Eagles - Specialists weigh in on art of kick returns

By MARK KRAM
Philadelphia Daily News

kramm@phillynews.com

THE NFL record book says that Timmy Brown returned not one but two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game against Dallas in November 1966. But what Brown says of that unlikely episode in his career is that it caught him by surprise, if only because he had been at odds with the coaching staff and relegated to the bench. Told only the day before the game that he would be running back kickoffs that Sunday, Brown remembers that he exclaimed: "Hallelujah!" He says now: "I knew I could do something if I got the opportunity."

But he could not have expected what happened that day at Franklin Field. In what would be a 24-23 Eagles victory, Brown returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown but scarcely had a moment to catch his breath. The Cowboys immediately scored and kicked off to him again. He caught the ball on his own 7-yard line and took off down the field. He lined up behind his blockers, found an opening in the swarm of would-be tacklers that had descended upon him, and drew within view of the end zone. But as the yards flew by beneath him, Brown began to feel as if he were running in the sand on the Jersey Shore.

"By the time I was 30 yards out, I was barely able to pick 'em up," says Brown, only one of seven NFL players to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a single game - and the only Eagle. "My legs began to tighten up. So it was lucky the Cowboys pooped out just as I pooped out. It was like everything was happening in slow motion."

If it sometimes feels like it has been 42 years since the Eagles had a formidable return game, it is not altogether your imagination. Oh, they've enjoyed some sporadic moments of brilliance, but it's been a while. They have not had a kickoff returned for a touchdown since Brian Mitchell ran one back 94 yards against Arizona in November 2001. It has been nearly that long since they have had a punt run back for a TD: Brian Westbrook returned one 81 yards against San Francisco in December 2003. Too often, the return game has been a hold-your-breath proposition, which was underscored last year in the season opener against Green Bay: A J.R. Reed muff deep in his own territory set up a game-winning field goal by the Packers; Greg Lewis also had botched a punt earlier in the game. Quickly, the club signed the sure-handed but unspectacular Reno Mahe.

But the Eagles have come up with two new faces who could solve this lingering problem: Quintin Demps, who will be handling the kickoff returns in addition to backing up at free safety; and DeSean Jackson, a potentially stellar wide receiver who will be fielding punts. Though it is always dangerous to draw any hard conclusions from the preseason, both showed a steep upside in the 27-17 victory over New England 2 weeks ago: Demps ran back a kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown, and Jackson returned a punt 76 yards for another. Eagles special- teams coach Rory Segrest said of the two: "The biggest component we have back there [fielding kicks and punts] is speed." If Segrest is correct when he adds that "we have two good ones," the Eagles can expect to have consistently better field position than they were able to establish last year.

If you were to build a return man from scratch, where would you begin? There are a lot of factors involved, but the one essential is a sense of fearlessness. They do not call special teams "the suicide squad" idly. Kickoff return men are especially prone to hard hits, often building up a 15- to 20-yard running start before colliding with tacklers who also are traveling at full speed. Coaches look for players who are larger in size to return kicks, if only to assure a greater degree of ball security. Punt returners are usually smaller, given to better footwork as opposed to straight-ahead speed. Because the approaching tacklers generally proceed with more caution (so as not to run by the return man in haste) - and because there is also the option of calling for a fair catch - the odds of a jarring hit on punt return is perceived to be lower than on a kickoff. That said, both Demps and Jackson agree that no aspect of the return game is for the timid.

"There is no tiptoeing out there," Demps said. "You get the ball and go. And sometimes you get the ball and go splat."

Jackson echoed that. "You can not be scared out there," he says. "You have to have heart."

The bottom line: You have to have the desire to do it. Because of the limitation of roster space, teams generally draft players they think also can help in the return game. In the case of Mitchell, who had been a quarterback through high school and college, the Redskins told him as a rookie in 1990 that the only way he would make the team was as a return man. "It was my ticket into the NFL," says Mitchell, who returned his first kickoff in preseason for a touchdown. "Until then I was just like everybody else. I thought kickoff return men were crazy. But once I experienced some success, I began to study it, investigate it and watch how other people did it."

Mitchell pauses and adds, "If it were not for that first runback, I probably would have left camp and gone to Canada to play quarterback."

But not everyone can be a successful return man, even if he possesses fearlessness and desire. Certain players just have the instincts for it. Brown says you have to "quickly decipher coverage at top speed and react accordingly. You have to use your peripheral vision. Instead of individual players, you focus on the color of their jerseys."

Mitchell agrees that it "takes a ton of instinct" and adds, "I have always said that if you can return kicks and punts, you can do anything on the football field. Everything is so spontaneous." Mitchell says it comes down to being able to execute "quick decisions," which is another way of saying always use good judgment.

"Good judgment is the key," says Brown, who returned a kickoff for a club-record 105 yards on the opening play of the 1961 season. "You cannot just take every kick that comes back there or you are going to hurt your team in terms of field position."

Mitchell agreed. "You have to know when to field the ball and when not to field it," says Mitchell, who played with the Eagles from 2000 to '02. "You have to know when to let it hit the ground, when to let it go through the end zone and when to field it inside the 10 - such as when the ball is a line drive and the [kicker or punter] has outkicked his coverage. But if you do field it inside your 10, you better be sure to get back to your 20."

For Mitchell and other successful return men, it comes down to developing "a feel" for where you are in relation to the advancing herd of tacklers. "One of the tactics I developed was taking my eye off the football, looking at the coverage and then focusing back on the football," says Mitchell, who adds that he had "a clock in his head" to judge the hang time on a punt. What distinguished him was that he would not call for a fair catch if he sensed that he would have some running room. He says, "Calling for a fair catch or letting the ball hit the ground did not help the team [when he had some space]."

So . . . athletic ability, fearlessness, instinct, judgment. Are we overlooking anything?

"Good hands," Mitchell says with a chuckle. "You cannot do anything with the ball unless you have it."

And when you get it and slip in behind some blocker and a hole opens up, Demps says your "heart starts pumping and you get a big smile on your face."

Jackson adds, "Oh, yeah." Jersey colors flash by, the crowd roars and suddenly, it is just you and the ball and the end zone. Mitchell remembers how it used to be for him, how you would work for days and weeks in practice and "finally you would get one." It was always the greatest feeling in the world. *

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