Week 1 Special Teams Production

During the season, the Eagles provide weekly updates of "Special Teams Production Points". These points are a black box in terms of how they are awarded, and in fact, the methodology varies greatly from coach to coach. For example, it appears that Ted Daisher no longer awards points to linemen blocking for kicks -- something that John Harbaugh and Rory Segrest had done. He also breaks from Harbaugh and Segrest in that he awards points to return men -- last year, DeSean Jackson finished the year with zero; he got 18 this year in week 1. Finally, grading is quite subjective in general. Rory Segrest was a more generous grader than John Harbaugh. That doesn't mean his units or his players performed any better. All of which makes comparing STs points across seasons difficult to do.

All that said, one thing that a subjective grading system can tell us is who the coaching staff was impressed with from week to week, and who they were not impressed with, and who participated to any meaningful degree. And we get a way of comparing different players and their relative performance on units where most guys participating don't even appear on your tv screen for most of the play.

So, without further ado, here is the Week 1 Special Teams Production Points as copied out of the Eagles' weekly game release:

A few takeaways from this table:

• That's why Dimitri Patterson and Tracy White are on the team. These guys are top-notch special teams guys, and they performed as such on Sunday.
• Moise Fokou did a nice job. I think it is going to be very difficult deciding whether he or Mays is activated each week. Cointinuing to put in a strong effort on STs can make that decision easier. Mays didn't play STs last year even in the couple of games where he was active, so it isn't clear whether he is any good in this area or not.
• Quintin Demps was disappointing. Last year, he was one of the top performers on special teams. Clearly he was penalized for his stupid play on the punt, and he missed some of the game with an injury, so that hurt. The unit would really benefit from strong play from him this year -- he has the ability to be the best player on special teams.
• Sheldon Brown played a lot of special teams. I found that to be quite surprising while watching the game. I don't know if it was because Demps got hurt, but he usually isn't a big participant for this team. Last year he had 16 points all season. Juqua Parker also played a good deal -- he was always a very good special teamer for us before he became a starter, and one benefit of his demotion is that he is back on STs.
• Hank Baskett was nowhere to be found. He was 10th on the team last year with 9.2 points per game ... and scored just 1 point on Sunday. And now he's gone. The two facts are probably related. Alex Smith is another guy whom I would have expected to show up but didn't.