, missing field goals, and coughing up the football, which can't happen anymore.
And Pinion's words are additional proof that Williams needs to be fired so the unit can do what it should have been doing all along.