Silva Injury Is A Blow To The Special Teams Unit

Special teams coverage units are an area of the football team that doesn’t get any attention until things start going wrong. I am not saying that the injury suffered by Jamie Silva against the 49’ers last weekend will cripple the teams ability to cover punts and kick offs this year, but it certainly won’t help matters much.

Silva is one of those guys that every team has to have. He goes about his business professionally and knows exactly the role he is supposed to play on the team. Any time he gets in to the game on the regular defensive unit is a bonus, his value comes as a special teams specialist. It is a hard area of the game to play in, and you almost have to have a different mentality to other position players, but if you are a good special teams player you can make a career out of flying down the field on punts with very little regard for your body.

Silva was one of those guys, and he finished second on the team in special teams tackles last campaign with 15. That might not seem like a whole lot to contribute to an NFL team, but the experience and knowledge of how to play special teams and be in the right place at the right time to stop a potentially game breaking return cannot be underestimated.

The Colts do have a ton of injury problems all over the field right now, but if the special teams units start to break down over the course of a long and arduous NFL season remember who is missing from coverage.