Randall Cobb, who happens to be the Green Bay Packers most dynamic offensive weapon, hurt his ankle returning a punt against Tennessee on Sunday.
The extent of the injury is not yet known. However, it prompted quarterback Aaron Rodgers to say he wants Cobb, the Packers primary punt and kick returner, taken off special teams.
“I hope we can get him off special teams soon,” Rodgers said after the game.
Of course, Mike McCarthy would have none of that.
“I’ll be honest with you. I don’t have a really high tolerance for this because I don’t understand how you play scared in the game of football,” McCarthy said. “I don’t get that. I think it’s convenient questioning. I understand the risk involved in every single play. Some plays are higher risk than others and I’m fully aware of that, but you can’t sit here and say special teams is important if you don’t put a guy like Randall Cobb out there as a returner.”
“Now, if we’re sitting here next year, we might be having a different conversation, but the way our team is built for 2012, Randall Cobb is a huge part of our success on special teams.”
Yeah. We get why Cobb is on special teams. He’s an awesome return man. It turns out, he’s also an awesome receiver.
This isn’t a Devin Hester situation where the guy is a killer return man, but couldn’t memorize five plays if they were drawn in magic marker on the inside of his gloves. Cobb is the Packers best receiver.
They wouldn’t be as good as they are without him.
So, do you take away from one facet of the game to ensure the success of another? It’s probably time to start thinking about that, buffoon.
Charles Woodson was the Packers best punt returner for years, but the buffoon wasn’t trotting him out there to risk injury on returns, was he?
Here’s our solution for a compromise. Take Cobb off punt returns and leave him on kicks. It minimizes some risk and the Packers have an obvious replacement in Jeremy Ross. That dude averaged 15.2 yards per punt return in college.
Cobb has averaged 9.4 per punt return this season, which ranks 14th in the league. On kickoffs, he’s averaged 25.3, which is 12th.
The Packers don’t currently have another solution for kickoffs. It would be hard to take Cobb out of the return game completely because he’s a threat to score every time he touches the ball, but it seems obvious something should be done to make sure he makes it through the playoffs.