Detroit Lions special-teams coach: 'We had the worst wedge' in NFL

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Joe Marciano is a fan of the NFL's new kickoff rules, if only because it means the Detroit Lions special-teams coordinator doesn't have to coach wedge blocks anymore.

"We were bad," Marciano said Tuesday after the Lions' fourth organized team activity practice of the spring. "We had the worst wedge in the league. It was embarrassing. It’s embarrassing. I’m glad other coaches ain’t looking at (our film of that anymore). I’m serious, cause it was embarrassing."

The Lions had one of the best all-around special-teams units in the NFL last season.

They led the league in punt-return average, ranked second in kickoff coverage as measured by average starting field position, and had one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL in Matt Prater.

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But as good as they were in those categories, the Lions were just as bad in kick returns, where they ranked last in the NFL with an 18.2-yard average.

Marciano said the Lions' struggles in that department were a "direct reflect of bad coaching on my part," specifically their inability to give return man Jamal Agnew space to operate with good wedge blocks.

"We got him killed," Marciano said.

And now that the NFL has outlawed wedge blocks as part of its new kickoff rules, Marciano said it stands to reason that the Lions will be a better kick-return team this fall.

Along with outlawing wedge blocks – where two blockers form a high-speed wall to open a lane for their return man – the NFL instituted a 15-yard no-blocking zone on kickoffs, restricted the formations that both the kickoff and return teams can use, and prohibited defenders from getting a running start in coverage.

Two changes to the @NFL kickoff rules include:



-No running start from the kicking team

-No wedge blocks from the receiving team



See all changes in the graphic below. pic.twitter.com/YH5sJTB3wC — NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) May 27, 2018

Now, five defenders must be lined up on both sides of the ball on kickoffs, with at least two players outside of the numbers on each side of the field, and the return team must have eight players in the 15-yard "setup zone."

NFL competition committee chairman Rich McKay said the changes were done in an effort to reduce collisions and make kickoffs a safer play, but should lead to more returns as well.

"We’ve all watched video of this play for a long time," McKay said at the NFL's spring meeting last week. "And our reaction to that video and the data has been, 'Hey, we need to get more touchbacks.' At some point you have to stop that thought process and say, 'OK what about this play? What’s the future of this play?'

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"I think this way of looking at it is a really good way to look at it. Take the data that we had that said 65 percent of concussions were occurring when there was a wedge block, take that data and show us what you’re going to do with it, and they did. And not just eliminating the wedge block but by the alignment, making basically it’s a small player’s play now, not a big player’s play. I think you’re going to see a safer play, and I still think you have stuck to our idea that you do want to idea to honor the history of the play and we’d like to keep the play in. This is a good way to do it."

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Marciano said he agrees with McKay's assessment that the kickoff will be a "small player's play" going forward, and that could impact the way NFL general managers fill their final few roster spots.

Rather than use offensive or defensive linemen in the old wedge positions, with bigger bodies up front, Marciano said "you’ll see more track teams out there, some more speed" on kick returns.

"You can’t put the O-line/D-linemen in there anymore," Marciano said. "The guys that play on the wedge, where are they going to play? If they can’t play the front line, they’re not athletic enough to turn, run, backpedal and try to block a guy in space. We proved where our wedge guys couldn’t do that well enough last year, so I’m glad they're taking the big guys out of there cause we stunk. We were terrible. That’s the truth. I’m not making a joke out of this. There’s a reason why we were 32nd in the league, because our wedge guys were terrible."

Marciano said he's considering other changes to the Lions' kick-return unit, including using running back Ameer Abdullah as the team's primary return man again.

Abdullah finished second in the NFL in kick returns as a rookie, but had just eight returns last year as the Lions limited his special-teams usage coming off LIsfranc surgery.

As for how else the new rules will impact kick returns, Marciano said OTAs, minicamp and training camp will be a time for experimentation with different formations and different approaches

"There’s going to be a time and a place to kick the ball out of the end zone, there’s going to be a time and a place to kick one high. Depending on people’s formations, there might be a time to bloop one over the front line, let it hit and roll. Like roll the ball down the gym, let’s see who’s going to come up with it," Marciano said. "There’s a lot of things to experiment with. I’ll be curious to watch other coaches’ films, see what they're doing, especially early in the (year), different strategies. I think the (league) wants to make it like a punt return, that’s what some media outlets are saying. I don’t necessarily see it that way."

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!