Week 2 Grade: Indianapolis Colts Special Teams
By Andrew Ites
Some of the Colts’ special teams units actually performed well in their Week 1 loss to the Rams, and they looked even better in Week 2.
Rigoberto Sanchez followed up a great debut as the Colts’ starting punter last week, and Adam Vinatieri rebounded from a poor performance in Week 1 back to his reliable self in the kicking game.
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We predicted that rookie Rigoberto Sanchez would beat out veteran Jeff Locke in the training camp battle for the starting punter spot, and he has proven that the Colts made the correct decision in the first two weeks of the season.
The Cardinals forced Indianapolis to punt 7 times on Sunday, and Sanchez answered by pinning Arizona inside the 20 on 3 of those 7 punts. Sanchez only allowed 1 of his punts to be returned, and Kerwynn Williams only gained 6 yards on that return.
Sanchez has also taken over the kickoff duties, and the kickoff coverage team only allowed 35 total yards on 2 kick returns from the Cardinals.
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Vinatieri had one of the worst games of his career against the Rams going 1/2 on field goals, and he missed his only extra point attempt. It looked like his age was finally starting to show entering his 22nd NFL season.
The 44-year-old Vinatieri fixed his issues in the kicking game on Sunday as he went 1/1 on extra points, and 2/2 on field goals coming from 46 and 29 yards out. Apparently Vinatieri just woke up on the wrong side of the bed in Week 1.
The Colts had arguably the NFL’s best tandem of kicker and punter last season with Vinatieri and Pat McAfee, and it looks like Rigoberto Sanchez has filled in quite well for the retired McAfee.