Colts vs. Buccaneers: Special teams grades

The Colts were trying out a new kicker today and it came out like the old kicker; extremely mixed results.

Special teams have been an issue all year long for the Colts. They have missed kicks, had them blocked, and had some coverage issues. Today wasn’t as bad, but the special teams still played a role in a Colts loss yet again. Here is how each unit graded.

Adam Vinatieri is probably done for the season with a knee injury. Because of that, the Colts had to sign a kicker off the street. That kicker is Chase McLaughlin. He made his first kick from 50 yards, and made another short one. But he missed a 47-yarder that ended up being massive.

The Colts lost by three points, so that missed kick ended up being significant. It’s not the reason why they lost, but it plays a part. Once again, the kicking game is anything but solved for this team, and likely won’t get solved until next year.

Rigoberto Sanchez had to punt four times today, which is a lot considering how many points were scored in this game. He had a long of 51 and had two of them downed inside the 20-yard line. He didn’t need to be that good, and he was just average today.

Nyheim Hines actually looked pretty good with some of his returns on punts. He had two returns for a total of 34 yards. He looked like he had some burst once he diagnosed the coverage team that was in front of him. Indy didn’t have any kick returns.

The special teams weren’t the reason for the loss, but they certainly didn’t help.