GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Ron Zook had the exact same thought you did as he watched Jeff Janis let a kickoff bounce in front of him inside the 5-yard line in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss at Washington.

“You’re exactly right: What was he doing?” Zook said.

The Green Bay Packers special teams coach could barely believe his eyes. Sure, the gusting winds made any ball in the air difficult to judge, but Janis never should have let it hit the ground.

“Get on the ball,” Zook said. “But I think it kind of shocked him.”

That wasn’t Janis’ only mistake on the play.

Jeff Janis might be in danger of being pulled off kick returns. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

“We’ve got a signal, which he did not give,” Zook said. “And everybody saw where he was and they just assumed we weren’t coming out, so they slowed down a little bit and that’s what allowed the people to get down there fast.”

If not for the quick reaction of tight end Richard Rodgers, the Redskins might have recovered it for a touchdown or at the very least gained possession inside the Packers’ 5-yard line. As it ended up, the Packers started at their own 2-yard line.

It was another example of the maddening aspect of Janis, the highly athletic receiver who has never been able to put it together. Two weeks earlier, he used his 4.42 speed to blow by Colts cornerback Vontae Davis only to drop a perfectly placed deep ball that could’ve been a 75-yard touchdown.

In the two games since then, Janis has played just 12 snaps on offense -- two Sunday against the Redskins and 10 the week before at Tennessee. Janis has nine catches for 78 yards and one touchdown this season. He did not play on offense in the first three weeks; he was limited to special teams duties because of a cast on his broken right hand. He's averaging just 17.5 yards on four kickoff returns. That's the lowest average on the team.

The Packers already benched their punt returner, rookie receiver Trevor Davis, after last week’s fumble against the Titans, replacing him with starting receiver Randall Cobb against the Redskins. Now, Janis might be in danger of being pulled off kick returns. Zook wouldn’t say whether he would use Janis on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Those are all things we’ve got to continue to work on,” Zook said. “Once again, if you could go out and do it right now, that wouldn’t happen. You can’t go buy experience, you’ve got to go do it. We’ve got to learn from those things. You can’t let those things happen. This team we’re getting ready to play is a very good special teams team.”